Productivity in the U.S. Posal Service I. INTRODUCTION This research describes a pro

As a quasi public corporation, the USPS is charged with the responsibility to fund itself to the maximum extent possible through the conduct of its own operations, thereby reducing the need for funding the USPS through the federal budget (National Academy of Public Administration, 1982). Productivity improvement, thus, became a major goal of the USPS.

The scientific study into productivity improvement dates at least back to the pioneering work of Frederick Taylor in the second decade of this century (Sisk, 1987). His scientific management began the development of the empirical foundations for the analysis of employee productivity. Later, in the 1930s, studies by Elton Mayo led to the discovery of what was termed the Hawthorne Effect, which led to the development of the human relations approach to management (Sisk, 1987). The human relations approach postulates that treating employees less as if they are automatons will lead to improved productivity.

A concern with organizational performance (productivity) is one of the more significant of the many problems which confront managers in organizationsin both the public and the private sectors (Drucker, 1980). The costs to an organization of substandard performance involve (1) profit

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enhance productivity. In the late 1970s, the City of Raleigh, North Carolina developed and implemented a system of standardized procedures, which were also incorporated into a set of instruction for the use of city personnel in the performance of their daily duties (Mercer and Koester, 1978). Within the context of these standardized procedures, individuals were provided guidance with respect to the extent to which they could exercise autonomy in their organizational functions. The use of standardized procedures also permits a public administration to decentralize the routine decisionmaking pro cess, without a deterioration of the centralization of responsibility (Mercer and Koester, 1978). It was found that this procedure tended to create and maintain a sense of security among employees, while, at the same time, freeing managers and administrators from the necessity to supervise routine activities; thereby permitting them to devote more time and effort to higher level activities (Mercer and Koester, 1978). This latter factor meant that the productivity of higher level personnel was also improved, along with the increase in the productivity of lower level personnel (Mercer and Koester, 1978). As indicated in the p
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 4462
Approximate Pages = 18 (250 words per page)