7 important Guidelines for Effective Strategies and Policies in management

This management tool of strategies and policies must be planned properly and without evolving them delegation will not be fruitful and the section staff cannot be entrusted with proper guidelines. Koontz and O’Donnell give the following guidelines for effective strategies and policies:

1. They should contribute to objectives and plans:

If strategy or policy does not further plan or make enterprise objectives more sustainable, it has not done its job.

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2. They should be consistent:

Both policies and strategies should be consistent in the sense they should not contradict each other in achieving the main goal.

3. They should be Flexible:

If goals or plans are changed the strategies and policies must also be changed.

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4. Policies should be distinguished from Rules and Procedure:

They should be clearly distinguished with each other in order to avoid confusion and to reduce the distraction of managerial functioning. ‘Some policies are rules and not recognized as such; other so called policies are really procedures designed to channel action, not thinking.

The correct separation of these three types of guidelines is important to good planning, workable delegation of authority and even good human relations, it can be accomplished’.

5. Policies should be in Writing:

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For effective communication, policies must be in writing. It can also fix responsibility over the staff. ‘If policies are to be used they should be written. Putting a policy in writing does not make it clear, but a policy that cannot but put in writing is at best an unclear one’.

6. Policies should be taught:

To understand the policies properly it must be explained and interpreted to the concerned line of staff. Misinterpretation or wrong conception of a policy may not lead to achieve the goals.

7. They should be reviewed:

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Policies and strategies must review before they become obsolete or misinterpreted.