March 1997 € Volume 7 € Number 3
March 1997 € Volume 7 € Number 3
|
This department is provided to answer technical questions regarding problems in production and inventory control. Readers are invited to contact George Johnson, APICS National Research Committee, Rochester Institute of Technology, College of Business, P.O. Box 9887, Rochester, NY 14623, (716) 475-2098 or via fax at |
Dear APICS: Where can I find information about constructing policy and procedure manuals? (This is representative of several inquiries.)
Reply: General initiatives such as quality improvement, business process improvement and ISO 9000 certification, in particular, have elevated requirements for documentation of processes and procedures. Policy and procedure manuals are part of what might broadly be called "design quality." That is, the policies and procedures recorded in a manual specify what is supposed to happen (or not happen) in various circumstances. These contents provide guidance, rules of thumb and criteria for making decisions and carrying out the activities of an organization. The activities pertain potentially to every function in a business, and the overall purpose of a manual is to reduce unwanted variability in the execution of the activities. This, of course, assumes that the appropriate persons are knowledgeable of and comply with the guidance, which is a matter of discipline. (In this context, discipline is not punishment; it is the consistency with which an organization can perform its functions.)
There are processes for everything &endash; from deciding which customer orders to accept, concocting realistic delivery promises, hiring and training new employees, invoicing, authorizing credit, aging and collecting receivables, managing payables, designing new products and processes, assigning and changing part numbers, deciding purchase quantities, scheduling work, reviewing substandard materials, laying off employees, initiating overtime work, setting safety stocks and selecting suppliers (and sometimes customers!). You get the idea.
There can be "down sides" to policy and procedure manuals, too. If their overall intent is to reduce variability (i.e., help assure conformance to intention), they can also reduce the form of variability known as flexibility. This can happen for a variety of reasons: The author doesn't anticipate all possible circumstances to which the policies and procedures might apply; conditions change but the manual doesn't; the manual is interpreted as a contract, though it was not intended to be so. And so forth. The challenge is to capture in a manual the kind and degree of guidance required to achieve disciplined operations while, at the same time, avoiding inflexibility as the down side.
There does not seem to be a general formula for success. However, one can always benefit from the lessons of others instead of repeating history. To this end, I have listed below a number of references which pertain to policy and procedure manuals in one form or another. In some cases it is possible to buy an existing manual and tailor it to your own needs. Other references provide instructive lessons about things to do and/or avoid. Readers who have personal experience creating and living with policy and procedure manuals are invited to contact us at the APICS Industrial Inquiry Service to share their hard-won wisdom (scar tissue?). I will be happy to pass it on to the readership. (See phone number at the beginning of this column.)
Reference materials
"Aljian's Purchasing Handbook," Fourth Edition. McGraw-Hill, 1982 (See Chapter 3, "Policy and Procedure Manuals")
Baker, R.J.; Kuehne, R.S.; Buddress, L., "Policy and Procedures Manual for Purchasing and Materials Control." Prentice-Hall, 1987.
Berhardt, S., "The Design of Sexism: The Case of an Army Maintenance Manual," IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, Vol. 35, No. 4, December 1992, pp. 217-221.
Buchan, A., "Have You Looked in the Manual?" Management Services, Vol. 38, No. 3, March 1994, pp. 8-10.
Cohen, C., "Striving for Seamlessness: Procedure Manuals as a Tool for Organizational Control," Personnel Review, Vol. 24, No. 4, 1995, pp. 50-57.
Connor, S., "Quality Assurance: A Prescription for Success," International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 6, No. 4, 1993, pp. 4-7.
Eckhardt, R. "How to Develop a Company Safety Manual," Occupational Health & Safety, June 1995, pp. 61-63.
Ferravanti,V., "Training Techniques for Implementing Shop-floor Systems," Production & Inventory Management Journal, First Quarter 1993, pp. 46-49.
Gallaty, P., "Tailored Tips: Preparing a Policy and Procedure Manual," Business Credit, Vol. 91, No. 4, April 1989, pp. 45-46, 53.
Gordon, J., "Tips for Writing a Readable Manual," Training, Vol. 30, No. 12, December 1993, pp. 14-15.
Hall, T., "The Quality Manual: The Application of BS 5750 ISO 9001 EN 29001." John Wiley & Sons, 1992.
Henkin, S., "Adopting Your Operations Manual as a Training Guide," Franchising World, Vol. 24, No. 5, Sep./Oct. 1992, pp. 15-18.
Hogg, J., "Automating a Procedures Manual," Internal Auditor, Vol. 49, No. 2, April 1992, pp. 16-18.
Jenero, K., "Employers Beware: You May Be Bound by the Terms of Your Old Employee Handbooks," Employee Relations Law Journal, Vol. 20, No. 2, Autumn 1994, pp. 299-312.
Kimmel, P., "Don't Wait for a Slow Day to Write the Procedures Manual," Facilities Design & Management, Vol. 14, No. 2, February 1995, pg. 24.
Kraft, M., "Designing a User Manual to Support an In-house Database," Database, Vol. 11, No. 6, Dec. 1988, pp. 62-64.
Maunder, C., "Documentation on Tap," IEEE Spectrum, Vol. 31, No. 9, September 1994, pp. 52-56.
Murtuza, A., "Getting the Most from Operations Manuals," Corporate Controller, Vol. 3, No. 6, July/Aug. 1991, pp. 62-64.
Pasewark, W., "Preparing and Maintaining a Budget Manual," Management Accounting, Vol. 69, No. 11, May 1988, pp. 33-35.
Rathie, M., "Importance of Procedure Manuals," Supervision, Vol. 51, No. 11, November 1990, pp. 14-16.
Roskopf, J., "Spreading the Word About Risk Management," Risk Management, Vol. 38, No. 5, May 1991, pp. 58-65.
Waller, J.; Allen, D.; Burns, A., "The Quality Management Manual: How to Write and Develop a Successful Manual for Quality Management." London: Kogan Page; East Brunswick, NJ: Nichols Publishers, 1993.
|
Would you like to subscribe
to the print edition of |