Hi Mark,

When there are people in the family ,there are always some or other issues..problems,grievances.

These problems left unsolved can create a problem in the future for the family.therefore they neede to be discsussed and solved asap.

Open door policy is one of the method of solving employee grievances.

and whenever we have a problem, we try to discuss with the family head most of the times,as the head is aware of whats going on in the house and is capable of bringing solutions , so we can rely upon him anytime.

therefore Open door is when you can walk into the boss's cabin anytime without appointment and talk about your grievances.

Grievances arise only from work related issues and not personal or family matters.

Kanojia

Open Door policy is HR policy of the company which is adopted for communications with in the company for upward coummuniction. The important aspect of Organasational Culture. The culture building happens through Values . The Values which are important for ..

OCTAPACE

1. O - OPENNESS- SPONTANEOUS EXPRESSION OF FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS AND SHARING THESE WITHOUT DEFENSIVENESS.

2. CONFRONTATION- AS FACING PROBLEMS, AND NOT SHYING AWAY FROM PROBLEMS.

3.T- TRUST- IT IS REFLECTED IN MAINTAINING CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION SHARED BY OTHERS AND NOT MISUSING IT.

4.A- AUTHENTICITY- IS A CONGRUENCE BETWEEN WHAT ONE FEELS.

5.P- PROACTION- TAKING INITIATIVE, PREPLANNING & TAKING PREVENTIVE ACTION.

6.A- AUTONOMY- IS USING & GIVING FREEDOM TO PLAN & ACT IN ONES OWN SPHERE.

7. C- COLLABORATION- IS GIVING HELP TO AND ASKING FOR HELP FROM OTHERS.

8.E- EXPERIMENTING- USING AND ENCOURAGING INNOVATIVE APPROACHES FOR PROBLEM SOLVING.

Hope this is will be useful and answers your question.

Cheers

Paresh Kamat

The basic outline of OCTAPACE given by Paresh Kamat is very useful and gives a broad outlook about how the Culture Building has to happen within the organisation. Well, from my experience and it is purely my personal opinion in this subject, that there is nothing called " OPEN DOOR POLICY" in HR dept.

HR Dept perse cannot have any thing very open and very transparent. All I know in my experience in many progressive looking Companies have a system of OPEN FORUMS, a measure for upward communication as rightly said by Mr Paresh. It is regarded as a best form of tool to elicit the Employees Satisfaction and to have a first hand information about cross section of employees perception about the Company. The Top man in the Organisation also gets an opoortunity to interact with his employees.

Le me say, HR person should not be over enthusiastic in popularising openess in his company for variety of limitations and risks involved.

Only if the culture or likings of Top man permits you can have such policy. It should not be a source of embrassment that a HR man takes forward.

There must be a clear cut areas/ subjects, which all can be open and which all other has to be strictly closed. For e.g you cannot have openess in promotion but the modalities can be transparent.

In a highly unionised environment such open policy is dangerous and have to be restricted. Openess can be like opening a slew gate, where you have to face an avalanche of grievances.

Openess calls for a definite type of leadership, where the Top man can articulate diplomatically and at the same time show seriousness in set right the things that go wrong.

The position of HR man in the organisation becomes really miserable if you do not follow up a grievance and redress it within time frame.

The best way of openess which I strongly feel and practice daily is to meet people everyday and keep a system of addressing a small groups in an informal way and register the issues and keep the information flow to the top consistently. We have a system of weekly HR event report which goes to Top where such issues of importance is reflected

Final word, in name of openess let us not fall into invisible quagmire. I may perhaps be wrong in my opinion, if here is any criticism on this subject it is welcome.

Regards,
Rajesh

Many businesses talk about having an "open door policy," but, in reality, how open is the door?

An open door policy is one that allows communication to take place from the bottom of your organization to its top. It ensures that people know what is expected of them and in what time frame they are expected to deliver. An open door policy provides regular updates to supervisors and workers on the status of various projects and encourages regular staff meetings to review progress toward goals. An open door policy is one that recognizes and rewards good work with promotions, bonuses, raises and public praise. It builds a sense of trust within the organization that allows it to deal with office politics in an open, honest and respectful way.

Sounds like a place where most of us would like to work, doesn't it?

Doors will open and stay open when you have good channels of communication.

Good communication occurs when we work at it and use various methods to ensure it is maintained. This is a never-ending job that takes just as much effort as any other aspect of running your business, but the payoff is just as great!

The Tata's are famous to have adopted this policy. I am ot sure if they still do....And when it was first initiated it was a huge success and helped them build on Organizational committment, (as we hear it from the horses mouth. The truth is known only by their HR Dept). But yes I would say cause my own parents were once upon a time employed with em way back in the 70's, this firm then had really the ability to hold its people. This policy was initiated with an aim that the M.D be aware of the shop floor happenings. The move was a smart and diplomatic management move since Managers would be on their toes and be more watchful of what they said or behaved, cause the M.D was just 20 steps away.... and have heard of cases where the M.D did intervene on certain issues discussed with him during these sessions.....

Mostly this policy is where someone from the Top Mgmt is willing to be the agony aunt, but from theemployees perspective it clicks cause to be told your CEO or M.D isnt available or is travelling gives u the feeling you are just another fish.

Hope this works for you!!

Prof Tandon