Case Analysis of James Houghton and Signature Theatre pt 2

Case Analysis of James Houghton and Signature Theatre

The purpose of this post is to use the case analysis process basing on the analysis of James Houghton to come to a final decision in regards to the success of Signature Theatre. The case defines the antiquity of Signature Theatre, initiated by James Houghton 23 years ago. Signature Theatre signifies prosperous businesses with an influential vision and mission statements, and one that has held to its mission and vision all through the years. The auditorium has passed through many phases under the leadership of Houghton, ultimately raising a budget worth $12 million annually and with a newfangled production equipment worth $70 million, open civic assembly space as a key feature. During the course, Houghton has risen to be one of the most appreciated and persuasive leaders in his ground (Callanan, L., Wei-Skillern, J., & Onayemi, P., 2014).

James Houghton is an iconic leader who through his leadership skills he has steered the Signature Theatre to greater heights and high performance. The above personality employs leadership skills to influence and motivates his workers. Moreover, the above personality uses the mission and vision statements to influence his workforce. In that, he instills in them the best interests of the organization lays down the approaches to achieving them and assigns jobs basing on how he understands his employees and the capabilities of an individual. Reasonably, through his influential skills, Houghton influences the organizational culture by coming up with cultures that lay more emphasis on the mission and vision statements of the organization (Callanan, L., Wei-Skillern, J., & Onayemi, P., 2014).

In lieu of the above discussion, Houghton displays a better understanding of the spirit and physics of the business. The two aspects mentioned above undertake a critical role in ensuring the success of the business. In that, it merges the entire departments into an organization through strategy maps. The physics of the business base on understanding of the marketplace, financial aspects, people, goods and services soulful purpose and processes of the organization. Similarly, the spirits’ key success bases on maximizing contribution of energy while minimizing energy loss as it flows through the organizational systems, transforming into valued services and goods. Rationally, the spirit aspect of the business bases on three dimensions that are context, relationship, and activity. The understanding of the mentioned aspects above undertakes a fundamental role in the business. In that, they influence the decision-making process and the leadership of the business. Moreover, they influence communication amid the organization hence effective approach to running the organization (Callanan, L., Wei-Skillern, J., & Onayemi, P., 2014).

However, for the Signature Theatre to ensure top performance and high competitiveness in the market, it should consider coming up with a strategy map. A strategy map will enable the Signature Theatre to work in line to its mission, vision, objectives and goals. The following is how it can implement its strategy that is mapped with a balanced scorecard.

Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Maps

Balanced Scorecard entails a tool for aligning learning and development (and other things) to the vision and strategy of an organization, improving communication, and monitoring organization performance against strategy. In general, BSC as a performance management tool turns an organization’s strategic objectives into targets, measures and initiatives (Balanced Scorecard Basics, n.d.).

Implementing a Balanced Scorecard

As the BSC process commences, an organization’s senior management team translates its strategies into specific strategic objectives. The aspect allows managers within the organization to build consensus regarding the organization’s vision and strategy. The vision and strategy are made clear and open to all employees. Thereafter, the vision and strategy are communicated in the form of goals and objectives (Olve et al, 1999, p. 17). When setting financial goals, the team should make a choice from measures such as profitability, cash flow generation, market growth and revenue. In setting customer perfective objectives, the team must be clear and definite on customer and market segments to compete. Only after establishing the financial and customer objectives can an organization identify the measures and objectives for its internal processes. Finally, the objectives and measures of the internal business processes are linked to learning and growth objectives. In the long run, this will reveal the need for considerable investments within an organization, say, re-skilling employees (Joseph, G., 2009).

Conclusion

Both internal and external business environments are undergoing tremendous changes every day, in fact, say every hour. The every changing business environment have weakened the capability of managers in many organizations, including multinationals, appropriate performance management systems and tools to effectively translate organizational strategies, objectives and performance measures. With the current level of competition and pressures in the corporate world, the old way of doing things cannot be applied in the modern world. Therefore, it is reasonable to come up with strategies on how to handle the pressure. The BSC focuses on four key areas (perspectives) of organizational performance: customer; finance; internal business process; and innovation and learning. The four perspectives cater for the needs of all stakeholders of the organization and the needs of the organization itself as a corporate person. The above strategy will ensure that the business performs well even when it lacks an iconic leader. Owing to the above, I recommend that businesses should install strategy maps to enhance their sustainability.

References

Callanan, L., Wei-Skillern, J., & Onayemi, P. (2014). James Houghton and Signature Theatre (Haas School of Business Case No. B5798). Retrieved from

https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/pl/28623611/28636589/4d4822a1aab5ad1390b3b25ab1d140d8

Olve,N., Roy,J. and Wetter, M., 1999. Performance drivers: A practical guide to using the balanced

scorecard. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Joseph, G. (2009). Mapping, measurement and alignment of strategy using the balanced scorecard: The

Tata Steel case. Accounting Education, 18(2), 117–130. 

Balanced Scorecard Basics, n.d. Retrieve from

http://balancedscorecard.org/Resources/About-the-Balanced-Scorecard

Strategy Map for Signature Theatre

Place an Order

Plagiarism Free!

Scroll to Top