Enhancing Control Charts to Validate Strategy Maps

Abstract

A strategy map is a diagram that describes how an organization creates value by linking improvement of performance measures to strategic objectives through explicit hypothetical causal relations. To validate these relations, an enhanced control chart method applied to relevant databases of the organization, has been developed. The method identifies significant performance improvements by means of CUSUM control charts, uses binary variables to mark them and time bounded search cycles as dictated by the causality constraints. When appropriate, the fuzzy set theory is utilized for merging local performances measured on different scales/units and for avoiding subjectivity related to the interpretation of the measured results. Analysis of a test case shows that the proposed method succeeded to validate all the hypothetical causal linkages on the strategy map, for which data were available. A (global) fuzzy measure of the main manufacturing process, merging several relevant local manufacturing measures proved useful in the validation procedure.

Key Words:

• Fuzzy set theory
• statistical process control
• strategy map

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shuki Dror

Shuki Dror is a member of the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management at ORT Braude College. Shuki received his Ph.D. degree in Industrial Engineering from Tel Aviv University. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of strategy implementation, quality function deployment, fuzzy set theory, statistical methods for quality, and simulation. He has been consulting to industry on application of quality since 1990 and he is involved in many applications in a wide range of fields. He has worked in the statistical consulting laboratory at Hifa University and recently worked for a Net of Excellence project funded by the European commission.

Miryam Barad

Miryam Barad was Head of the Industrial Engineering Department at Tel Aviv University and held academic visiting positions at Universities around the world. Her research and professional interests focus on various aspects of Quality and Flexibility with emphasis on manufacturing strategies and performance improvement. Her research tools are Design of Experiments, Simulation modeling and analysis, Petri Nets, and Quality Function Deployment. A paper co-authored with a French partner in a joint Franco-Israeli research project won the Norman Dudley Award for 2001. Professor Barad is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Production Research, a Council member of the International Foundation of Production Research, and a member of the New York Academy of Sciences. Currently she is a partner in a Net of Excellence project funded by the European commission, called CODESNET.