Article (1): Programmed Decision-making at UPS Using the provided article, please answer the following questions.

1. What role do programmed decisions play for UPS drivers?

2. Given the preferences of Generation Y, what were the programmed decision-making challenges faced?

3. How did UPS address those challenges?

READ FOLLOWING ARTICLE THEN ANSWER QUESTIONS PLEASE

Programmed Decision-making at UPS UPS is unrivaled in its use of programmed decision making. Practically all the motions, behaviors, and actions that its drivers perform each day have been carefully honed to maximize efficiency and minimize strain and injuries while delivering high-quality customer service. For example, a 12-step process prescribes how drivers should park their trucks, locate the package they are about to deliver, and step off the truck in 15.5 seconds (a process called selection at UPS). Rules and routines such as these are carefully detailed in UPS's 340 Methods manual (UPS actually has far more than 340 methods). Programmed decision making dictates where drivers should stop to get gas, how they should hold their keys in their hands, and how to lift and lower packages. When programmed decision making is so heavily relied on, ensuring that new employees learn tried-and-true routines is essential. UPS has traditionally taught new employees with a two-week period of lectures followed by practice. In the 2000s, however, managers began to wonder if they needed to alter their training methods to suit their new Generation Y trainees (Generation Y typically refers to people born after 1980), who were not so keen on memorization and drills. Generation Y trainees seemed to require more training time to become effective drivers (90180 days compared to a typical average of 3045 days), and quit rates for new drivers had increased. Given the fundamental importance of performance programs for UPS operations, managers decided to try to alter the training new hires receive so it would be better received by Generation Y trainees. In the late 2000s, UPS opened an innovative Landover, Maryland, training center called UPS Integrad, which has over 11,000 square feet and cost over $30 million to build and equip. Integrad was developed over a three-year period through a collaborative effort of over 170 people, including UPS top managers (many of whom started their careers with UPS as drivers), teams from Virginia Tech and MIT, animators from the Indian company Brainvisa, and forecasters from the Institute for the Future with the support of a grant from the Department of Labor for $1.8 million. Results thus far suggest that Integrad training results in greater driver proficiency and fewer first-year accidents and injuries. Training at Integrad emphasizes hands-on learning. For example, at Integrad a UPS truck with transparent sides is used to teach trainees selection so they can actually see the instructor performing the steps and then practice the steps themselves rather than trying to absorb the material in a lecture. Trainees can try different movements and see, with the help of computer diagrams and simulations, how following UPS routines will help protect them from injury and how debilitating work as a driver can be if they do not follow routines. Video recorders track and document what trainees do correctly and incorrectly so they can see it for themselves rather than relying on feedback from an instructor, which they might question. As Stephen Jones, Director of International Training & Development at UPS, indicates, Tell them what they did incorrectly, and they'll tell you, I didn't do that. You saw wrong.' This way we've got it on tape and they can see it for themselves. At Integrad, trainees get practice driving in a pseudo town that has been constructed in a parking lot. They also watch animated demonstrations on computer screens, participate in simulations, take electronic quizzes, and receive scores on various components that are retained in a database to track learning and performance. Recognizing that Generation Y trainees have a lot of respect for expertise and reputation, older employees also are brought in to facilitate learning at Integrad. For example, long-time UPS employee Don Petersik, who has since retired from UPS, trained facilitators at Integrad and shared stories with them to reinforce the UPS culturesuch as the time he was just starting out as a preloader and, unknown to him, the founder of UPS, Jim Casey, approached him and said, Hi, I'm Jim. I work for UPS. As Petersik indicated, What's new about the company now is that our teaching style matches your learning styles. Clearly, when learning programmed decision making is of utmost importance, as it is at UPS, it is essential to take into account diversity in learning styles and approaches.