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Policy
A policy is a deliberate system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent, and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an organization. Policies can assist in both subjective and objective decision making. Policies to assist in subjective decision making usually assist senior management with decisions that must be based on the relative merits of a number of factors, and as a result are often hard to test objectively, e.g. work-life balance policy. In contrast policies to assist in objective decision making are usually operational in nature and can be objectively tested, e.g. password policy.The term may apply to government, private sector organizations and groups, as well as individuals. Presidential executive orders, corporate privacy policies, and parliamentary rules of order are all examples of policy. Policy differs from rules or law. While law can compel or prohibit behaviors (e.g. a law requiring the payment of taxes on income), policy merely guides actions toward those that are most likely to achieve a desired outcome.Policy or policy study may also refer to the process of making important organizational decisions, including the identification of different alternatives such as programs or spending priorities, and choosing among them on the basis of the impact they will have. Policies can be understood as political, managerial, financial, and administrative mechanisms arranged to reach explicit goals. In public corporate finance, a critical accounting policy is a policy for a firm/company or an industry that is considered to have a notably high subjective element, and that has a material impact on the financial statements.
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Policy (noun)
The art of governance; political science. 14th–18th c.
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Policy (noun)
A state; a polity. 14th–16th c.
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Policy (noun)
A set political system; civil administration. 15th–19th c.
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Policy (noun)
A trick; a stratagem. 15th–19th c.
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Policy (noun)
A principle of behaviour, conduct etc. thought to be desirable or necessary, especially as formally expressed by a government or other authoritative body. from 15th c.
“The Communist Party has a policy of returning power to the workers.”
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Policy (noun)
Wise or advantageous conduct; prudence, formerly also with connotations of craftiness. from 15th c.
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Policy (noun)
Specifically, political shrewdness or (formerly) cunning; statecraft. from 15th c.
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Policy (noun)
The grounds of a large country house. from 18th c.
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Policy (noun)
Motive; object; inducement.
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Policy (noun)
An illegal daily lottery in late nineteenth and early twentieth century USA on numbers drawn from a lottery wheel (no plural)
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Policy (noun)
A number pool lottery
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Policy (verb)
To regulate by laws; to reduce to order.
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Rule (noun)
A regulation, law, guideline.
“All participants must adhere to the rules.”
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Rule (noun)
A ruler; device for measuring, a straightedge, a measure.
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Rule (noun)
A writing.
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Rule (noun)
A regulating principle.
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Rule (noun)
The act of ruling; administration of law; government; empire; authority; control.
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Rule (noun)
A normal condition or state of affairs.
“My rule is to rise at six o’clock.”
“As a rule, our senior editors are serious-minded.”
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Rule (noun)
Conduct; behaviour.
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Rule (noun)
An order regulating the practice of the courts, or an order made between parties to an action or a suit.
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Rule (noun)
A determinate method prescribed for performing any operation and producing a certain result.
“a rule for extracting the cube root”
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Rule (noun)
A thin plate of brass or other metal, of the same height as the type, and used for printing lines, as between columns on the same page, or in tabular work.
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Rule (verb)
To regulate, be in charge of, make decisions for, reign over.
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Rule (verb)
To excel.
“This game rules!”
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Rule (verb)
To mark (paper or the like) with rules lines.
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Rule (verb)
To decide judicially.
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Rule (verb)
To establish or settle by, or as by, a rule; to fix by universal or general consent, or by common practice.
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Policy (noun)
a course or principle of action adopted or proposed by an organization or individual
“it is not company policy to dispense with our older workers”
“the government’s controversial economic policies”
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Policy (noun)
prudent or expedient conduct or action
“a course of policy and wisdom”
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Policy (noun)
a contract of insurance
“they took out a joint policy”
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Policy (noun)
an illegal lottery or numbers game
“he swore that he had never played policy in his life”