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JOHN WATSON MT302 Organizational Behavior Unit One: Case Incident 1 How a UPS manager can cut turnover 6/13/2009

How a UPS Manager Cut Turnover 1. In dollars-and-cents terms, why did Jennifer Shroeger want to reduce turnover? In Buffalo New York, UPS operations prime objective is to find a way to overcome their fifty percent a year turnover rate in which cost them over millions of dollars per year. In hopes of resolving this issue the company promoted Jennifer Shroeger to district manager. But first she needed to find what was costing the company so much money and why there was so much turnovers. She knew that a high turnover rate results in an increase of recruiting, selection, and training costs. She also found in addition, a high rate of turnover could disrupt the efficient running of an organization when knowledgeable, experienced personnel leave, and replacements found and prepared to assume positions of responsibility; this ad up to dollars and cents because of loss productivity (Judge, 2007). For example, on UPS's Pressroom website states, "UPS spends more than $300 million per year on training and education programs for its worldwide workforce". Jennifer, saving over a million dollars a year and dropping the turnover rate from fifty percent to six percent surely contributes toward saving this Organization lot of money (United Parcel Service of America, 2004-2009).

2. In addition to turnover, what other criteria should Ms. Shroeger examine in evaluating the effectiveness of the UPS program? Why is it important to examine multiple criteria in evaluating an OB program?

In addition to turnovers, other criterion examined was Ms. Shroeger's development of a comprehensive plan focusing on improving hiring, communication, the workplace, and supervisory training. Ms. Shroeger followed the Basic OB Model, Stage II and modified the hiring process to screen out people who wanted full time jobs. She also distinguished and differentiated her five district groups by age and stages in their careers by which they had different needs and interests. She also modified the communication style and motivation of each employee in his or her group (Judge, 2007). The importance of these multiple criteria's are to examine the impact that individuals, groups, and structure have on behavior within an organization, and then it applies that knowledge to make organizations work more effectively. The program designed to improve productivity, reduce absenteeism, turnover, and deviant workplace behavior; and increase organizational citizenship behavior and job satisfaction is why managers can offer guidance in creating an ethically healthy work climate (Judge, 2007).

3. What are the implications from this case for managing in future years when there may be a severe labor shortage? To prevent future labor shortages and workers from leaving the work place, Ms. Shroeger found that college students are most interested in building skills that they can apply later in their careers. Therefore, she offers them Saturday classes for computer-skill development and careerplanning discussions (Judge, 2007). Since many new UPS employees in Buffalo are intimidated by the huge warehouse in which they had to work, Ms. Shroeger improved lighting throughout the building and upgraded break rooms to make them more user-friendly (Judge, 2007).

To help new employees adjust, she turned some of her best shift supervisors into trainers who provided specific guidance during new hires first week. She also installed more personal computers on the floor, which gave new employees easier access to training materials and human-resource information on UPSs internal network. Finally, Shroeger expanded training so supervisors had the skills to handle increased empowerment and to see how difficult it is to be a manager (Judge, 2007).

4. Is it unethical to teach supervisors to demonstrate interest in workers as individuals? Explain. In my opinion, every person has the ability to learn a skill if they are not naturally born with the natural ability to show interest in others. Being a supervisor requires some degree of taking on a role of leadership and having some additional qualities about them in which could be aquired if one does not possess it naturally already. However, there must be an initial interest or passion to begin that journey of aquirement because all the qualities and emotions that we need are the same within ourselves and others. So is it unethical to teach supervisors to demonstrate interest in individuals? You can't make somebody change without them wanting to change and you can't make somebody learn what they don't want to learn. It is not unethical to me to teach supervisors to have interest in workers as individuals if they want to be taught.

5. What facts in this case support the argument that OB should be approached from a contingency perspective?

The supporting facts from the case of the argument that the approach of OB is from a contingency perspective, supports Ms. Shroeger by how she improved hiring, communication, the work place, and supervisor training. She analyzed the large database of information that UPS had on her districts employees and made many changes to adding skills and career development classes, improved conditions in the warehouse and buildings and finally expanded supervisor training. The approach made a statement that she was responsible of determining which managerial approach was likely to be most effective in achieving her cutting the turnover rate. It resulted from a fifty percent turnover rate per year to six percent and an annual savings of one million dollars. Buffalo district gained a twenty percent reduction in lost workdays and finally dropping from four percent to one percent in packages delivered on the wrong day or at the wrong time.

References Judge, S. P. (2007). Organizational Behavior, Twelfth Edition. Prentice Hall. United Parcel Service of America, I. (2004-2009). UPS Pressroom: Training. Retrieved June 13, 2009, from http://www.pressroom.ups.com/mediakits/humanresources/training/