by Mary Dobbins (Team 1)
Policies and procedures are essential to businesses and organizations. In very basic terms, they define "the rules" of the company. Policies tend to be written or even just inferred at a higher level, giving workers a sense of the direction of the company while procedures are more of the action steps, the "here is how to do it" directions.
Chapter 1 discusses the inherent ambiguity that exists in writing policy statements and procedures but emphasizes its necessity since not everything can be quantified or written down.
Lastly, the differences between the use of a manual vs. a handbook are highlighted. These terms in general mean the same thing; however, one distinct difference is that a manual is more limited in its distribution while a handbook can be distributed more broadly. This can have some legal implications as the text points out.
With regard to our Topic: Handbook for online courses at MSU, I think an important element would be to include available resources for questions not covered in the handbook. In my own experiences I have found that handbooks can be helpful, but as Chapter 1 clearly indicates, not everything can be written down so resources can be a very necessary part of documentation, especially for online users.
10 comments:
Written policies and procedures have always been a tricky subject to employees. It is important to have the basic policies written down, such as how to act in the workplace and the consequences of not acting appropriately, but procedures do become more tricky in the ever changing world of technology. Our handbooks are constantly being updated with new procedures on how to read and fill out order blanks and other paperwork based on customer needs and dealer expectations. Handbooks are necessary but difficult to manage when so many changes take place daily. Manuals can be even more cumbersome to an employee and most don't read it unless something comes up in their life at work that requires it. Employers do need to cover their bases though, and that's the main reason for the written documentation, so that it's accessable to people that need it in case something does come up.
I was especially interested in the information this chapter presented on the appropriateness of ambiguity for a policy. It's been an important goal for my work group to have a mission statement and a set of goals each year. I understand the importance of having these two items in place but the majority of employees' eyes glaze over when they try to understand what these two statements really mean! At times, the wording seems unclear.
'Strategic plan' is another topic that most employees try to avoid discussing. After reading this chapter, I understand better why ambiguity is acceptable in mission statements, department goals, and strategic plans because it is difficult to express these items in quantifiable terms. I also now understand the role the listing of goals and objectives play in explaining these statments. Therefore, if I keep in mind that the ambiguity of these statements will be further explained in the goals and objectives that follow, it makes more sense.
One key element that I learned from this chapter is the importance of clear communication when writing procedures and policies. The business can not run properly without procedures and policies in place. They are needed to assure quality, safety, and consitency when producing a product. Procedures are updated constantly at my workplace and new ones are created weekly as new products are developed. I agree with Lindsay's comment that it is important to have basic policies documented for the employees. Employees need the structure of procedures and policies so they know what is expected of them and what the consequences are if they do not follow the policies. When you work for a company that is regulated by the FDA, a goverment bocy that can shut the place down, this gives you a whole new perspective on the importance of having policies and procedures in place.
I thought the first chapter was based much on common sense in determining what kinds of things should be policies, how much detail should be included, and even how many policies a handbook or manual should include. After pondering that for awhile, I realized that what I thought was just common sense is really just a long-term exposure to reading, writing, and interpreting workplace policies. We have all been handed at one time or another "the company handbook," and in my early working days, that was my bible. It gave me all the answers to any question I might have about the job. Over the years I found much of it is really a guideline. Some of the stuff was very cut and dried: number of vacation days, paid holidays, and hours of operation. Much of it was open to interpretation. I had heard once that one of the reasons company handbooks are vague in many areas is to avoid a policy being misinterpreted in a way detrimental to the company, and possibly held up legally in court.
Page 4 went into this discussion about objectivity and subjectivity. The words were interchanged so much that I started to second-guess the exact definition. I actually looked them up on www.dictionary.com and came away with a satisfying differentiation.
Objective:
not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased: an objective opinion.
Subjective:
existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought (opposed to objective).
I agree with most of what has been said here. It is critical for employees to understand policy and procedure codes in any business environment. I do think there is a fine line when it comes to figuring out what to write and how specific you should be when writing any policy. I do not work much with ever changing manuals and documentation but even the yearly employee manual that we receive seems to be a lot of the same stuff as the year before only with some minor changes regarding any new implementation. I think any employer would attest to the importance of covering their butts by being too specific rather than too vague.
I have only held a couple jobs: one being at Sea World in San Diego, the other being random local convenience stores around town in Mankato. In my opinion the Sea World employee handbook was very extensive, to the point where you would really only want to look in it if you needed to. The convenience store ones were much simpler but still contained the necessary information with the addition of actually being reasonably sized. I did notice, as Erik was mentioning, the last revision of the one I received at my last job was changed ever so slightly. Simple revisions are so necessary I believe as new technology is implemented, new laws put in effect, and new standards emerge. But yes, written documentation is very important as I see it as the back bone for many employees and middle managers to fall back on in case of problems. (I have not received my books yet so I can't include anything in the text yet, just real-life situations.) :-)
It was interesting to read the section discussing written vs. unwritten. When I began reading the chapter, I was under the assumption that almost everything is written. In my work experience, anytime I have a question regarding a policy or procedure, I can look on the intranet home page and find the answer somewhere. Although, after thinking about it-what is written and what isn't written- I realized many issues are unspoken. There is a common understanding about things such as hygiene- and most employers assume the employees need not be told to wear deodorant, etc.
Funnily enough, I find that interesting.
-Hilary Warren
The section on when to use policies and procedures was the most informative to me. The main idea was that "policies and procedures should accomplish something" (5). Policies should describe an issue that is important or needs clarification. At my job, there seem to be a lot of policies that aren't followed by the employees and to fix this the policies should be either rewritten or communicated to the employees that this is something that needs to be followed. It seems that clarifying the policy should be done according to the guidelines set out on page eight. The list of questions to consider about written and unwritten policies also can support the idea to clarify the policy because it can involve accountability (9).
This chapter explained the basics of policies and procedures very well and it is something that will be beneficial in my future career. By reading about what readers need to know, writers can keep these ideas in mind when developing policies and procedures.
I think as a writer knowing what needs to be written down for policy and procedures vs. what not to write down is very hard for any writer. If an employer just assumes to much of an new employee to show up on time, were proper clothing, and use acceptable behavior the employer could be the one getting in trouble if it isn't said when a person is hired or in writing. Writers have to know how much to assume and know what the employees must have in writing.
An important element in this chapter is Ambiguity in Policies. This can be very stressful because you cannot pin down everything in quantifiable or statistical terms, according to the Campbell book. In Mary Dobbins Team they said that evaluating carefully the procedures and letting certain triggers like complaints, frequent questions, misunderstanding etc. Be our guide to adding new policies and procedures. Level of detail pertains to this matter also, according to Campbell every policy and procedure writer struggles with the level of detail, because there is no magic formula for how much to include. SUFFICIENT= the right type of information and the right quantity. APPROPRIATE= usually means fitting for the topic and the audience.
I had to look up the definition Ambiguity in the dictionary = an unclear, indefinite, or equivocal word, expression, meaning, unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning (to better understand the terminology of the book.
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