Original Text
An important part of management is the making of rules. As a means of regulating the functioning of an organisation so that most routine matters are resolved without referring each issue to the manager they are an essential contribution to efficiency. The mere presence of carefully considered rules has the double-edged advantage of enabling workers to know how far they can go, what is expected of them and what channels of action to adopt on the one side, and, on the other, of preventing the management from the behaving in a capricious manner. The body of rules fixed by the company for itself acts as its constitution, which is binding both on employees and employers, however, it must be remembered that rules are made for people, not
people for rules. If conditions and needs change rules ought to change with them. Nothing is sadder than the mindless application of rules which are out-date and irrelevant. An organisation suffers from mediocrity if it is too rule-bound. People working in will do the minimum possible.It is called “working to rule or just doing enough to ensure that rules are not broken. But this really represents the lowest level of the employer/employee relationship and an organisation afflicted by this is in an unhappy condition indeed. Another important point in rule-making is to ensure that they are rules which can be followed. Some rules are so absurd that although everyone pays lip-service to them, no one really bothers to follow them. Often the management knows this but can do nothing about it. The danger of this is, if a level of disrespect for one rule is created this might lead to an attitude of disrespect for all rules. One should take it for granted that nobody likes rules, nobody wants to be restricted by them, and, given a chance, riots people will try and break them. Rules which cannot be followed are not only pointless, they are actually damaging to the structure of the organization.

Precis

Rules in any organisation act as a constitution, to which workers can refer, to resolve several issues for a smooth functioning of organisation. They prescribe dos and don'ts for the workers. As rules are made for the people, they can be modified depending on situation. An organisation with rigid set of rules would relegate affecting the workers' performance. It will reflect an unsatisfactory environment and a weak employer/employee relationship.Observable rules should be formulated.An insignificant rule leads to violation, which further leads to disrespect of all the rules by not following them. This weakens the organisational structure.

TITLE: RULES: A BACKBONE OF AN ORGANIZATION