Please rephrase this so its not word from word. Quality Management at the United

Question

Please rephrase this so its not word from word.

   Quality Management at the United States Postal Service (USPS)

2.    United States Postal Service (USPS)

3.    Background/overview of organization

USPS employees’ approximately 800,000 people.

The chief aim of the United States Postal Service is to provide U.S. public with trusted affordable and universal service. Our government, including the President and Congress set forth this mission, recognizing the USPS’s poignant role in commerce and in binding the nation together. Unlike other carriers, the Postal Service is the only carrier obligated to provide all aspects of universal service at affordable prices.

Service is primarily delivery of mail. As part of the mailing Industry, the United States Postal Service delivers mail to more addresses in larger geographical area than any other post in the world. The USPS delivers to nearly 153 million addresses in every state, city and town in the country.

The quality management processes at the USPS include measurable performance elements. Primarily that of a performance metrics system that allows the quality of service to be measured. Areas that can be assessed include: Completeness, flexibility, reliability, responsiveness, accuracy, usability, safety, and satisfaction. The mail preparation quality management is designed in cooperation with industry mailers. The Mail Preparation Total Quality Management (MPTQM) is based upon the following quality methodologies: Malcolm Baldridge Performance Excellence criteria and Total Quality Management. Merging principles of these programs created a new mailing industry benchmark for customer service and product quality.

4.    Introduction to the problem

Identify the quality issues that need to be addressed: The U.S. Postal Service is the nation’s largest civilian employer. During the postal service’s history, relations between labor unions and postal management have often been confrontational. Postal employees work under a highly structured system of rules and autocratic management style. Working conditions at the plants and post offices reportedly have contributed to tension and frustration, and the number of violent incidents involving employees has increased since 1983.

The labor-management conflict that exists is spread amongst the workroom floor of the vast mailing plants and post offices

The work climate in the mail processing plants and post offices has been one of discourse. This is due to the adversarial labor-management relations at the national level and long-standing quality of work/life issues on the work-room floor.

Despite many USPS accomplishments, the Postal Service has not been able to change its corporate culture, which has long been characterized as autocratic. Employees continue to work in vast mail processing plants and in post offices throughout the country under a highly structured system of work rules and a highly autocratic management style.

5.    Opportunities

There are many potential gains from successful quality management processes at the USPS. By alleviating the labor management problems, the USPS will automatically be relieved of the many issues that plague the organization, as many stemmed from the long standing labor management problems

Improving morale throughout the organization as well as correcting the longstanding labor management issues is a huge area of opportunity. These issues have multiple causes that are related to an autocratic management style, adversarial employee and union attitudes, and inappropriate and inadequate performance management systems. These issues can be reversed and are opportunities for improvement

6.    A possible quality management initiative would be the balanced scorecard.

Balanced scorecard (quality focused)

The balanced scorecard methodology builds on some key concepts of previous management ideas such as Total Quality Management (TQM), including customer-defined quality, continuous improvement, employee empowerment, measurement-based management and feedback.

The balanced scorecard brings many advantages for companies such as emphases of future organizational performance (capabilities, resources, and business processes), outcomes for customers and the growth and profitability of the organization. When the balanced scorecard is applied management members of the company can follow the results of specific objectives and evaluate cause and effect relationships among those objectives derived from the strategy implementation including financial, customer, internal business, and innovation and learning.

7.    TCO B-Quality principles not only drive this organizations, but it also depends upon measuring analyzing and gathering results to improve as well as implement change if necessary; it internal, external, or both. Nowadays, companies do businesses under high pressures of competition to survive and meet tomorrow’s challenges. It is very difficult for managers to make right things and do things right. This requires the development of good business strategies and efficient operations to deliver excellent the products and services required to implement the strategies.

Explanation / Answer

Quality Management at the United States Postal Service (USPS)

1. Background of United States Postal Service (USPS):

USPS employs about 800 thousand people with the aim to provide their customers, the US public a trusted affordable and universal service. The US government has set forth this mission for USPS, recognizing the company’s poignant role in the country’s commerce and its ability to bind the nation together. It is the only postal service provider obligated to provide all the aspects of universal service at affordable prices within the country.

2. United States Postal Service (USPS):

USPS’s primary service is mail delivery, where the company delivers mail to addresses more than any other postal service globally, covering the world’s highest geographical area covered by any postal service. USPS delivers to around 153 million addresses within the US.

3. Quality Management at the United States Postal Service (USPS):

USPS’s quality management processes include measurable performance elements, characterized by a performance metrics system that allows them to measure their service quality. Their service’s completeness, reliability, responsiveness, flexibility, accuracy, safety, usability and satisfaction can be assessed through their quality management system. Their mail preparation quality is managed through their Mail Preparation Total Quality Management (MPTQM) system designed in coordination with industry mailers. The MPTQM system incorporated the quality tools and techniques of Total Quality Management and the Malcolm Baldridge Performance Excellence criteria. USPS has created an industry benchmark for customer service quality by successfully merging the quality principles for theses two programs.

4. Problem Introduction:

Identify the quality issues that should be addressed within the US postal Service. USPS history has seen confrontational relations between their management and labor unions. There is a structured system characterized by autocratic management styles defined by rules which have to be followed by USPS employees. The working conditions within the organization’s work places have also contributed to this tension. USPS has witnessed multiple violent incidents since 1983, involving their employees. These labor-management conflicts spread from the workroom floor to the vast mailing plants to the post offices under USPS. This has led to a workplace climate of discourse.

Despite many accomplishments the company has in its basket, it has repeatedly failed in its efforts to change its company’s autocratic corporate culture that leads to the quality of work/life issues faced by its employees.

5. Opportunities:

Successful quality management processes within USPS will allow it to alleviate its labor management issues. This will automatically relieve the company from the labor issues that plague its system.

Working towards improving the overall employee morale within the company by working on the long standing labor management issues within USPS is a huge area of opportunity for the company. Autocratic management styles, adversarial employee and union attitudes, and inadequate performance management systems are the areas the company needs to work upon.

6. Balanced Scorecard will be a possible quality management initiative.

Balanced Scorecard methodology can be build upon the existing concepts of TQM within the company. TQM principles like continuous improvement, customer-defined quality, employee empowerment, measurement base management and open feedback system can help the company in this endeavor.

Balanced scorecard brings the advantages of customer focus and better emphasis on performance (organizational capabilities, business processes and resources) to the company. It allows the company to follow and measure the organization’s objectives and evaluate these objectives based on a cause and effect relationship analysis with the company’s strategic decisions related to the financial expectations, internal business processes, customer orientation, and innovation.

7. The TCO B quality principles drive USPS’s systems and allows the company to gather, measure and analyze their results and make possible improvements where needed. In this highly competitive business environment, companies struggle under huge pressures to strategically sustain themselves. Hence, development of good business strategies and efficient business processes that facilitate the company to deliver services and products as per the desired quality is vital.

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