policies and procedures?
Consistency, transparency, accountability and quality management
All organisations have policies and procedures that guide how decisions are made and how the work is done in that organisation. Well written policies and procedures
increase organisational accountability and transparency and are fundamental to
quality assurance and quality improvement programs.
Even where policies and procedures are not written down they exist, guiding the
decisions and determining how people who interact with the organisation are
treated. The problem with unwritten policies and procedures is that they are not
subject to the usual organisational reviews and accountability processes. In the
absence of written policies and procedures, unacceptably different approaches
which make the organisation inconsistent and inefficient can develop.
Policies are...
← The description of the service’s commitments to key determinants of quality;
← The guiding principles of an organisation;
← Broad guidelines to decision making;
← Not directives;
← The basis of the organisation’s procedures and instructions.
Policies are the guiding principles of service. Unlike procedures, they do not tell
the reader exactly how something will be done. Policies simply set the signposts.
Procedures are...
← Based on the organisation’s policies;
← The recipe as to how things get done;
← Specific step by step directions.
Where policies provide the signposts or guidance, the procedures tell people how
things will be done. A procedure specifies what will be done, when, and by whom
and what records are to be kept. It is the ‘recipe’ by which the policies are enacted.
One procedure can be informed by a range of policies