Overmanagement

Blakely656

New Member
Perhaps you should learn to do your job a little better before you then progress to educating me on mine. Jim Casey who you folks claim to revere and admire often commented to the effect that chasing the little things tends to keep the big problems from becoming big problems. In his capacity in his role it his job to ask why you only took 29 minutes of meal. He is then required to arrive at a solution that maintains service and ensures you meet government and contractual requirements that you get your hour meal. If he is unable to arrive at a viable solution after exhausting all requirements at his level he then bumps it up to his boss for help. Doing so keeps him from getting yelled at by his boss. I hope I was better able to help you understand these complex issues.
Managerium
The heaviest element known to science is Managerium.

This element has no protons or electrons, but has a nucleus made up of 1 neutron, 2 vice-neutrons, 5 junior vice-neutrons, 25 assistant vice-neutrons, and 125 junior assistant vice- neutrons all going round in circles.

Managerium has a half-life of three years, at which time it does not decay but institutes a series of reviews leading to reorganization.

Its molecules are held together by means of the exchange of tiny particles known as morons.
 
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Blakely656

New Member
Managerium
The heaviest element known to science is Managerium.

This element has no protons or electrons, but has a nucleus made up of 1 neutron, 2 vice-neutrons, 5 junior vice-neutrons, 25 assistant vice-neutrons, and 125 junior assistant vice- neutrons all going round in circles.

Managerium has a half-life of three years, at which time it does not decay but institutes a series of reviews leading to reorganization.

Its molecules are held together by means of the exchange of tiny particles known as morons.
This is what UPS management has become since they quit hiring from within, hire only YES men, & ALL decisions come from Atlanta!
 

Prickle

Member
Your right Blakely656. Ups is just waiting for all of the older mgt people to leave so they can't tell the new mgt of how good it used to be.
 

tieguy

Banned
Managerium
The heaviest element known to science is Managerium.

This element has no protons or electrons, but has a nucleus made up of 1 neutron, 2 vice-neutrons, 5 junior vice-neutrons, 25 assistant vice-neutrons, and 125 junior assistant vice- neutrons all going round in circles.

Managerium has a half-life of three years, at which time it does not decay but institutes a series of reviews leading to reorganization.

Its molecules are held together by means of the exchange of tiny particles known as morons.

thanks for being that maroon.
 

DS

Fenderbender
Managerium
The heaviest element known to science is Managerium.

This element has no protons or electrons, but has a nucleus made up of 1 neutron, 2 vice-neutrons, 5 junior vice-neutrons, 25 assistant vice-neutrons, and 125 junior assistant vice- neutrons all going round in circles.


Managerium has a half-life of three years, at which time it does not decay but institutes a series of reviews leading to reorganization.

Its molecules are held together by means of the exchange of tiny particles known as morons.

Very creative Blakely...I like it :student:
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
They took all of our pictures. I protested and was told by management and other drivers and a shop steward that I had to submit. When they put our photos on display I protested again, saying that I never gave them permission to publish my picture. Again, management and other drivers and a steward told me that I did when I got hired. I must have amnesia because I certainly don't remember that.

Article 37 of the National Master Agreement prohibits this sort of over-supervision and harassment.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
I wish someone would explain it to me better. All I know is that my mugshot is in the wall and I am/am not a member of "clubs" I never asked to join. Example: until Monday I was a member of the "Injury Club" but since I got injured my pic will be removed and my name put on the "Drivers Whose Help I Need List". Still have figured out who the I is. In addition we had to sign some sort of commitment, the contents of which I don't remember and was not allowed to copy. We get written up for everything whether it is actually an error or not. Every day I sign a piece of paper with the previous day's performance on it, in addition page(s) containing whatever "errors" they perceive to be mine, ie every service failure, including send agains, is now the drivers' fault.
We now receive warning letters for late air, and loaders get warning letters for misloads.
Sups signed an SSPVE commitment. In this order it's Safety, Service, Profitability, Volume, Employee. They are graded on 13 components representing these, so that if they have 100% on 6/13, they are 46% effective. This, as well as their mugshot and those of their driver group are displayed in the sups' office. Everything that they are graded on is based on drivers' performance rather than on their own. They and the managers and some higher
ups are constantly being threatened with termination.
There is a lot more to it I'm sure. Whatever, most of it looks like harassment from my vantage point.
Oh, and according to the latest rumor they are going to lock each driver into a set SPORH, and we all have to be running scratch by next September.
It's supposed to be moving up the East Coast now and then sweep throughout the country, so you'll see it soon enough.

What you are describing is far from new. It is basically a recycled version of the Management By Commitment philosophy that UPS employed back in the 1980's. The only real difference is that improvements in technology (DIADS, PAS, EDD, Telematics, GPS etc.)have created more elements that can be measured and then micromanaged.

At the end of the day it all boils down to the same thing; a fear and intimidation-based philosophy where reality means nothing and the only thing that matters is generating arbitrary and meaningless metrics.
 

pretzel_man

Well-Known Member
What you are describing is far from new. It is basically a recycled version of the Management By Commitment philosophy that UPS employed back in the 1980's. The only real difference is that improvements in technology (DIADS, PAS, EDD, Telematics, GPS etc.)have created more elements that can be measured and then micromanaged.

At the end of the day it all boils down to the same thing; a fear and intimidation-based philosophy where reality means nothing and the only thing that matters is generating arbitrary and meaningless metrics.

I guess that's your view.....

On the other hand, here is what the worlds foremost expert on the matter has to say:

"Some companies have built their very businesses on their ability to collect, analyze, and act on data.
UPS embodies the evolution from targeted analytics user to comprehensive analytics competitor."

BTW, Management by Committement goes back way before the 1980's. Jim Casey used to discuss it. I think he called it Management by Objective.
 

DS

Fenderbender
I guess that's your view.....

On the other hand, here is what the worlds foremost expert on the matter has to say:

"Some companies have built their very businesses on their ability to collect, analyze, and act on data.
UPS embodies the evolution from targeted analytics user to comprehensive analytics competitor."

BTW, Management by Committement goes back way before the 1980's. Jim Casey used to discuss it. I think he called it Management by Objective.

Pretz,this all very nice but in my opinion ups cant be run like "other" businesses.
The way it is now the ball starts rolling from the top,and the only ones suffering are the ones at the bottom.I doubt that Casey envisioned intimidation and harassment as a key to enhancing production or for that matter morale in general.Comprehensive analytics? What was wrong with the ERI?
I know sober is a bit overboard with his thoughts on the agenda,but he makes some good points .One thing you should stop to think about.When it all comes down to it,we deliver packages,and for WHATEVER reason,if ONE package is a service failure,its the drivers fault.I think it's not working.
 

tieguy

Banned
Pretz,this all very nice but in my opinion ups cant be run like "other" businesses.
The way it is now the ball starts rolling from the top,and the only ones suffering are the ones at the bottom.I doubt that Casey envisioned intimidation and harassment as a key to enhancing production or for that matter morale in general.Comprehensive analytics? What was wrong with the ERI?
I know sober is a bit overboard with his thoughts on the agenda,but he makes some good points .One thing you should stop to think about.When it all comes down to it,we deliver packages,and for WHATEVER reason,if ONE package is a service failure,its the drivers fault.I think it's not working.

In my opinion Intimidation and harrassment was actually much more prevelant during the casey days when a delivery sup would step on the back of your heels if you walked too slow. Back then we were not so sensitive.
 

brownmonster

Man of Great Wisdom
The problem with analyzing all this data is that all we anaylize is data. While I'm sitting in the building a 9AM 25 miles from my route, Fedex Ground has been in my area since 8 making service. It's the things that don't show up on a printout that are the problem. We need to stop looking at spreadsheets and look out the window.
 

DS

Fenderbender
In my opinion Intimidation and harrassment was actually much more prevelant during the casey days when a delivery sup would step on the back of your heels if you walked too slow. Back then we were not so sensitive.

Maybe so Tie,but its the same thing really, except its emotional instead of physical .We are all more sensitive nowadays.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
I guess that's your view.....

On the other hand, here is what the worlds foremost expert on the matter has to say:

[FONT=Calibri[B]]"Some companies have built their very businesses on their ability to collect, analyze, and act on data.[/FONT]
UPS embodies the evolution from targeted analytics user to comprehensive analytics competitor[/B]."

BTW, Management by Committement goes back way before the 1980's. Jim Casey used to discuss it. I think he called it Management by Objective.

Lots of impressive sounding gobbledygook there, but its pretty much a fancy way of saying "UPS--we add 10 miles and 20 minutes to a route in order to manufacture whatever pickup compliance or stops-per-car metric is being demanded by a genius in a cubicle someplace."

There is probably a lot of intelligence at UPS's corporate offices. Too bad there isnt any wisdom.
 

soberups

Pees in the brown Koolaid
In my opinion Intimidation and harrassment was actually much more prevelant during the casey days when a delivery sup would step on the back of your heels if you walked too slow. Back then we were not so sensitive.

At least in the old days the sups were man enough to put some browns on and go out on car with you, even if it meant a 13 hr day in a jumpseat.

Now they just wave stacks of paper reports around and whine about whatever trivial metric happens to be Atlanta's flavor of the week.
 

little spoon

New Member
Good insight onetietoomany. I just joined the site tonight after over 23 years inside service. Keep it light with the employees while you play the game. Dont loose your smile! Tighten your belt for peak and then brace for 1st quarter cut backs. Talk to God and ask for His help and you will be ok.
 

hubrat

Squeaky Wheel
Dear Whomever Cares,

Micromanagement is damaging to business. Do your own job, let me do the job you have successfully trained me to do. If you're over-involved in my day-to-day activities you will be less effective at yours. Not to mention the added insult of suggesting that I'm too stupid or lazy to do my job. Some folks are! BUT MOST OF US ARE NOT. If something is wrong, fix it. Clean house if you need to. I know where my allegiance is.

I give UPS more concessions because of the dire importance of safety, our level of visibility, and the fact that we are responsible for other people's property and profits. Close supervision is necessary. Where safety is concerned there may not be more than one right way to do things. But all employees as well as customers are individuals and should be respected as such.

For better and worse (for numerous reasons), the "good ole days" are over.
All of the math is extremely useful, and we need folks who are paid to crunch numbers. But integrity and teamwork must not be sacrificed. When you practice at the extreme end of things you will always eventually hit a wall, AFTER you've lost the ability to learn anything new.

When you over overmanage a group that considers themselves part of a team you are no longer part of the team. You cannot turn me against my brother or sister in brown. You are the dictator(s) using force, manipulation and threats to accomplish your goal, whatever that may be. From here it looks like you want to lift yourself up, put us (those that are working as a team) down, line your pockets with our incentives, and impede our ability to safely and efficiently reach our goals: Safety, service, and growing the company. Call me sappy, but can't you be a Big brother/sister in brown? You would regain my respect, anyway.

75% of reengineering projects fail. This will never make it, and the way things are being run Brown may very well go down with it.

xoxoxo,
Betty Brown
 

hubrat

Squeaky Wheel
Selections from: http://www.softpanorama.org/index.shtml

"An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last."
Winston Churchill

"Micromanagers are generally are characterized as people with weakened self-esteem, injured narcissism and paranoid tendencies. They are preoccupied with power."

"Note 1: Paranoid incompetent micromanagers (PIMM), who successfully combine tight control of minute details/procedures used in performing assignments with toxic incompetence are often called "control freaks" (CF)."

"Micromanagement is perversion of management and it is important to understand that for some unknown reason it is more common among female managers then man. The litmus test of micromanagement is that normal, appropriate activities such as monitoring, reporting, and requiring approvals are exaggerated to the extent that they convert into its opposites. monitoring into pretty, detailed control of every action, reporting into requests for reports with frequency and detail that leave little time for anything else, etc. Every such measure is perverted and converted into its opposite. Any initiative not coming form PIMM is squashed... "

"They are really different and cannot be measured by the same standard as ordinary people. They are more like professional actors then real humans: everything is fake and imitated. Psychopaths succeed in conventional society in large measure because few of us grasp that they are fundamentally different from ourselves. They are more like professional actors then real humans: never forget about that.
We assume that they, too, care about other people's feelings. This makes it easier for them to "play" us. Although they lack empathy, they develop a professional actor's expertise in evoking ours. While they don't care about us, "they have an element of emotional intelligence, of being able to see our emotions more or less clearly and manipulate them," says Michael Maccoby, a psychotherapist who has consulted for major corporations. Don't fall into this trap. Ignore attempts to invoke pity, sympathy or similar emotions. This is all a game. "

*The Softpanorama site is concerned with IT corps, but much of it makes sense here and definitely helps shed a little light and humor on this behavior. Puts it in a better perspective for me anyway. Sorry for the long posts only if they're not helpful...
 
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