Policy and strategy are both methods organizations use in decision-making.
Policies are formal, fairly inflexible, and guide employees regarding known problems. Strategies are relatively informal and inflexible, and help employees handle uncertain situations.
Once written, policies are meant to be used by everyone in an organization. Strategies are hard to delegate to another employee because they require reacting instantly to new information.
Table of Differences between Policy and Strategy
| Feature |
Policy |
Strategy |
| Formality |
Formal |
Varies |
| Flexibility |
Inflexible |
Flexible |
| Uncertainty |
Little Uncertainty |
High Uncertainty |
| Creator |
Upper Management/Policymakers |
All Employees |
| Implementer |
Any Employee |
Creator |
