The company
UPS is a USA-based global leader in parcel delivery services. The company has an expanse network spanning 200 countries the world over. UPS has a great track record of success having reached its centenary mark in 2007. The company’s capacity and prowess to weather various odds in the micro and macro business operation environs provide an impetus to probe the company’s change strategy in the perspective of establishing its specific change implementation and manage dynamic and the adoption of IT inventions to revolutionize its operations across its global business networks.
Summary
Multiple factors necessitate the implementation of the change process in the course of an organization’s course existence. organizational change has particularly been an area of keen interest in contemporary organizational studies owing much to the sweeping phenomenon of globalization and remarkable strides in technological development. The change factor is an indispensable component in organizational management leadership thrusts nowadays for entities that understand the need to keep pace with evolving business environs.
organizations must align themselves for the enhancement of their efficiencies, growth, and sustainability among other micro and macro organizational goals. Various contributions have been made by various professionals, researchers, and scholars attempting to unravel the concept of change. Perhaps one of the lucid outlines of the concepts is that presented by (Schalk et al; 1998). The scholar posits that organizational Change can be defined as the empirical process that entails an organizations’ multi-dimensional transformation in the dimensions including the organizations’ shape, size, and state over time. The scholar underscores that this process actualizes after the implementation of new ways of “Thinking, functioning and operating” (Van de Ven and Poole: 1995).
This thrust of this paper explores the dynamics of the Business case scenario entailing the implementation of a Business IT Strategy; United Parcel Services (UPS) in this case. The core objective is to apply various organizational management and leadership as well as change concepts as well a various relevant and related theoretical tenets to the UPS transformational process aimed at tapping merits of technological inventions as the core of its organizational change thrust.
Statement of Need/ Background to IT Strategy Proposal
The IT strategy here-in proposed has been spurred by the implications of the research drives conducted on the focus organization UPS.
This research project was conducted mainly by qualitative research methods and the analysis of secondary data, like companies’ annual reports, press releases, their official website…etc. The reasons for choosing a qualitative research method instead of a quantitative research method are due to four perspectives: 1) the nature of the research project; 2) the scale of the project; 3) the cost of carrying out the project and 4) time limitation.
Rubin and Babbie (2001:44) have emphasized the different nature of qualitative and quantitative research methods.
“Quantitative methods emphasize the production of precise and generalizable statistical findings and are generally more appropriate to nomothetic aims. When we want to verify whether a cause produces an effect in general, we are likely to use quantitative methods……
Qualitative research methods emphasize the depth of understanding associated with idiographic concerns. They attempt to tap the deeper meanings of particular human experiences and are intended to generate theoretically richer observations that are not easily reduced to numbers.”
As a direct result of the objective of this research project, the researcher intended to achieve a deeper understanding of the dynamics of UPS IT needs to map out feasible solutions.
Secondary data
According to Stewart and Kamins (1993), the use of secondary data is advantageous for a researcher since one can already evaluate the suitability of data as it is already in existence, thus, much time can be saved. Before delving into secondary sources of data, an evaluation of potential secondary data is essential as a way of screening resources to establish the relevant sources of information which will provide relevant data germane to fulfilling research scope and objectives.
Secondary data were obtained from literature published on UPS enlisting company reports and financial statements, etc. These helped draw holistic nuances and insights toward fulfilling the thrust and scope of IT business strategy formulation for UPS.
Statement of Need
Multiple factors necessitate the implementation of the change process in the course of an organization’s course existence. organizational change has particularly been an indispensable aspect in contemporary business realms. The change factor is an indispensable component in organizational management leadership thrusts nowadays for entities that understand the need to keep pace with evolving business environs. UPS is no exception as it is evident that the enterprise must counsel IT strategies and thrusts to champion the accomplishment of the company’s growth, competitiveness, and sustainability goals.
Business enterprises, regardless of their size and operational capacities; must align themselves for the enhancement of their efficiencies, growth, and sustainability among other micro and macro organizational goals. Various contributions have been made by various professionals, researchers, and scholars attempting to unravel the concept of change. Perhaps one of the lucid outlines of the concepts is that presented by (Schalk et al; 1998). The scholar posits that organizational Change can be defined as the empirical process that entails an organizations’ multi-dimensional transformation in the dimensions including the organizations’ shape, size, and state over time. The scholar underscores that this process actualizes after the implementation of new ways of “Thinking, functioning and operating” (Van de Ven and Poole 1995).
In light of the foregoing, It apparent that UPS needs a multi-dimensional IT model that will suffice for its expanse global business network operation. The system must also enhance the company’s effectiveness and efficiency towards the acceptant of salient organizational growth, competitiveness, and long-term sustainability goals.
Project Description and System Feasibility Analysis
UPS needs an IT system built in the mold is the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM). SSM is an organizational thrust that focuses on organizational process modeling. The method can be applied for the solution of general problems and is much handy and often used in various change management approaches. The approach to accomplishment of goals of growth, sustainability, and most importantly, competitiveness by UPS can be tallied with some stage components of the 7-stage SSM model.
Enter situation considered problematical (SSM Model Stage 1)
The situation considered problematic in line with conceptual frameworks of the SSM model is characterized by the rapid growth of UPS which saw the expansion of the business of the company into over 200 countries (to date ) across the globe. The problem specifics into this entail the need to formulae feasible means and operational models that would suffice for optimum efficiency and service delivery in all business network areas. UPS also faced stern competition from the likes of DHL which are also plying global routes in various transport modes and means and thus posing stiff challenges to UPS. The other dynamic enlists the need to keep pace with modern and contemporary ways of conduction parcel service delivery service. This is perceivable in the premise that technological advancement is aimed at enhancing efficiencies and simplifying the way things are done. This necessitates the formulation and implementation of a comprehensive operational IT/IIS model.
The development of the model will follow the progression outlined in the SMM model which enlists the following stages:
- Outline the problem scenario
- Generate root definitions of working systems of purposeful activity
- Assemble conceptual designs of the systems outlined in the root definitions
- Comparing designs with actual-world situations
- Define possible alterations which must be both possible and feasible
- Take action to improve the problem situation
One of the declared goals of UPS in the recent dispensations is that of the company’s endeavor to be a feasible eCommerce enabler. Owing to that, UPS must intensify its thrust in tapping the merits of technological advancements to enhance its operations, cut costs and enable customers to manage their shipments as well as trace them anywhere and anytime in the world. The company’s proposed cyber facility will enable the customers to manage their shipment purchases.
Among other things the facility will enable the customers to do the following;
- Send and follow packages all at one point
- Cancel orders and keep international shipping records.
- Store tracing numbers and addresses online.
- Generate and print UPS shipping labels from you’re the internet
- Pay for shipping costs through a credit card, or transfer chargers into a UPS shipping account.
- Access stored transporting and tracking details for up to 3 months
- Set and store shipping preferences like origin address, payment type, etc.
- Register for tracking notifications via e-mail, wireless phone, or PDA
Data obtained from the published company literature on UPS operations designs indicated that the company is poised to cash in on the aspect of providing Information Businesses Need: UPS presents Small Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) with the information they need in their attempts to keep ahead in their global expansion strategies. By using the technological interfaces that UPS has set up UPS businesses can trace the location of their purchased orders. The facilities will also enable customers, both businesses and individuals to research international markets and business costs as well as calculate total shipping costs. By extension, the proposed developments will also include the enabling of customers to calculate duties and taxes as well as transportation charges.
The customers will have the ability and advantage to do this well ahead of time. Needless to say such service rendering which is indisputably pro-customer satisfaction than the operations inclined has tremendous results in form of customer retention. Customer retention is indispensable to any strategies of long-term growth and sustainability. The growth rates of the company in the past can be as well attributed to this fact although growth can not be explored in a single dimension. The company may be expected to record related and proportional growth rates into the future holding other things equal and assuming that the company will maintain its policies and organizational models which have catapulted its growth levels to where they are currently.
Units manage an interview with the IT project developer Centre Manager for UPS has implied that the company will continue on the same pathway which has resulted in sustained growth and sustainability in the past years. She outlines, “If I were the company’s marketing manager I would continue to devise new ways of selling our products and providing our customers with more information, the internet provided us with an instant means of communication with our customers and allows them to track their products virtually anywhere at any time, I do not believe we have seen the last of what the internet and other new technology has to offer UPS and our customers. It will be the UPS marketing department’s job to tell the world the merits of our services and continue to create and reinforce our prized corporate image.”
(Dessler 2008) concurs with the foregoing, “Parcel delivery companies are making a smooth transition to the future. Many goals are set for the new millennium. One goal set by the development departments is to identify and apply new technology that would improve existing operations and develop new business.”
According to Dessler UPS can thus be said to succeed because of the drastic communication and technological advances
UPS must adopt technological models that run with contemporary technological advancements. The achievement of this must entail the putting together of a variety of online services that will assist customers to trace their purchased packages easily. The company expenditure of 1 billion dollars annually on technology must be directed to the actualization of the endeavors to tap technological merits and capacities to enhance efficiency, competence, competitiveness, and more importantly, sustainability.
Proposed Systems Design
The UPS proposed model is also tailored in tandem with the Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
![Systems Development Life Cycle (SDLC) [Source: LIVINGSTONE, D. W. (2002):]](https://ivypanda.com/essays/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/193290_1.jpg.webp)
Technological advancement and UPS sustainability
One of the declared goals of UPS in its organization change thrust is that of the company’s endeavor to be a feasible eCommerce enabler. Owing to that, UPS must reinforce thrust in tapping the merits of technological advancements to enhance its operations, cut costs and enable customers to manage their shipments as well as trace them anywhere and anytime in the world. The company’s proposed IT design will be a cyber facility that enables the customers to mange their shipment purchases.
UPS must offer a broad range of proprietary technology modeled to assist clients (individuals and companies) from website embedded tools for managing online orders. The company must also offer tailored software for helping businesses at every step of the shipping process. The company will achieve this with the use of up-to-the-minute information about goods under shipment.
The financial statistical evaluations and forecasts have painted a bright future on the prospects of UPS growth into the future. It must be noted that financial calculation presents variables in a black and white and technical way that, is exclusive and independent of the influence of other inalienable and critical factors that have a pervasive bearing on the company’s growth sustainability prospects.
It can be stated that conditions remaining the same UPS will continue to grow at unpredictable levels though. The conducive conditions needed for the sustenance of UPS growth are not likely to remain the same.
Financial data presented and evaluated in the regression analysis component data indicates that UPS has enjoyed growth of plus 13% over the past five years against the 7 percentage growth of the parcel delivery services industry. Projections presented in the table indicate that UPS will post growth records of over 11% against the plus 13 % growth of the industry.
UPS financial records measured against growth forecasts reflect well in accordance with the UPS growth forecast presented by Microsoft Network (MSN) Money that places UPS growth for the next five years at +11.80% against the +13.10% value of the last five years. The stats indicate that UPS will continue to grow but what is clear from the stats is that the past five years growth of 13, 10% will hot be sustained.
Nonetheless, the outlook remains volatile and unpredictable and thus the researcher the IT project developer can not establish that the past growth rate by UPS can be maintained. It can be well concluded that the company’s IT Business Strategy which despite suffering common drawbacks like time intensiveness (for coding, development and maintenance, etc) like any typical SSM models will be well thought out and meticulously implemented.
FCAPS
Complex organizations and enterprises need reliable and efficient networks to function and achieve their goals. This calls for immaculate management of an organization’s Information Technology (IT) infrastructure as a principal component. The FCAPS network management model has been assembled in this premise. FCAPS is a derived acronym used by the ISO Telecommunications Management Network. The acronym stands for Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, Security components of the network management model. Across the components of the model, the ISO determines network management tasks. The “Accounting” terminology is largely used in billing company network systems while non-billing companies use “Administration” in place of Accounting. The IT developer for UPS will also tap into the merits of FCAPS in its designs to ensure optimality.
FCAPS overview
Fault
The Fault component of the FCAPS design deals with the recognition, correction, and also isolation of faults, faults are defined in this conceptual framework as events with harmful effects or eventss detrimental to the network system. The category also enlists the logging of fault while there is much leveraging on trend analysis as a method and projecting errors in order to execute preemptive measures to ensure a smooth and undisrupted running of the network. The prediction of probable errors is achieved through monitoring various components and assessing consistently for unexpected behavior.
Network management systems are ideally designed such that in cases where errors occur, there is an automatic notification to those responsible for reacting to such anomalies. Respondents to such are normally designated system operators who may be privy to the use of proprietary utilities such as the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP). Lewis Hart, (1993) states, “Other means of registering errors include the use of a console server to append errors onto the error log page” Normally the logging of the error must stimulate automated or manual reaction toward the gathering of accurate and adequate data towards the resolution of the problem.
Configuration
The configuration management component deals with the collection and storage of configuration gathered from network devices on either a local or remote basis. This component is also directed at the simplification of the devices whilst it also enlists the tracking of modifications that are made to the configuration. Craig Thomson (1998) states that from another angle the component entails the configuration complementary of sub-networks or routes through dormant systems.
Accounting management
The accounting management focuses on the gathering of statistics on networks and systems used for the network owners and the users. “Accounting” is usually referred to as “Billing Management” in various companies where the running of this component enables the regulation of aspects such as Disk usage, CPU Time as well as Link utilization.
In non-billing companies which use ‘administration’ in place of ‘accounting’ administration in these network management modelsevents directed at administering a coterie of authorized network or system users by determining the users, their passwords, and permissions. By extension, this component further enlists the regulation of the operations of the equipment. The regulation is often done through the conducting of software backup as well as harmonization.
Performance Management
The Performance Management component is focused on enabling managers to establish the efficiency and effectiveness levels of the current network and systems. The managers are empowered this way to chart blueprints for enhanced networks for the future.
Codd, E.F. (1970) notes that the network performance deals with the throughput, percentage utilization, error proportions as well as response times thresholds. This component also entails ensuring the network’s smooth upkeep by means of gathering and evaluating performances data and drawing usable inferences therefrom. In other systems, performance areas are placed to set off an alarm. The fault management sub-system is oftentimes enabled to handle the alarm.
Security
The security component of FCAPS deals with the methods of regulating access to properties of the network the system. Security of data and all other system components are protected through the authentication and encryption and the technique to cater for the authorization of the authentication and encryption in tandem with the operating system (OS) and database management system (DBMS) access control settings.
Conducive organizational Change Context
Transformational Leadership as an enabler
A fundamental question that needs to be addressed in the parcel delivery industry is what style of leadership will facilitate the development of a culture that will engage all stakeholders in a performance management system to translate to customer satisfaction and hence long-term customer allegiance. This function of leadership can be supported by and executed through a well-designed performance management system. Yukl (1998) writes, “Leadership is a subject that has long excited interest among people. The term connotes images of powerful, dynamic individuals who command victorious armies, direct corporate empires from atop gleaming skyscrapers, or shape the course of nations.”
Transformational leadership has a powerful influence on job satisfaction both directly and indirectly through its influence on a person’s intrinsic task motivation (empowerment). Transformational leadership tenets that emphasize the essence of flexibility are deemed feasible for the prospects of adopting and implementing customer oriented organizational culture as well as masterminding complimentary staff development programs particularly in the emergent domains of IT.
Unlike transactional leadership, which does not affect empowerment; the transformational leadership model is recommended for UPS for the implementation of a paradigmatic shift process that will enable the company to reorient its thrust towards customer satisfaction above operations focuses. The shift should have enabled UPS personnel to move off traditional and typically product-pushing approaches to customer satisfaction inclined approaches.
This new focus will be largely leveraged on the heavy reliance on the prospect of manipulating technological faculties to improve service. UPS Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President Michael L. Eskew aptly outline, “The satisfaction of our customers is the number one priority at work. Communication with loyal customers is conducted on a rotating basis. Telephone interviews are a direct route to evaluating market fluctuations. The mission statement expresses the dedication to customer care is not just in the delivery business but to develop technology that will allow UPS to continue introducing new services, to provide customers with comprehensive shipping information and provide training to all employees.”
Although transactional leadership does have a direct effect on job satisfaction transformational leadership augments the effects of transactional leadership in remarkable ways. Passive management by exception is negatively related to job satisfaction and empowerment. UPS service delivery optimization must be done in cognizance of the attested relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction hence retention as well as the links between personnel communication and behavioral skills and customer satisfaction.
Appendices
Appendix 1. Effect probability Action Grid
The red zone reflects the outcomes of UPS IT management consideration and regard for the proposed “MY UPS” IT Business Strategy.
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