Tech Comm Student

We should all be aware that a company policy is a guideline that regulates organizational action, “controlling the conduct of people and the activities of systems (Campbell, 1998).” Procedures are simply the instructions for executing the company policies.

It may initially seem wise to craft very specifically written policy and procedure statements for nearly every conceivable action within the control of the company. However, as a little extra contemplation might discover, this would be highly impractical and inefficient. Even if this were attempted, by the time the writer felt they were “finished,” so much time would have passed that much of what was written to begin with is now irrelevant! As a result, new policies and procedures would need to be written.

Ambiguity In Policies

In many cases, the majority of policies in the workplace are fairly specific and easily-understood statements of what is (or is not) to be done by employees. However, no writer of policies will ever be able to anticipate, nor record in detail every situation that could arise… if only people were that predictable (might make for a boring life, but at least we would be prepared)! The reality is that a policy can really be anything that establishes a guideline.

“It is our policy to be the best in the business.” It is easy to see that this is quite an ambiguous policy!
But take, for an additional example, a policy that states, “Employees may not wear jeans containing a hole in them during casual Fridays.” Try to imagine, for a moment, all of the different ways that employees may interpret, and then try to “bend” this rule. I may not, as an employee, be able to wear jeans, but can I wear khakis containing a hole? Could I wear a pair of jeans with multiple holes? What if I am a contractor; must I abide by these rules when in the office? Keep in mind that this does not mean there should be no policies lacking ambiguity.

“It is our practice to bill within ten days of delivery.”
“Any accident involving more than $100 in damage will be considered a serious infraction.”
The above policy statements are simple, easy to understand, and to the point.

In Nancy Campbell’s book “Writing Effective Policies and Procedures,” she asserts that there are three factors that influence the extent to which policies should be ambiguous:
1) The ability of the readers (generally employees) to understand and cope with the policy.
2) Company management’s ability to understand and to enforce the policies.
3) The intensity of the issue addressed in the policy, and the organization’s commitment to control it.

Ambiguity In Procedures

Since procedures are the “how to” of policies, they tend to be less ambiguous. There are some reasons that we may want to maintain a degree of ambiguity here though as well. An example of a good situation may be when a policy needs to be written which instructs employees to use their professional judgment to assess a situation. They might need to gather information and then apply it towards a problem that could be difficult to strictly define.

Subjectivity In Policies And Procedures

As long as there are differences between individuals, there will always be some degree of subjectivity in existence. Even when we may try to be as objective as possible, someone will come along and often be able to point out how one may interpret our ideas differently.

Is the goal then to hire employees with company-aligned interpretations? There may actually be some truth to this thought. All companies want its employees to act professionally and to exercise sound business judgment. Again, Campbell believes there are three things to determine when thinking about subjective interpretations in a policy or procedure:
1) Which areas legitimately require employees to exercise some sound judgment.
2) How much subjectivity is needed.
3) How should we determine the basis for making that judgment.