Policy without (much) pain - University of Ballarat

Policy without (much) pain19. Institutional policy managementMost large institutions now have a central unit responsible for managing and coordinating thedevelopment of policy. This unit may be attached to the secretariat of central committees thatapprove policy, or it may simply be part of the portfolio of one of the senior managers. The policymanagement unit is likely to maintain the web policy repository. It will be the business owner ofthe ‘policy on policies’ or whateverdocument defines the policy framework ofthe institution.Policy managers will onlysucceed in managing policyeffectively if their work iswell supported by the wholesenior management team.Institutional policy managers haveconsiderable influence on whether policyworks well for the institution: whether itmeets the needs of staff and students andis well understood and respected. At thesame time, policy managers will onlysucceed in managing policy effectively iftheir work is well supported by the whole senior management team (see section 6 above).Effective institutional policy management includes: keeping senior managers informed about the state of the institution’s policy frameworkincluding gaps and policies past their review dates arguing for adequate resourcing of policy projects and policy management working closely with the institution’s legal advisers to ensure that policy is aligned with theinstitution’s delegated legislation and relevant national and (in Australia) state legislation~ 37 ~