82,853
edits
Policy: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
Amwelladmin (talk | contribs) No edit summary |
||
| Line 7: | Line 7: | ||
Policy is the mountain; the workers are Mohammed. So calling out substandard performance in the workforce is orthodox business management practice. But calling out substandard process or, heaven forfend, [[policy]], is a kind of sedition. | Policy is the mountain; the workers are Mohammed. So calling out substandard performance in the workforce is orthodox business management practice. But calling out substandard process or, heaven forfend, [[policy]], is a kind of sedition. | ||
===Policy and subversion=== | |||
But policy is a [[proxy]]. It is a second-order derivative of the intractably complex life of a modern organisation. Compliance with policy is a quantifiable thing that [[internal audit]] can glom onto. It requires no qualitative assessment, no [[subject matter expert]]ise and no judgement. There is a simple enquiry with a simple answer. | But policy is a [[proxy]]. It is a second-order derivative of the intractably complex life of a modern organisation. Compliance with policy is a quantifiable thing that [[internal audit]] can glom onto. It requires no qualitative assessment, no [[subject matter expert]]ise and no judgement. There is a simple enquiry with a simple answer. | ||
| Line 17: | Line 17: | ||
“No-one got fired for complying with policy”: that’s a truism. “No-one died because someone complied with policy” — maybe that’s ''not'' such a truism. | “No-one got fired for complying with policy”: that’s a truism. “No-one died because someone complied with policy” — maybe that’s ''not'' such a truism. | ||
===Policy and the production line=== | |||
All this assumes that the commercial landscape your policy is meant to cover is a fully-scoped production line where all inputs, all outputs and all contingencies are mapped. No frontiers, no [[known unknowns]] are in sight. | All this assumes that the commercial landscape your policy is meant to cover is a fully-scoped production line where all inputs, all outputs and all contingencies are mapped. No frontiers, no [[known unknowns]] are in sight. | ||
| Line 24: | Line 24: | ||
And therein lies the rub: any fully-scoped process, where we know every possible input, output, and contingency, is ''necessarily'' one of limited risk and limited value. Easy wins for [[internal audit]], but nothing much at stake. | And therein lies the rub: any fully-scoped process, where we know every possible input, output, and contingency, is ''necessarily'' one of limited risk and limited value. Easy wins for [[internal audit]], but nothing much at stake. | ||
Where are the big risks? With the big rewards, at | ===Policy and the wild frontier=== | ||
Where are the big risks? With the big rewards, at the wild frontier. Over the horizon, where “[[here be dragons]]”. Where there are [[known unknowns]] and [[unknown unknowns|''unknown'' unknowns]]. Where, by definition, we are beyond the comforting porch-light of a fully worked-out production line. Where there is maximum opportunity to add value: in a commercial context, to make, or lose, money. In a social one, to improve, or ruin, lives. | |||
Hypothesis: where t[[here be dragons]], a policy is your worst enemy. | Hypothesis: where t[[here be dragons]], a policy is your worst enemy. | ||