How Processes and Procedures Influence Our Judgements

Processes and procedures have an impact on the way we think and judge situations. These processes and procedures become vantage points that define our thoughts and courses of actions. Businesses that seek to develop the best organizations need to ensure that the policies and procedures are well developed and understand their long tail impact. The same lessons of an organization can be applied to any private or public institution.

Consider how behavior becomes pattern. For the vast majority of us, we act and react without thinking purposely about how we should be behaving or thinking in that situation. We rely on our previous modes of thoughts and patterns to make our decisions and actions. Policies and procedures define and reflect our modes of thought.

Policies and procedures are a method of accomplishing goals and set a tone and value for all decisions thereafter. As the people in the organization learn and integrate policies and procedures into their viewpoints they begin to believe these structures have validity beyond being only one course of action. They seem real but are only man made mental constructs that are limited in scope.

These systems work great when they operate unchallenged and in an environment that is stagnant. However, the world doesn't really work this way. Policies must change when new situations arise, or when things happen that are outside of the "normal". They are only a standard mode that works in a standard situation and fall apart or become defunct unique situations.

Policies and procedures should be revisited every time a major environmental change occurs or when new situations arise that truly don't apply well to existing processes. As the procedures are updated they become more accurate, more adaptive, and reflective of "truth" and the world in which we live.

Stagnant policies are part of stagnant organizations that will soon suffer the weight of their own inability to adjust to their environment. While the majority of people within an organization should follow the policies those with decision making authority should question the logic of policies on a regular basis. Finding new ways of doing things will make both the organization and the people who live within that structure more adaptive.