United Parcel Service

Of course, every company wants to attract the best people it can. Equally important at UPS is attracting people who fit the company culture, which encourages high energy, hard work, fairness, inclusiveness, teamwork, and sharing the wealth.

Those who work at UPS are more than employees; they’re business partners. Promotions come largely from within the organization. Managers typically will handle assignments in about a half dozen different functional areas of the business during their careers. This employer/employee relationship remains relevant in today’s economy, because the nature of UPS’s business involves an extraordinary degree of teamwork.

Every business day, UPS moves 13 million packages around the globe. In effect, UPS is the world’s conveyor belt for commerce, one that requires 350,000 employees to work in harmony and with precision. Every day, 85,000 drivers take responsibility for roughly 6 percent of the nation’s GDP, which is delivered from their package cars.

Every day, thousands of decisions must be made by managers in the field to keep the conveyor belt moving smoothly—decisions about lost packages, transportation schedules, preparations for bad weather, and myriad other details. And every day, logistics and financial services people are creatively exploring ways for customers to streamline their supply chains to improve productivity and service.

Successfully coaching people is also critical to the company’s success. Managers must be empathetic to one of the world’s largest and most diverse employee workforces. They must be team builders. That takes experience and training; it’s not something that can be gotten from a textbook or learned overnight.

How does UPS attract and retain such leaders? The answer lies in connection, the way the company connects to the world. This connection begins with the way UPSers connect inside, to each other and, as in any enduring culture, to their roots.

QUESTIONS

1. What type of business strategy is UPS pursuing? What are the characteristics of the strategy? [10 marks]
2. How do practices such as internal promotion and assignment of broad job duties help UPS achieve its competitive business strategy? [5 marks]
3. How do the human resource practices at UPS help build teamwork? [5 marks]
4. Why are training and experience so important at UPS? [10 marks]