Definition: Open door policy represents a contemporary business policy under which every manager’s door at a company is open to the workforce.
What Does Open Door Policy Mean?
What is the definition of open door policy? The open-door policy encourages direct communication, feedback, and argument about issues that matter to employees. Usually, the companies that adopt an open policy seek to develop trust between management and the workforce as well as to make employees feel that they can address any issue of importance to their manager for assistance, guidance, and feedback.
From the manager’s perspective, an open-door policy allows the management to know what is important to the workforce so that they make the necessary changes in the workplace and help employees to improve their performance.
Let’s look at an example.
Example
Company ABC, a leading technology company, is committed to creating the best work environment for its employees. The company has adopted an open-door policy to encourage the workforce to raise concerns and resolve issues that pertain to the working environment and how it can be adjusted to the global challenges.
Employees are free to reach their managers and inform them of a potential problem, complaint or anything they think it could improve the working environment. The open, direct communication enables managers to address complaints and provide feedback so that employees feel relaxed in the workplace.
On the other hand, the management has set boundaries so that managers are approached for meaningful and productive discussions and not for trivial issues that can be solved between the employees. The company avoids micromanagement and encourages managers to keep their finger on the pulse of their subordinates’ performance and ideas about the workplace.
The open-door policy in company ABC fosters employee understanding as most problems can be solved with an honest communication between management and the workforce. Furthermore, managers benefit by gaining insight into possible concerns about the company’s processes and approaches that may not be as efficient as planned in the first place.
Summary Definition
Define Open-Door Policy: An open door policy means management and upper level executives leave their office doors up and allow lower employees to access them for questions and business concerns.
