A policy is a plan of action adopted by an individual or a social group, for example banking policies or school policies. It can also refer to a line of argument that rationalizes the course of action of a certain government for example economic policy. Policies provide guidelines for decision making within an organization. Policies are made by policymakers for example organization officials, business owners, administrators and government officials. Policies are important in every business venture. Policies give direction to the goals set by an organization. Policies also prevent both the employer and the employees from making inaccurate decisions and even misinterpreting information. In most cases, organizational policies are set to regulate ethics, discrimination, company equipment, employee benefits and expenses. Policies save time, saves money and at the save time reduces misappropriation.
Policies are also required for a business to comply with the set regulations by the government. Organizations are required by law to show how they comply with the government regulations. Such regulation monitors how organizations keep records, control their finances, hires, and check on safety and sanitation compliance.
Policies are usually implemented by both the policymakers and the employees in an organization. Government policies are implemented by the civil servants. Economic policies are normally implemented by the stakeholders in the business sectors for example, the government, entrepreneurs and investors. For better policy implementation, the organization or the government need to clearly communicate the policies to all the stakeholders involved. Policy makers can use various avenues to communicate the policies for example electronic communication, print media, personal communication or even posting. This should be followed by proper explanation of every detail of the policies made. This will ensure that all the stakeholders understand the policies as it were intended by those who made it.
Policies are not supposed to be static. Sometimes it may be necessary to review past policies to comply with the changing environment or even government regulations. Regular review of policies makes it continuously relevant to those that it is meant to regulate. For instance, if there were no monetary reinforcement mistakes in 1929 crash, the depression that followed would have been avoided (Milton and Anna, 1971). Any changes or reviews of the policies should be communicated to the stakeholders immediately to enable compliance and to prevent contradiction.
Policymakers can assess the impact of the policies they made through various ways. They can carry out regular checks on compliance by the stakeholders. For example the government uses the civil servants to check whether business operators have complied with certain economic policies. This is done through random sampling inspection. The government also uses consumer watch agencies to check compliance to the set policies by service providers. Policy makers can also put conditions for issuance of licenses of service. For example, they may demand certificate of clearance from certain inspectorate boards for one to be issued with a certificate of compliance.
The policymakers can also inspect organization records for compliance. This is done using set standards of inspection and compliance. Sometimes organizations are instructed to publicize certain information on the national newspapers in order to show their compliance with the set policies for example the names of the candidates that are hired to certain public posts, annual financial returns, and even certification. Policy makers can also use reports from public watchdog organizations concerning compliance or lack of compliance to the set policies by a certain organization. Such watchdog organizations may include consumer watch, media, non-governmental organizations, anticorruption commissions and other organizations concerned with transparency.
To ensure that policy goals are attained, the policy makers need to closely monitor communication, implementation, assessment and review of the set policies to ensure that they remain relevant to the stakeholders. If regulations policies were imposed, the 2010 European economic crisis would have been mitigated (Krugman, 2010). They should also demonstrate leadership and ensure that all the stakeholders understand and own the process of implementation.
Economic crisis normally affect the frontiers of policy implementation. It makes financial institutions to lose value suddenly. This is because economic crisis affects the policies made by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. These affects how governments set interest rates, set their budgets and even control labor markets and ownership. This in turn affects the political policies. In many economies political players are the frontiers in economic policy making. During economic crisis, governments use policy tools like interest rates, supply of money, tariffs, and tax and labor market regulations. Money supply by the central bank creates the business cycle (Walter, 2004). These directly affect the policy frontiers who are forced to adjust their policies, for example money lending policies to be comply with world economic policies. Due to the world economic crisis today, the European Union has cut off funding of certain governments. The world economic crisis today has led to countries increasing interest rate on lending. It has also affected investor relations in various economies since it affects the value of the currencies of certain economies.
Works Cited
Krugman, Paul. “CRE-ative destruction” New York Times. 2010. Web.
Milton, Friedman, and Anna Schwartz. A Monetary History of the United States, 1867-1960. New York: Princeton University Press, 1971. Print.
Walter, Plosila. “State Science- and Technology-Based Economic Development Policy: History, Trends and Developments and Future Directions.” Economic Development Quarterly 18. (2004): 113. Print.