| ||
| ||
|
Management Information | |
|
|
Seven Cs to Avoid Procedure Writing Errors
You do your best to make sure your organization is operating as effectively as possible. But if your policies and procedures are incomplete, outdated, or inconsistent, then they are not driving the performance improvement they should. When employees try to use incomplete or undefined procedures, waste and costly errors soon follow. Case Study: Little Mistakes Add Up Quickly Without knowing it, employees at a local auto parts company were having a costly problem determining when to accept customer credit. The company actually had a detailed credit application procedure, including an exhaustive error correction routine, but the procedure had one fatal flaw: it was not properly indexed. Indexing Improves Usability Without a way to readily locate and reference the applicable procedure in the operations manual, employees could not find it and were simply not using it at all, leading to an inconsistent process and wildly varying output. Potentially valuable customers were regularly turned away by some staff members, while others accepted bad credit risks because they were unsure of which ones to reject. A small omission like this can add up to thousands of dollars in lost sales and good will. Even the most thorough procedures inevitably have gaps that come from being "too close" to the process or not following the basic rules of effective procedure writing. Profit from Experience To be effective, procedures must be action oriented, grammatically correct, and written in a consistent style and format to ensure usability. These guidelines, along with industry "best practices" that are documented in auditable criteria, can be used to improve your procedures: Quickly Improve Your Policies and Procedures without the Hassle You can quickly resolve these usability problems and improve performance, and also upgrade your documentation to "best practice" standards without hassles or commitments. By beginning to improve your documents, you will be able to identify areas for improvement. And you can start today with the 7 Cs of "best practices". -- You have permission to publish this article free of charge, as long as the resource box is included with the article. If you do run my article, a courtesy reply to chris@bizmanualz.com would be greatly appreciated. This article is 472 words long including box and word wrapped at 65 characters per line. Thanks for your interest. About The Author Chris Anderson has over 18 years of sales, marketing and business management experience working with business process design, software and systems engineering for over ten years - consulting with companies large and small. He is also co-author of policies and procedures manual products, assisting in the layout, process design and implementation of the information. He is currently the Managing Director of Bizmanualz, Inc. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from Pepperdine University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Southern Illinois University. Mail to: chris@bizmanualz.com Visit: http://www.bizmanualz.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Management - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Project Heroes Project heroes. We've all heard of them. Tales from the Corporate Frontlines: Finding The Perfect Balance This article relates to the Work/Life Balance competency, which investigates how your staff feels with regard to the balance between work and personal life. It explores issues such as priority of family and hours on the job, also covered in this competency. Five Steps to Better Employee Management Hiring employees is a huge responsibility. Before hiring anyone, be sure to carefully analyze your needs in terms of extra assistance. Book Summary: Mind Your Own Business A maverick is an independent person who will not go along with the other members of a group (Oxford ESL Dictionary). This book provides priceless stories and insights from a maverick of the business world; an exemplary business leader who prefers not to follow orthodox beliefs in business, nor be eaten by the hyped up ideas of the present. Cultural Differences: Making it Work Virtually Working virtually adds a whole new dimension to the phrase "cultural differences". It immediately becomes apparent how different people around the world work, live and network. Why Business Owners Need Security The main reason is to stop any potential lawsuits from happening! But do you know how many individuals I have talked to about this very thing? Many! Do you know what the majority have told me? They have locks and cameras, so they don't need anymore security than that!This is a mess waiting to happen, the reason is as follows. This attitude is the reason things happen in business establishments that prompt major lawsuits from those that get hurt in some way while on the premises or by someone on the premises. How to Delegate More Effectively Do this simple excercise, and transform your life.First, Make a list of recurring "to do's". Indecent Proposal in the Workplace - An Overview of Workplace Harassment & Employer Liability An allegation of harassment in the workplace is a growing phenomenon facing companies across the U.S. Business Innovation - the Value of Structure Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Five Ways to Influence Change in Others Because of my work as a consultant, trainer and coach I deal with change and people's reactions to it all the time. When a Client decides to work with us, they are recognizing that some sort of change is needed. The Top Six Reasons to Buy Rather Than Build an Inventory Management Solution Is building your own inventory management solution really your best bet?The issues that companies face when they decide to build a solution in house are numerous: Scarce development resources, project cost overruns, delivery delays, unexpected technical issues, long-term maintenance issues.For these reasons, you should consider purchasing hosted, flexible, "out-of-the-box" vendor managed inventory (VMI) and web-based inventory solutions that can be running in a matter of days -- rather than months -- all at a fixed monthly price - with no delays, low risk and a lower total cost of ownership. Knowledge Management: More Than Just Know-how! People sometimes interchange the terms "know-how" and "knowledge", but there's a world of difference! Systems vendors are falling over themselves to sell you so-called "integrated knowledge management solutions", but these are rarely more than glorified information management systems with go-faster stripes.If we fail to understand knowledge in all its facets, then there is a danger that in doing so we miss out on the most valuable aspects of knowledge management and end up delivering a system-driven solution, rather than a cultural shift towards sharing and learning from experience. Steps to Build ISO 9001 Compliant Program Implementing an ISO 9001 system represents a major effort. However, all of that effort can represent a significant shift for a business - from quantity to quality. Eliminate Performance Anxiety Forever You've had many years of training in your craft as a performer, singer, actor etc. but if you still feel haunted by the ravages of Performance Anxiety your career may be in serious jeopardy. Success: A Wholistic Perspective The world has always been mixed with the rich, the poor and the middle ground. Should we assume that if you make more and more money, that you are more and more successful? Perhaps not. Leaning Toward Change Seduced by the publicity surrounding the impact of Lean on organizations, it's no surprise that people new to Lean, upon hearing or reading such information, are anxious to implement a continuous improvement initiative in their organizations.What has received little publicity, however, and often frustrates Lean implementation, are the employees on whom Lean is often inflicted, albeit unwittingly. Meetings and Road Trips Managing a meeting is like setting off on a long car trip with friends or family. You need to plan your route, pay attention to the rules of the road, consider what will keep your passengers engaged and occupied, and always remember you have to get back home at the end. Business Innovation - Organizational Structure Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas. Why We Judge Judgment is the process of forming an opinion of something by making a comparison. While judgment can play an important role in decisions we must make to live productively, sometimes the thoughts we hold are what prevent us from having what we most desire. Passion for Profits Business owners and managers are busier than ever. As their businesses grow and become more complex, they find that they don't have the time to be all things to all people.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
