Developing Leaders at UPS 1

Developing Leaders at UPS Sean P. Dixon Business 660: Contemporary Issues in Organizational Leadership Dr. James Moore September 26, 2011

Developing Leaders at UPS 2 1. What are the major skills Jovita Carranza has demonstrated in her career at UPS that have made her a successful leader? Carranza has demonstrated that dedication is one skill she possesses. She started from the bottom, working her way to becoming vice president of UPS Air Operations. She has proven that is a good leader that is dedicated to her work. She has also shown that she has the drive and innovation to be successful in her career. Jovita Carranza developed her skills of team working and commitment since working with UPS. Leaders must show a commitment to the employees, as well as their company. By making your employees feel like they are important and have room to grow, leaders are showing that employees are important in making the company work. UPS is committed to their employees by spending $300 million annually on education programs for employees and encouraging promotion from within the company (Hughes, Ginnett, & Curphy, 2009). The company has offered many equal opportunities for their employees to build their skills and knowledge that it takes to succeed. She also points out that UPS values diversity, integrity, commitment, fairness, loyalty, and social responsibility. Since she noticed that UPS had such great values, she decided to follow these values to become a successful leader. The organization gave her the opportunity to succeed and she ran with it, taking advantage of every opportunity to lead. Jovita Carranza was given the distinction of being named Hispanic Business Magazine Women of the Year due to her determination, drive, innovation, leadership in business, and her corporate achievements (Hughes et al., 2009). By receiving this award, it shows that she has a hand in good leadership and it may help her in maintaining her image of a great leader. 2. Consider the spiral of experience that Jovita Carranza has traveled. How has her experienced affected her ability as a leader?

Developing Leaders at UPS 3 Jovita Carranza started at the bottom and worked her way to up the chain within the company. Therefore, since holding almost every position within the company, she can understand and relate to her employees. First, she started with UPS as a part-time clerk, and then worked her way up to planning manager, and eventually becoming a district human resources manager. However, she was not finished making her way up the ladder. She went on to become a division manager, a district operations manager, and president of the Americas region before becoming the vice president of the UPS Air Operations. Jovita Carranzas experience has affected her ability to be a great leader in a positive way. She has learned much through her journey up the ladder at UPS. With all of the knowledge and experience she has accumulated over the years, she has the ability to understand where a person is coming from; she can be more reasonable with a person that has more experience and provides a reasonable solution than with someone who has not gained the experience as others. Sometimes, being reasonable with employees can be a good quality of a great leader. Her experience alone could qualify here as a good leader. 3. Take a look at the characteristics of successful leaders in Highlight 3.5. How many of these are demonstrated by Jovita Carranza? After reading the characteristics of successful leaders in Highlight 3.5, I would have to say that Jovita Carranza displays many of these traits. Her ability to develop or adapt has been on display with every new position that she took from promotions. It was her eagerness to take on new challenges that allowed her to work her through the company to vice president of UPS Air Operations.

Developing Leaders at UPS 4 As for her ability to build and lead, Jovita Carranza has proven many times over that she is capable of building and leading team. With UPS employing 357,000 employees worldwide in over 200 countries, it just shows that she has become very good at her job as a leader. The characteristic of consistent exceptional performance is one she has displayed for many years. Her ability to keep moving forward and growing with the company proves she has this characteristic mastered. When a leader has the employees under them show respect and like them, then this only shows that the leader exemplifies exceptional performance, and that is what has happened to Jovita Carranza. Two reasons that this can be said about her is due to the fact that she is still employed with UPS after 30 years of service, and the other being the Woman of the Year award. Jovita Carranza is very ambitious when it pertained to her career with UPS. We can see this by just reviewing her past positions that she has held with the company. While many other employees were content to stay where they were, she wanted to forge ahead up the company ladder, taking on more responsibility as she moved along. She has stated previously that the one error people make early on in their career is that they are very selective about opportunities so they avoid some, prefer others. She has taken advantage of all of the opportunities that were presented to her and has gained knowledge from each one. Each opportunity serves as a platform for future endeavors. She has never lost her ambition over the 30 years of employment and she continued to grow.

Developing Leaders at UPS 5 References Hughes, R. L., Ginnett, R. C., & Curphy, G. J. (2009). Leadership: Enhancing the lessons of experience (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill/Irwin