Open-door communication policy

The desire for openness went both ways. Open communications are important and must be allowed—upwards and downwards. While Big Store] says it has an open door policy, it does not—or at least it does not have one that is user friendly. Easily accessible and easily understood channels of open communication are needed between managers and their direct reports. A Big School undergraduate student agreed. Ideally, if Big School is more inclusive, he envisioned that communication lines seem to always be open... which gives a great feeling of acceptance and promotes motivation to accomplish more, believe it or not, because I know there is help along the way if I get stuck. ... 

For hazard and associated risk issues and problems, the regular chain of command may not respond fast enough to respond to the critical nature of the issue. Historical examples of these issues are the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters. An open door policy and procedures that allow unresolved high hazard and risk information to move rapidly to senior leadership should be in place. Essentially, a way to short circuit and bypass normal communication channels is needed. Refer to Chapter 9, Risk Perception—Defining How to Identify Personal Responsibility . 

An atmosphere of open communications appears to exist at SRS. Activities such as roundtables, restart rallies, and management visits to operation training classes are all mechanisms that provide open communication between employees and management. Comments made by personnel interviewed by the evaluation team included the comments that "you can speak to the Plant Manager" and that "he has an open door policy." Based on the above, we find that the criterion for... 

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