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Audits at UPS; A Culture of Deception
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<blockquote data-quote="Floridacargocat" data-source="post: 676721" data-attributes="member: 6168"><p>What is the definition and purpose of an audit?</p><p>An audit is an unbiased factual and credible report about a condition (or set of conditions) in a specific area of activities. The auditor submits this report to a person/institution which uses this set of data for an evaluation and decision.</p><p>The crux of this function is (and not only at UPS) that an audit is limited by its specific objectives as well as the inability of the auditors to influence the final decision for future (remedial) activities.</p><p>Another crux is when a preset number of audits has been issued (by higher levels for the purpose of "making the numbers") to be achieved within a very limited time frame which violates the principle of credible reporting.</p><p>From my more than 40 years in industry (not only UPS), an audit is a mirror of the actual situation and is an opportunity for improvement. An audit conducted with advance warning is like looking at a Potemkin's village and is a mirror with a lot of fog on it. It is useless and a waste of effort.</p><p>An audit is an opportunity to get facts and use them for the purpose of improvement, but it also goes deeper why the audit results are as they are. Do the poweres that be want to acknowledge this and want to improve this by changing certain basic work assumptions? Would that be in their interest? Or would it be used for "witch-hunting" purposes?</p><p>As long as the envelope of working conditions is not adjusted, there cannot be any improvement. It is a simple law of dynamics.</p><p>Once you change this framework (envelope), then conditions are changed and better results could be obtained. The limiting factors of this "envelope" are known, and the major restricting factor is "human intervention" of all kinds.</p><p>"Human intervention" covers factors such as "the will to work according to instructions/training as well as compliance with procedures", the realization of human weakness under stress, a system of using a workforce with lesser receptiveness to following a disciplined work attitude, and many other factors such as motivation (great words). However in my long industrial experience I have seen a decline in workforce motivation, especially on the lower levels (trenches) which cannot be compensated by the few who still see and know who pays for their weekly checks.</p><p>Improvement starts with getting credible audits, credible feedbacks for misloads (which can be conveyed to the loaders involved in a language that the loaders understand and can accept), credible action by higher levels, smarter working methods (not harder ones). </p><p>I have not had the opportunity to conduct audits in the area of repacking, but I see a lot of opportunites to work smarter and more efficiently. I see a lot of opportunity to reduce grievances by working smarter and wasting less time and efforts to settle all these grievances. I see a lot of opportunity to work safer by listening to the voices of the people in the trenches and correct deficiencies (and not safety committees as a fig leaf to cover insurance requirements and other paper-based achievements).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Floridacargocat, post: 676721, member: 6168"] What is the definition and purpose of an audit? An audit is an unbiased factual and credible report about a condition (or set of conditions) in a specific area of activities. The auditor submits this report to a person/institution which uses this set of data for an evaluation and decision. The crux of this function is (and not only at UPS) that an audit is limited by its specific objectives as well as the inability of the auditors to influence the final decision for future (remedial) activities. Another crux is when a preset number of audits has been issued (by higher levels for the purpose of "making the numbers") to be achieved within a very limited time frame which violates the principle of credible reporting. From my more than 40 years in industry (not only UPS), an audit is a mirror of the actual situation and is an opportunity for improvement. An audit conducted with advance warning is like looking at a Potemkin's village and is a mirror with a lot of fog on it. It is useless and a waste of effort. An audit is an opportunity to get facts and use them for the purpose of improvement, but it also goes deeper why the audit results are as they are. Do the poweres that be want to acknowledge this and want to improve this by changing certain basic work assumptions? Would that be in their interest? Or would it be used for "witch-hunting" purposes? As long as the envelope of working conditions is not adjusted, there cannot be any improvement. It is a simple law of dynamics. Once you change this framework (envelope), then conditions are changed and better results could be obtained. The limiting factors of this "envelope" are known, and the major restricting factor is "human intervention" of all kinds. "Human intervention" covers factors such as "the will to work according to instructions/training as well as compliance with procedures", the realization of human weakness under stress, a system of using a workforce with lesser receptiveness to following a disciplined work attitude, and many other factors such as motivation (great words). However in my long industrial experience I have seen a decline in workforce motivation, especially on the lower levels (trenches) which cannot be compensated by the few who still see and know who pays for their weekly checks. Improvement starts with getting credible audits, credible feedbacks for misloads (which can be conveyed to the loaders involved in a language that the loaders understand and can accept), credible action by higher levels, smarter working methods (not harder ones). I have not had the opportunity to conduct audits in the area of repacking, but I see a lot of opportunites to work smarter and more efficiently. I see a lot of opportunity to reduce grievances by working smarter and wasting less time and efforts to settle all these grievances. I see a lot of opportunity to work safer by listening to the voices of the people in the trenches and correct deficiencies (and not safety committees as a fig leaf to cover insurance requirements and other paper-based achievements). [/QUOTE]
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