IS... I really don't understand your position. Not at all.
Didn't HR or public affairs explain the importance to the organization? Did they not explain that they found the best way to do this was to have small groups write the letters and then have HR collect them?
You are not forced to write. That was clear in the meetings I attended. As a management person, you should have been willing happily to do whatever the organization needs in an important area like this. Instead, you say you "feel dirty". I just don't understand.
"Stop the madness"?? I don't understand. Maybe your management team is so poor they never took the time to explain to you how UPS works and the competitive landscape.
I realize that you are in IS and not in an operation every day, but rather than support the organization, sounds like you are complaining. Again, maybe your manager is the real problem. I don't know. I'd ask you to rethink your position.
P-Man
Paragraph 1 - No
Paragraph 2 - While i can say that no one held a gun to my head and told me to write the letters, when a SM tells you to do something and sits in the room while you are doing it, I don't know your definition of "forced" but this is close as it can get.
Paragraph 3 - It was a joke. Brown Bailout, USPS Bailout. Get it. Obviously you have no sense of humor.
Paragraph 4 - My management is fine. This is the first instance where me and my SM and I have disagreed with the correct way to go about something. Ask and thou shall receive, demand and get denied.
I know my position and I know how things work. I also have experience working with elected officials and time on the Hill (the one in DC that the Capital sits on). I wrote the letters, and actually I e-mailed my Representative and Senators when Public Affairs told us about this earlier in the year. This was not enough for UPS; they needed a personalized form letter which had to be handwritten. And why didn't we write letters to our Representatives when they voted for the Bill in the first place? Wouldn't that be just as important; a thank you goes a long way. Instead we are beggars.
It is not your place to tell me my position, or tell me the best way to express that position.
It is my right and my duty to complain. There is a person who posts to BrownCafe that has a wonderful tag line "If everyone is thinking the same thing, no one is thinking." Too much of this happens everyday at UPS.
Following blindly is no way to live.
To you sir, I say good day.