By Dr. Steve M. Cohen
At first glance, practice and policy may seem similar enough not to warrant investigation. Time is usually a premium in any organization, and what difference does it make if an employee’s action strays from office practice or policy? It’s the same problem, right? Wrong! Very wrong.
Organizations that don’t clearly define and disseminate practices and policies are setting themselves up for complications when employee problems surface.
A business needs to systematize and formalize as many of its activities as possible. The lowest level of organizational behavior is a business practice. And, while business practices are varied in terms of significance, when an issue arises, a practice holds no legal accountability. Policy does.
Elevate practice to policy
The way the law works is that the employees cannot be legally held accountable to follow practices, but can be held legally accountable to follow policies. A policy is just a practice that has been formally presented as an expectation of management. The organizational leadership/manager should elevate from practice to policy whenever possible. At a minimum, every organization that has employees should have an employee policy and procedure manual. This manual provides clarity regarding regular business activities.
Take email for example. A practice might be to check email on an intermittent basis. A policy, however, might be: “Email in our organization is not private and should be restricted to business communication. We reserve the right to monitor email if we consider it appropriate to do so.” Again, a policy is a practice that has been thought through and then formalized. Management also has to follow the policies they set up. If the policies are not consistently applied, an issue of favoritism or discrimination can be created.
Systemizing expectations improves results
In addition to legal ramifications, the more that management systematizes its behaviors and expectations, the more predictability and comfort is provided to employees. If there are no systems in place, then management and employees must rely on mood and attitude. Just what you don’t want when a problem arises.
If good people are using good systems, then the results will always be good. If good people are using mediocre systems, or the reverse and mediocre people are using good systems, there may be frustrations, but results will still usually be good. However, if mediocre people are using mediocre systems, the results will usually be mediocre or worse.
Mediocre people using exceptional systems can produce exceptional results. Imagine what good people using exceptional systems can produce. Actually, don’t imagine it—create it yourself! Start by developing, clarifying, disseminating and documenting business policy.
Dr. Steve M. Cohen is Principal and Lead HR Consultant at HR Solutions: On Call, an advisory service for medical practices and other small businesses.
