Communication skills

I selected to discuss about the policy document in this assignment which is one of types of documents which we learnt in module of communication skills. The importance of policy document A Policy is a principle or a guide line or directives supposed to be adhered which gives a rational repercussion. Most policies develop from past practices good or bad, fair or unfair. Policy statement is a document stating an organization's views, aims and aspirations. An organization's policy document guides employees in performing their duties and inform customers and clients of how various issues related to products and services are addressed. In the drafted policy document of induction and orientation is guidance for employees how to perform their duty in the event of new arrivals of employees. The policy document will be the source of instructions and definite guidelines and help in the interpretation of policies and procedures. This will render quick settlement of misunderstandings. These policy documents help to keep management and operation flexible and transparent. Because when anything happens it can be referred to policy document. In case of recurring situation this will assist the management to take decisions and this reduces the range of individual decisions. Policy documents demarcate the scope within which they should function and each employee knows in advance what response he or she will get from others when taking actions, making decisions, and giving responses. Therefore Predictability about the cause and effect is a remarkable importance given to employees in an organization by the policy document. This is a shield in the event of an audit or lawsuit. Policies and procedures are important for any business with more than 10 employees. The advantages of having formal policies and procedures cannot be underestimated. Many small businesses don't feel that such policies help their operations and prefer to keep management flexible. Even though this argument does have some legitimacy for micro organizations it does create problems for businesses that are moving into a larger state of existence. Therefore it is advisable to form formal policies and procedures in spite of the size of organization. Actions contained within policy statements must conform to national, state and local laws In the attached draft policy document is an example how the Rolex company orientates its newcomers.

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Uses of Policy document A policy document conveys the policy of a given website, business or organization. It's used to communicate the organization's policy on a given topic .it would address the internal and external views of an organization. Policy document guide involved parties to go through some accepted sequence or steps to achieve the goal of policy. In my draft of policy documents it is said The utmost result must be the employee satisfaction while achieving organizational goals is the paramount initiation of this policy. Therefore this policy document is used to navigate the organization to achieve goals. Policy document is a tool used to assure compliance with policy objectives and to establish the accountability of operating units and individuals affected by each policy. In a nutshell this is used as basic communication tool among the member of the organization. Since the policy document reflects the managers, supervisors and employees views on each subject or policy area. As Per the American College of Preventive Medicine, according to their usage there are two categories of policy statements: proactive and reactive. Proactive category policies will address the issue before emerge of that issue and the outcome of the issue. According to that my drafted policy also put in to this category. The other category is called reactive category and it supposed to address after the issue. As an example there is a policy to not drink whilst the employee is on duty. But any employee is found to drunk those reactive policies will come to deal with. Then the employee will be interdicted or sacked according policies of conduct. There are two types of criteria for policy statements within each category of policy statements per American College of Preventive Medicine: internal and external. Basically, the internal criteria relate to the advancement and goals of an organization. External criteria relate to the economic impact of the organization on the public sector. A policy document is used as written documentation of the organizations commitment to its employees safety and health. Because the safety and heal also a very important policy adopted by the organization. A policy document is an excellent training resource. Policy documents such as drafted policy document can be used both in training newly hired or promoted supervisors and in conducting refresher courses for experienced

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Communication skills
supervisors. Some organizations have actually structured their supervisory training programs to correspond with the manuals table of contents. A policy document is an instrument in some cases for litigations. Since policy document constitutes legal implications and they have legal validity. This will show the role and responsibilities of involved parties and they can perform their duty without conflict or confusion. Therefore this document can be used as conflict resolution.

Advantages Policy document is a written document and this can be accessed by the relevant people at any moment and this is transparent. Therefore everyone can challenge and asked to revise whenever it is reasonably needed. Policy documents will enhance the flexibility of the management. Employee can predict the repercussion of the any issue in relation to policy document. Policy document bring the uniformity of organizational process. As an example when someone is supposed to go to Colombo from Kandy .There are many ways to approach Kandy. If there is a policy there may be agreed way to approach Kandy and it would be imposed to everyone abides by. When someone is lost in the way how to do it they can refer to policy document and this will act as conflict resolution document. Policy document acts against discrimination. Policies are formed to address everyone equally according to their role and their responsibility. By implementing policy documents management productivity and the moral of the workers. can enhance the

Police document can save resources such as time, money and assets. It has predetermined the process and schedule. Disadvantages

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Communication skills
So many policies make employees confused and bored. Additionally facts will seem vague. The creativity of mangers will be curbed by this document because they are confined stipulated frame. In the draft policy document of mine we can observe how management has addressed the issue of induction and orientation in the professional way but the may be some managers who have their own optimized and creative method to address the issue. It takes some considerable time to prepare policy document and it is a result of a huge effort of various people. There are some instances some issues are not addressed at all or addressed indistinctly by the policy document and in the process of implementing workers are confused. There are two policy documents for various fields in same organization will be sometimes overlapped and employees will be indifferent or at their wits end. Format There is not a standard format for policy document and there will be elements must be included in the document. But here I adopted some format I believe that can be used as I did in my drafted policy document Headline banner The policy title, issuing date, and identification block which includes: Policy number, Page Number, Effective Date, notification, Office of Origin, and Policy Approval Authority. The Policy Number and Page Number would appear on all subsequent pages; the footer of each page should repeat the Issuing Date and the Policy Title. Note: The policy title should be carefully selected so that it is simple and clearly conveys the policys content. Preamble A concise statement of the rationale for the policy, including if appropriate, Reference to external regulations, further policy discussion, etc. Summary (one paragraph) clearly stating the important policy content.

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Scope and purpose A small paragraph on which areas this policy is supposed to address and the immediate purpose to establish this policy of document. This describes why the organization needs a policy on this topic or subject, the intended result and why it's important . Exactly who the policy applies to and the consequences for non-compliance, if applicable. Objectives This reflects what will be the out by implementing policy and how it affects the company and in which way. Financial incentives This will denote how they allocate budget for expenditures which have to incurred while the implementation process

Law implications In this subtopic Statues and regulation which are supposed be obliged by the company, employees and customers are briefly considered. The consequences of violating a company policy should be consistent with the degree of severity. For minor infractions, this could be something as simple as a letter of reprimand placed in the worker's personnel file, a dock in pay or the withdrawal of a privilege. For acts more serious such as substance abuse, theft or compromising the integrity of the company, the result would be termination and, in some cases, the filing of criminal charges Responsibilities and Roles Explain the policies which relate to the roles and responsibilities pertaining to the main affecting body and the people Guide lines

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Reference to detailed procedures that are recommended in order to carry out the intent of the policy. Document control information Define to whom this should be directed and limitation. Definition Definitions of terms (as needed). Special language features Clauses of policy document should be precise and address to the point. Words mustnt be ambiguous. Clauses should be numbered according to sequence in case of extraction it is easy to definite. Simple words should be used for policy document in order to exact comprehension Reference
http://www.victoria.ac.nz/home/about/policy/publications/PolicyDocumentDevelop mentInformation_v1.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Policy http://www.mml.org/pdf/glv/chapter13.pdf

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