Who should write Departmental Work Instructions

[MARGEHURSH]

Should those associates that work in a area or department write their own work instructions (owner)? A couple associates in my department that are new think that our area should re-write all work instructions. I totally disagree. We are not the experts they are. I have worked in quality for 18 years and I believe that a non-owner person of that work instruction will add no value. My area audits the departments that they want to write the work instructions for. Several persons are determined to change this.

 

[PaulJSmith]

Re: Departmental Work Instructions

Short-ish answer - probably not. You are correct in thinking that people outside the area have less chance of adding content of value.

Ask your associates what exactly it is they wish to change, and why. If there is any benefit to their ideas, you could share them with the departments and see if they agree. Otherwise, I think it best to leave them to the process owners, especially if they work.

 

[Pancho]

Re: Departmental Work Instructions

Should those associates that work in a area or department write their own work instructions (owner)? A couple associates in my department that are new think that our area should re-write all work instructions. I totally disagree. We are not the experts they are. I have worked in quality for 18 years and I believe that a non-owner person of that work instruction will add no value. My area audits the departments that they want to write the work instructions for. Several persons are determined to change this.

I am a little confused. When you say "We are not the experts they are", who are "they"? Who wrote the original work instructions? And who is the owner of those work instructions?

Under the right circumstances, non-owners can add lots of value to a work instruction. Most particularly the folks actually doing the work and those affected by the work like internal clients.

We encourage anyone in our company edit any instruction. This captures knowledge much better than restrictive editing policies. The process owner may later revert any edit he feels wasn't an improvement, but this doesn't happen often. Most edits are small, incremental, and beneficial change. Instructions evolve and improve continuously.

Rewriting instructions wholesale seems a bit extreme, unless the docs are so bad that they aren't really used. If so, then I'd trust the folks actually doing the work to write a new instruction, and then let others and all improve on them.

 

[Bjourne]

Re: Departmental Work Instructions

Sometimes there is a need for someone outside of the enclosed entity to check on you to see what may be improved. A fresh outlook out-of-the-box outside the normal. That is why customer audits are very effective because they in a way "challenge" what is existing and add to whatever they see fit for the process/organization. I like what Pancho has shared. It will help your organization to improve. Why not sit on it and have a presentation of what needs to be changed or not. You can think of the "supposed change" as a "challenge to the norm" as that of a customer audit -- one outside the organization. A sit down with the people involved will get the things done as long as everyone does not have the resistance to change and keep an open-mind.

 

[John Broomfield]

Re: Departmental Work Instructions

Work Instructions belong to processes not departments...

...but all the documented parts of the management system should act as magnets for the building, refinement and sharing of knowledge.

 

[somashekar]

Re: Departmental Work Instructions

The two aspects in any work is HOW the work has to be done and WHY it has to be done that way. So when a work instruction is drafted, the associates that work in an area will perhaps add lots of value on HOW. However the process owner and he in association with other process owners will have to see from the WHY aspect. This becomes more complex in certain high level assemblies.
In essence the work instruction consideres many elements and then directs the work activity, rather than just the work aspect.
I hope you can take this for your arguement.

 

[MARGEHURSH]

Re: Departmental Work Instructions

Thank you everyone for all the responses your opinions helped alot.