Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) are used worldwide. Anybody who has served in the military is painfully aware of the standard operating procedures learned and relearned in boot camp, starting with the way to properly make a bed or to dismantle and clean their rifle.
In the professional world, (for example accounting, medical, finacne, etc) they usually refer to the components of a procedures manual. In dentistry, for example, there are SOPs for virtually every repeated procedure for the front and back office, plus specific actions by management. It differs little for medical offices. Each SOP has a desired outcome (what you want to have happen as a result of the SOP) and a measurement (how you know if it is being correctly followed). It is possible to design a �perfect� or �dream� practice, create a mission statement that defines it, then develop SOPs that make that practice happen by adhering to the mission statement. That is, the desired outcome of each SOP is a reflection of the mission statement. It is also possible to perform objective employee performance reviews by using the measurements of the SOPs as a key criterion as to an employee�s efficiency.
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Carl G. Kline, MBA copyright 1997-2005 |