The vocational balanced scorecard: What is it and how can it be implemented?

Abstract

This paper explores whether a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) can be applied to Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) in Australia. The findings indicate that the BSC can assist RTOs to offer higher education courses compatible with universities, which is their primary strategic goal. Therefore, the vocational balanced scorecard (VBSC) was developed. This VBSC enables RTO managers to adjust and communicate their strategy, rectify procedural deficiencies in their operations and set key objectives across course development, staff training, financial management, students' compliance, support and quality control. This model provides a general layout of VBSC that reveals many exciting opportunities for future research into the adoption and diffusion of other performance management and strategy mapping tools. VBSC will also shed more light on factors that explain why the BSC seemingly has had a global impact, stronger than those of most other performance management tools in the education sector and will open new directions for research on policy-making and course development in-line with stakeholder engagement and management.