Organizations are complex systems with multiple stakeholders. Sometimes the interests of various stakeholders can conflict.

For your initial post to this discussion, please give an example of a business process where the interests of two (or more) stakeholders are in opposition.

Initial Post:
Contemporary organizations have benefited immensely from the application of a balanced scorecard. In an ideal scenario, companies ought to address all of the four perspectives of the scorecard such as their obligation to customers, financial performance, innovation and internal processes in an organization (Raynus 203). However, companies such as Glencore mining, which is one of the largest companies in the mining industry, do not implement the four elements of the scorecard uniformly. The company’s tendency to place disproportionate emphasis on the financial perspective at the expense of the other three perspectives has caused the loss of lives of many employees and the deterioration of its reputation.

The main stakeholders affected by Glencore’s unethical behavior have been employees especially the unskilled employees who work as miners. In countries such as Brazil, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Colombia where Glencore operates, human rights advocates have accused it of failing to provide adequate safety equipment (“IndustriAll Raises Glencore Human Rights Violations with UN HRC” par. 7). The safety violations have caused ill health and death to employees. In addition to this, Frederiksen (165) reported that the political settlements that companies such as Glencore use to protect their profits at the expense of workers damage their reputation and counter their CSR efforts. Ethical consumers are unlikely to purchase products or services from companies such as Glencore.

In conclusion, companies that can apply the balanced scorecard appropriately have an advantage because they can meet the expectations of all stakeholders such as employees and shareholders. However, companies such as Glencore, which place disproportionate emphasis on the financial perspective over other perspectives, are unable to maintain their ethical obligation to their stakeholders. Employees are likely to die from their work or develop serious health complications. Customers are also unlikely to buy goods or services from such organizations. Implementing all of the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard is in the company’s best interests.