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Features

Guidelines and Policies & Procedures (GAPP). Guidelines, policies, and procedures work
together to ensure the organization functions smoothly yet provide room for flexibility and adaptation by
allowing for change more easily.
Guidelines offer advice and recommendations and are more about best practices. The DKG
Digital Meeting Guidelines and the DKG Expansion Guidelines are two examples.
Policies provide broad, high-level principles that direct the overall approach to key issues and
behavior by an organization (West, 2023). Examples are the DKG Travel Reimbursement Policy
and the DKG Conflict of Interest Policy.
Procedures offer detailed, step-by-step instructions on implementing policies and outline how
to transform policies into “actionable tasks” (West, 2023, para. 8). Examples include the DKG Non-
Dues Revenue Partnership Procedure and the Scholarship Recipients Selection Procedure.
The last revision of the DKG governing documents occurred in 2010. Since then, multiple amendments
have occurred in 2014, 2018, 2022, and 2024.
In 2018, the administrative board prioritized
simplification and the moving of procedural items The journey of revising
from the governing documents into GAPP. Given
the identified terms related to the functioning the DKG governing
of governing documents, the ongoing need for
simplification, the considerable time spent at documents...includes a
conventions addressing amendments, and the
necessity for a comprehensive review of the
governing process, the appointed Revision Task series of structured steps
Force recommends updating the Constitution and
the International Standing Rules by consolidating that gather member
them into a newly created single document called
The journey of revising the DKG governing feedback followed by a
the International Bylaws.

documents involves moving from a draft to final
approval, which includes a series of structured formal voting procedure.
steps that gather member feedback followed by a
formal voting procedure. This approach ensures
that the newly developed bylaws effectively meet current needs and remain relevant as DKG enters its
second century. The aim of revision is not to make changes for the sake of change but to “implement
thoughtful and strategic adjustments that enhance our ability to serve members” and fulfill the mission of
the organization (Stout, 2024, p. 19).

KEY QUESTIONS
The recommendation by the Revision Task Force to merge the evaluated Constitution and the
International Standing Rules into a single document known as the International Bylaws has garnered
several questions from members. Below are answers to some frequently asked questions regarding the
overall revision process.

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