The U.

S Postal Service Case Study

Q1. Why is it important for the USPS to have a high volume of mail to process?

The US postal service is a very large organization with a heavy investment in complex machines and
software. For it to reap the benefit of economies of scale and increase productivity, there must be a
large volume of mails to process.

Q2. What caused productivity to increase?

There were two main reasons that contributed to cost reduction. Firstly the automated processing
equipment, barcode reader, optical reader etc have simplified the process, enabling them to take on
larger volumes of mail at a faster pace which led to an increase in productivity. Secondly, there was a
significant cost reduction by way of removing unnecessary management layers, redundant roles or
positions in the organisation etc.

Q3. What impact did competitive pressures have on the USPS?

USPS faced competition from other methods of delivery, delivery companies like UPS, FedEx etc
which offer speedy delivery, order tracking and other such value-added services. The increasing use
of E-mail, fax etc provided an alternate mode for information sharing to customers. Businesses have
also switched to TV for advertising and direct marketing since they are affordable and quick. This
also impacted USPS’ business.

Q4. What measures did the USPS adopt to increase competitiveness?

The USPS adopted three main strategies: Reorganization or restructuring by removing unnecessary
layers of management; Reduction in cost and waste minimization; and emphasis on quality and
customer service.

Q5. What results were achieved by the USPS’s changes?

The resultant changed due to strategies adopted reflected in reduced cost and increased
productivity. With the elimination of redundant job roles, unnecessary overheads could be avoided.
There was now customer-centric services being offered, that helped USPS acquire new customers.
This was due to the new simpler structure adopted by the organization.

Q6. What effect does the increased use of e-mail have on postal productivity?

USPS may experience the massive drop in their operating revenue due to the increased usage of e-
mail because e-mail is cost-free and time required to send the mail is less compared to postal
service. E-mail deliver the message much quicker without any delay and they get the reply to that
message instantly if he/she in the other end is online at that time. So the volume of mail coming to
USPS reduce.

Q7. How does the use of standard shipping containers and flat-rate mailers help
competitiveness?

The standard shipping containers ensure the safety of the packages need to be delivered and which
makes customers trust them to deliver the confidential packages safely to the right place. The flat
rate mailers helped to simplify the complex rate structure.

But other mailing companies can able to provide similar service as the postal service, which
increases more competition in mailing market.
“Your Garden Gloves” Case Study.

Q1. Which crew size had the highest productivity per worker? which crew size had the lowest
productivity per worker? what are some possible explanations for these results?
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤
𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑒𝑟 =
𝐶𝑟𝑒𝑤 𝑠𝑖𝑧𝑒

Crew Size Average Productivity per crew Productivity per worker

2 4234 2117
3 5352 1784
4 7860 1965

Crew size of 2 has the highest productivity per worker compared to others.
Crew size of 3 has the highest productivity per worker compared to others.

There is an opportunity of 4 crew members get easily be distracted and have a hard time trying to
stay on task. When 4 workers are allocated to a large job, workers still may be getting in the way of
each other, which would cause a wait time.

Q2. After a recent storm, a customer called in a panic, saying that she had planned a garden
party for the upcoming weekend and her garden was in shambles. The owner decided to send a
crew of four workers, even though a two-worker crew would have higher productivity. Explain the
rationale for this decision.

The productivity of the 4 member crew size was not highest compared to others and since
he can manage with remaining crew members, the owner decides to send a larger crew member to
impress the customer and to retain the customer.

Q3. What is a possible qualitative issue that may very well influence productivity levels that the
productivity ratios fail to take into account?

Some of the qualitative issue that may affect productivity levels are:

1. Since the company begins only five years ago, the loyalty level of the workers will low

2. The experience of the workers

3. Quality tools used for job

Team Synergy is the one area that productivity ratios fails.