Policies are always present in project management. A policy is basically a structured pattern consisting of different actions that are adopted by an organization to set guidelines to its entire conduct. The policy of the organization also sets the basic principles that govern every process and everyone within the organization.
There are many benefits to policies that should be implemented in project management. A policy serves as an internal control mechanism that limits the behavior of the project team and the other stakeholders of the project. In many organizations, policies are used to maintain accountability for both external and internal stakeholders. Because of the project management policies, everyone will know their roles within the organization. Thus, it also maximizes the compliance among everyone.
To ensure that policies are being enforced and followed within the organization. The project owner needs to create an auditing mechanism to ensure that everything is being followed. Without it, enforcement of the policies will be difficult and it will also be difficult to review which policies are effective and which ones should be replaced with new ones.
This term is defined in the 5th edition of the PMBOK.