Measuring organizational performance for profitability and operational success : the case of a private health care organization
Sirnelä, Laura (2021)
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021060815175
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021060815175
Tiivistelmä
The purpose of the study was to establish the relationship between strategy and organizational performance measurement and various methods thereof. The study constituted a research and development project for a private Finnish chain of fertility clinics. The main themes discussed are those of strategy and the concept of organizational performance, including affecting factors and the various methods of implementation. The abstract objective of the thesis was to facilitate the implementation of strategy and strategic management in the case company. The practical objective was to construct a functional framework for measuring organizational performance while considering the company specific strategy and characteristics to provide support in achieving business success and profitability.
The study was carried out as a development project. The main research methods were qualitative research, content analysis, and observative participation, which was solidified with informal interviews and discussions with the CEO of the case company. Due to confidentiality, the interview or discussion notes are not published as part of this study. The case company’s status was established to provide foundation for the development project. As a result, it was determined that the company lacked a systematic approach to organizational performance measurement. The outcome of the project was a set of key performance indicators considering the organizational dimensions, industry specifics, and strategic goals. The content of and balance between the dimensions were tailored accordingly.
As a conclusion, it was established that having a strategy that guides an organization towards the future is important, but it is at least equally important to evaluate how the goals set by the strategy are being achieved. A carefully constructed and managed set of meaningful metrics enable the organization to assess whether it is on the correct path, while promoting quality and alignment throughout the organization. With a measuring system in place and advocated across the organization, the efforts are focused towards reaching the common goals. Further development was recommended, for instance, in constructing a system to measure the level of employee engagement to ensure the wellbeing of its staff; searching a joint solution for monitoring the KPIs in one location to facilitate managing and monitoring; harmonizing processes on the operative level to ensure unified processes and comparable indicators across the organization; and revising the method in the future.
The study was carried out as a development project. The main research methods were qualitative research, content analysis, and observative participation, which was solidified with informal interviews and discussions with the CEO of the case company. Due to confidentiality, the interview or discussion notes are not published as part of this study. The case company’s status was established to provide foundation for the development project. As a result, it was determined that the company lacked a systematic approach to organizational performance measurement. The outcome of the project was a set of key performance indicators considering the organizational dimensions, industry specifics, and strategic goals. The content of and balance between the dimensions were tailored accordingly.
As a conclusion, it was established that having a strategy that guides an organization towards the future is important, but it is at least equally important to evaluate how the goals set by the strategy are being achieved. A carefully constructed and managed set of meaningful metrics enable the organization to assess whether it is on the correct path, while promoting quality and alignment throughout the organization. With a measuring system in place and advocated across the organization, the efforts are focused towards reaching the common goals. Further development was recommended, for instance, in constructing a system to measure the level of employee engagement to ensure the wellbeing of its staff; searching a joint solution for monitoring the KPIs in one location to facilitate managing and monitoring; harmonizing processes on the operative level to ensure unified processes and comparable indicators across the organization; and revising the method in the future.