Policy - Have we ever defined the word "POLICY"? Definition sought

[Randy]

Have we ever defined the word "POLICY"?

What is a policy?

What makes it a specific type of document, different from others?

Can your policy be the procedure you follow, our is this an "apple" & "orange" thing?

[db]

I've found two separate things:

1) The policy required by either 14K or 9K. It is a generic statement that drives the organization in regards to either quality or environment.

2) Level one documents. These are generic statements that give direction in regards to a particular aspect (speaking non-environmentaly) of the organization's QMS or EMS. These policies are the ones where most organizations simply re-write the standard and put in "we will" in place of "the organization shall". They are not required. I've seen instances where organizations have replace these with process maps for 9K

My take anyway.

[Tom W]

Originally Posted by Randy

Have we ever defined the word "POLICY"?

What is a policy?

What makes it a specific type of document, different from others?

Can your policy be the procedure you follow, our is this an "apple" & "orange" thing?

As I sit at work and do little else but ponder your question; I came up with this.

A policy is more like a guideline to me. It is the establishment of general guidelines and establishes the intent.

A procedure explains how you will meet these guidelines or intents.

That is a QUICK thought about your question. But then again I am pretty bored right now so I hope that made sense.

[Mike S.]

FWIW, ISO ISO 9000 Introduction and Support Package:
Guidance on the Terminology used in ISO 9001:2000 and
ISO 9004:2000
says:

- course of action or principle adopted or proposed by a government, party, individual, etc.- any course of action adopted as advantageous or expedient

[Rob Nix]

Taking a giant leap, since I've looked nothing up yet, I would say that policy is to procedure as principle is to law. The overriding idea is your policy / principle, whereas the manner in which the idea is accomplished is the procedure / law.

The principle regarding intersections is to safely make it through without collision; the law may establish stop lights or signs.

I might have a "no smoking" policy, but my procedure explains what must be done to enable the policy to work.

I might have an "open door" policy, but there may be a memo distributed that explains how.

I hope someone can do better than that.

Edit: Like Tom's reply but I must have slow fingers; I ended up 5th in the queue.

[Al Rosen]

Policy:

A plan or course of action, as of a government, political party, or business, intended to influence and determine decisions, actions, and other matters:

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=1&q=policy

[SteelMaiden]

Well, I think that there are probably as many definitions used as there are systems, but I'll share mine. I hope that this does not stray into any of those areas that we have agreed not to discuss, but here goes:

The policies are kind of like the ten commandments.."Thou shalt not kill" is the policy. We all have probably entertained the thought of causing grave or mortal bodily harm to a co-worker at one time or another.

We know that killing someone is not right so we then set up our own procedure on how to keep our fantasy at bay. Mine is to look objectively at the situation and distance myself for a period of time until I can discuss it reasonably.

Then I have a set of work instructions to help remind me of how to do that. First,I take a deep breath. 2nd, I ask for some time to think the problem over. 3rd, I isolate myself from the problem by taking a walk, buying a soft drink, or working on some small and easy task to let my temper cool. 4th, I look at the problem through the other person's eyes and try to see if I can understand their point of view. 5th, I basically perform some sort of investigation, just like I would do for a corrective or preventive action, to see if one side or the other has more merit, and if there is a logical compromise that can be reached.

The policy, then, is a set of rules or requirements to be followed to acheive a given process. My procedures are guidelines of major methods to be used to meet the policies as defined by the company, and work instructions are specific steps needed to carry out the procedures.

Good question, Randy, this is always tough to define, especially when creating a new system, or training new people.

Wow, I must be slow, when I started this there were no replies!

[Randy]

You guys must really be bored to respond this fast

I used to teach that a policy is a theory that is brought into reality by action.