Completed Staff Work

Januay 3, 2008

Last Revised:  May 23, 2012 4:50 PM

The person closest to the work has access to the most data about that work.

He may or may not have the best judgment about that work, but to the extent that judgment depends on data, he has that best chance of also having the best judgment.

What he may not have, in data or in judgment, is the bigger picture.

John Worker had approval to order 10 boxes of Life Glow, and did. They have now arrived with a bill for $1,200 from the vendor. John wants to get that bill paid and Treasury is the place that makes payment.

John, however, doesn't know anything about other bills that might be due or how much money is in the account.

Tom Treasurer knows about the money scene, but he doesn't keep track of what was ordered, when, approved by whom, or if the stuff arrived or not, broken or not -- all stuff John Worker has at hand.

The Hubbard Management System includes something called "Completed Staff Work:"

Reference: HCOPL 4 September 1959, Issue I,
"Completed Staff Work (CSW) How to Get Approval of Actions and Projects." OEC Vol 0, Page 183.

A CSW is for improving the business situation, not for changing some personal situation. A CSW is submitted up lines to explain how something is a "major departure from the Ideal Scene," and needs change in order to accomplish the Ideal Scene. It is NOT a CSW when your purpose is NOT a business purpose to reuturn "the situation" more toward the ideal scene. It is NOT a CSW to write that you need a pay raise! If a "CSW" has nothing to do with the business purposes and ideal scene, then it is NOT a CSW.

A wrong example would be:

John wants a pay raise and writes that "I can't meet my rent payments on my current salary and the situation is that I am not paid enough."

Or

"I cannot arrive at work at 9 AM every day because the roads are too busy at that time. (I can get here at 9:30 AM.)"

The above are simply the terms of employment -- if they didn't fit your life, then you should not take the job.

Treasury receives a note from the warehouse asking Treasury to pay an invoice for $1,200 payment, but the note says nothing about who authorized the purchase or whether it has arrived or not.

The correct action should be to send it back to the person who sent the note with a reference to this page.

We don't expect John Worker to order something without written approval. We depend on John to handle all details about:

  1. Why were these ordered?
  2. How do they fit with existing inventory and space for storage?
  3. Did they arrive?
  4. Are there other bills expected, such as shipping or further shipments yet to come on the same order?
  5. Were they in OK shape?
  6. Who appoved the purchase (copy of approval)?
  7. Invoice, or copy of invoice?
  8. Anything else that might be needed, from experience and requests for additional data in the past for this type of situation.

John gets his note back without a long letter of HOW TO CORRECT, but with a reference to this Company Policy, and he then sends a completed staff report, following the format written within the Hubbard Management System:

1. What is the situation

2. What is the data?

3. What is the advised solution?

4. HIS OWN signature and "OK" showing the originator takes responsibility for the advised solution. It is HIS solution.

5. Space for the receiving party to APPROVE _____ or NOT APPROVED ________

 

A CSW ("Completed Staff Work" report) is not the same as a "Daily Report" which is more simple and has no formal structure.

If some senior approves something from such a CSW report and there was missing data that the junior should have included AND the judgment from that original CSW is wrong because of the missing data, the junior is at fault.

Good decisions are not made with bad or missing data.

The receiving party can send it back if there is missing data, or can approve it and handle it further, or send it back not approved with or without an explanation.

The work is all done except the final judgment, so all the data needs to be there to allow a good judgment by someone who is not familiar with the work place where the data is found in its original form.

 

 Official

Quotes from L. Ron Hubbard are copyright 1994 © by the L. Ron Hubbard Library. All rights reserved.