Acquring & Assimilating Ups Employees

Acquiring & Assimilating

Employees

The Dilemma of UPS

Analysis of UPS-A

Introduction:

In 1987, UPS was faced with a dilemma. Increasing competition required the company to revamp its computer infrastructure in order to maintain its share of the market. The need for employees with highly specialized skills was obvious; however the company had a long standing policy of internal development. Should the company acquire these new employees quickly from outside the organization, or spend valuable time in training and developing the current employees? How would new employees be assimilated into the unique UPS culture?

Problem Statement:

UPS needed to improve its Data Processing Department, which required people with high tech skills. The current employees at UPS did not have the needed skills. Training and development could help create the needed talent, but that would take time. UPS could acquire the talent from outside the company, going against one of their core policies of internal development of employees. How should the company go about filling the new positions?

Causes:

The Policy Book was created in 1929 to "standardize [UPS] traits and other corporate ideals." Although it was continually revised, it was used "as a template from which all new policy was made." (Sonnenfeld & Lazo p. 3) Some of the cornerstones of the book were employee ownership, communication, internal development of employees, and customer service. The need for the specialized skills related to all of these policies.

Financial success of the company was linked to virtually all employees through various profit-sharing plans. (Sonnenfeld & Lazo p.9) Due to this employee ownership, what was best for the company was also best for the employees.

Customer service was a core company policy. "Best Service, Lowest Rates", was a slogan created by founder Jim Casey. (UPS website) He built the company based on that premise. In order to continue to offer services that were both reliable and affordable, UPS needed to create a better, more efficient system to track and deliver packages.

Aligning the business strategy to the human resource strategy allows a company to achieve its goals. (Heneman & Judge, 2003) By determining what the company is trying to achieve, it can then determine the kind of people needed to support the objectives. According to Cuddihey (2003), "The HR function is very critical in executing the company's overall business strategy." The business strategy of UPS is to offer a reliable and affordable way to ship a package. (UPS website) Up until the 1980s, UPS was able to do just that, however the growing industry spawned heavy competition. Using evolving technology, these competitors were developing software that made the process of tracking, sorting, and billing more accurate and efficient. (Sonnenfeld & Lazo, 1987) UPS needed to upgrade its system to stay competitive.

Aligning the HR strategy with the business strategy meant attracting and recruiting those individuals that could develop the IT infrastructure needed.

Aside from company policy, UPS needed to look at staffing from a strategic standpoint, that is, how to achieve the business strategy through the people it acquires, deploys and retains. When faced with the need to expand the Data Processing Department, the company was confronted with both a need for increased quantity and quality of employees. Quantity refers to the actual number of employees needed to conduct business. According to Heneman & Judge (2003) there are nine key factors to consider. One of the decisions is whether to acquire or develop talent. This decision was the crux of the UPS dilemma. "For critical positions and newly created ones, the emphasis would likely be on acquiring talent because of the urgency of developing new products" (Heneman & Judge, 2003, p.24) In order to remain true to the company policy of employee development, UPS should have considered any current employees that may have possessed the needed skills first. After communicating the urgency of the situation, employees would be less likely to feel bitter about the new hires. After all, what is best for the company is also best for the employees.

In the case of hiring highly skilled employees, there must also be a focus on quality. UPS needed to acquire individuals with highly specific KSAOs. Additionally these people needed to have an exceptional (as opposed to acceptable) level of KSAOs. UPS was looking to create an advanced computer infrastructure, which requires highly innovative people. Had UPS been looking to copy an existing system, they may have been able to use people with general or acceptable quality.

HR 594 Topical Area:

Once the decision has been made to hire outside the organization, the next task is to determine how to assimilate the new employees into the company culture. (Kotter & Heskett, 1992) Socialization is the process of familiarizing the new employee with the firm's policies and procedures. (Schermerhorn, Hunt, & Osborn, 2003) Transforming new employees into effective members of the company involves "being prepared to perform the job effectively, learning about the organization, and establishing work relationships." (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart, and Wright, 2003, p.307)

Just what should employees learn through the socialization process? According to Chao et al. (1994), there are six factors that should be addressed.

1. History. The company's traditions, customs and myths; backround members.

2. Company goals. Rules, values, or principles directing the company. In this case,

The Policy Book.

3. Language. Slang and jargon used to the company; professional technical language.

4. Politics. How to gain information regarding the formal and informal work

relationships and power structures in the company.

5.

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