Decision-making is the primary task of a manager. While making decisions, it is common that managers consult the existing organizational policies relevant to the decisions. Policies provide the basic framework that managers operate in. Policies exist at all levels in the organization. Some may be major company policies affecting the whole organization, while others may be minor in nature affecting the departments or sections within the departments. Thus, in business process management consulting policies are intended to provide guidance to managers in decision-making. These policies are a one time standing decision, in the light of which, so many routine decisions are made. In the absence of appropriate policies, managerial decision-making may be analogous to reinventing the wheel every time. For example, a policy on internal promotions greatly helps the manager in filling the vacancies. Whenever vacancies arise, he simply goes by the existing promotion policy of the organization. Sound policies, thus save lot of time in decision-making and avoid confusion. When talking about business process management consulting, policies specify the boundary conditions of decisions. Thus, when decisions are actually made, they conform to the policy relevant to the decision. If the policy of an organization is to face competition with quality products, the emphasis naturally will be on issues relating to improving the quality of the product. All the decisions that affect the product quality are normally taken in the light of the explicit policy. Policies developed carefully and understood perfectly result in consistency in planning. Policies help to ensure that all units of an organization operate under the same ground levels. They facilitate coordination and communication between various organizational units. This is possible because policies make consistency in action possible. In view of the importance of policies in guiding executive behavior, they have to be formulated carefully. |
