Management system

Abstract: Indigenous groups offer alternative knowledge and perspectives based on their own locally developed practices of resource use. We surveyed the international literature to focus on the role of Traditional Ecological Knowledge in monitoring, responding to, and managing ecosystem processes and functions, with special attention to ecological resilience. Case studies revealed that there exists a diversity of local or traditional practices for ecosystem management. These include multiple species management, resource rotation, succession management, landscape patchiness management, and other ways of responding to and managing pulses and ecological surprises. Social mechanisms behind these traditional practices include a number of adaptations for the generation, accumulation, and transmission of knowledge; the use of local institutions to provide leaders/stewards and rules for social regulation; mechanisms for cultural internalization of traditional practices; and the development of appropriate world views and cultural values. Some traditional knowledge and management systems were characterized by the use of local ecological knowledge to interpret and respond to feedbacks from the environment to guide the direction of resource management. These traditional systems had certain similarities to adaptive management with its emphasis on feedback learning, and its treatment of uncertainty and unpredictability intrinsic to all ecosystems.

Abstract: In 1996, Robert Kaplan and David Norton introduced the Balanced Scorecard performance measurement method, which included not only traditional financial measures but also such qualitative measures as employee satisfaction, corporate mission and customer loyalty. In The Strategy-Focused Organization, they show how the following five principles transform the Balanced Scorecard from a tool for performance measurement to a tool for creating a strategy-driven performance management company: 1. Translate the strategy into operational terms. Use the Balanced Scorecard to describe and communicate strategy in consistent, insightful, operational terms. 2. Align the organization to the strategy. For organizational strategies to work, they must be linked and integrated across many functions — finance, manufacturing, sales, marketing and so forth. The Balanced Scorecard can link these disparate and dispersed functions. 3. Make strategy everyone’s everyday job. Use the Balanced Scorecard to educate the organization about strategy, help employees develop personal objectives, then compensate them based on their adherence to and implementation of the business’ strategies. 4. Make strategy a continual process. Use the Balanced Scorecard to link strategy to the budget process; review strategy regularly in management meetings; and develop a process for learning and adapting strategy. 5. Mobilize change through executive leadership. Through a method of mobilization, governance and strategic management, executives can embed new strategy and new culture into their management systems, creating a continual process to meet the strategic needs of today and tomorrow. Formulating strategy is one endeavor. In this summary, you will learn how to make strategy work. Concentrated KnowledgeTM for the Busy Executive • www.summary.com Vol. 23, No. 1 (3 parts) Part 1, January 2001 • Order # 23-01

Abstract: Ecosystem-based fishery management (EBFM) is a new direction for fishery management, essentially reversing the order of management priorities so that management starts with the ecosystem rather than a target species. EBFM aims to sustain healthy marine ecosystems and the fisheries they support. Pikitch et al . describe the potential benefits of implementation of EBFM that, in their view, far outweigh the difficulties of making the transition from a management system based on maximizing individual species.

Abstract: The Balanced Scorecard of Kaplan and Norton is a management tool that supports the successful implementation of corporate strategies. It has been discussed and considered widely in both practice and research. By linking operational and non-financial corporate activities with causal chains to the firm's long-term strategy, the Balanced Scorecard supports the alignment and management of all corporate activities according to their strategic relevance. The Balanced Scorecard makes it possible to take into account non-monetary strategic success factors that significantly impact the economic success of a business. The Balanced Scorecard is thus a promising starting-point to also incorporate environmental and social aspects into the main management system of a firm. Sustainability management with the Balanced Scorecard helps to overcome the shortcomings of conventional approaches to environmental and social management systems by integrating the three pillars of sustainability into a single and overarching strategic management tool. After a brief discussion of the different possible forms of a Sustainability Balanced Scorecard the article takes a closer look at the process and steps of formulating a Sustainability Balanced Scorecard for a business unit. Before doing so, the basic conventional approach of the Balanced Scorecard and its suitability for sustainability management will be outlined in brief. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.