The United States Postal Service (USPS) recently awarded Bruce Mast & Associates, Inc. (BMA) the contract to develop and deliver Pilot Programs for “Building Practical Business Skills for Lean/Six Sigma Black Belts” to its supervisory employees.
In a concentrated effort to support the development of their Lean/Six Sigma professionals further, the USPS is launching this initiative to enhance their capabilities by creating a highly integrated “Practical Business Skills” program. Participants will also develop a fundamental and applicable understanding of basic project management processes (planning, organizing, implementing, controlling and closing) within the context of a Lean/Six Sigma environment.
BMA partners, John Ford and Leslie Mast submitted the winning proposal, and John will be the presenter for the Pilot Programs. The programs, developed by BMA in partnership with the USPS, will be delivered throughout the United States, starting in Pittsburgh and San Diego. They are based on “Faultless Facilitation” and BMA’s proprietary Leadership Development process, Leadership On The Line®.
ITS NOT BUSINESS SKILLS = PEOPLE SKILLS……………..
ITS NOT CRUCIAL POINT = PEOPLE WITH CAPABLIITIES (NOT SENIORITY)
THE USPS NEEDS TO GET BACK TO BASICS -that is doing everything in a
timely matter.
SIX-SIGMA GOOD IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR BUSINESS WORLD -WALL STREET-FORTUNE 500’S..PLAYGROUND..
Yes, this is a problem, the USPS is that it has to hire poor military regardless of qualifications.. I see, this everyday, some of the military are very lazy in the mind and body. No hope in the private sector for some of the veterans, their work ethics and attitudes. I see the Union, do its job to get problem employees AND good employees back into the workforce, that was unfit and should have not returned under any condition, but they bring then back to do something even worst down the road..GOD HELP US ALL
Final Decision: IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO WORK …DO NOT LIKE YOUR ASSIGNMENT FOR THAT DAY–DO NOT LIKE THE SUPERVISOR OR 204B’S..PUT THEM OUT THE DOOR…WE NEED TO LEARN SOME NEW WORDS..”YOU ARE FIRED”… AND THEY STAY OUT THE DOOR… NOW, USPS employees let get this job done, now..
If you want us to get back to the business of “Delivering the Mail in a Timely Manner” like Don says then we need to get rid of cl the clerks that take forever to sort the mail and the carriers that want 10 hours pay to do 7 hours of work…that take 6 bathroom breaks a day just for the purpose of slowing down their routes….or the ones that walk so slow and deliberate that I could use a sundial to track them…but lordy lordy let their favorite football team be playing a big game on Saturday at 3 and see who then says … “Can I take AL if I get my route done early?”
Fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work my ARSE!!!!
I have read some of the derogatory comments…obviously posted by letter carriers or window workers.
Their mentality is showing already by reading the incredibly union biased opinions. I am not happy with the service I receive from the carriers. I am not sure they really know how to read because i keep getting mail for neighbors’, houses or blocks away. I would imagine even grade school reading skills should be sufficient to do this correctly.
As far as people skills the ignoramuses at the counter will wait on you when they are damn good and ready….by all means don’t rush they are government employees. I think it is high time they either get educated on what customer service is all about or get a grip on reality. It is the letter carriers and front line people who are in need of understanding what responsibility to their job correctly is all about. I rather suspect that their treatment by their supervisors is deserved. They just take exception to being held accountable.
Mad Jack if you dont like working for the USPS I suggest you go find a job that makes you actually have to perform your job well to stay employed!
One unhappy postal customer !
The problem with the USPS is that it has to hire prior military typically first regardless of qualifications. We can’t hire the right people because of contracts that are lacking orignality and are antiquated. Based on the comments here some of the people that are making them are NALC people who are probably doing it on undertime that they should be giving the service. As we all know the biggest problem we have is the inefficient way we deliver mail. Instead of protecting routes and people the union should stand aside and let business take over. This means less routes less supervisor’s and an overall efficient operation. If there were not so many lack luster performing carriers who say “why today is the lightest volume day ever that is why you are going with me Mr. Supervisor” and the were honest employees who were in it for the good of the service and not protecting a rank and file positions we would be efficient and making money. What purpose does it serve to deliver mail at 8pm at night when our customers don’t want it? Why because a contract that was written in 1971 allows for it because we have to maximize people before forcing. Wow what a concept it costs more for the business that makes sense. What is their answer hire more people that cost more to train and if we are hiring the wrong people anyway why bother according to the readers here. Get a clue and stop sucking from the bottle of the federal government.
Never has made sense to me that they hire supervisors with HS diplomas instead of management degrees…..LMAO….now they are going to try to educate these idiots….
Start with NEW LEADERSHIP! “NEW POSTMASTER GENERAL” then make a clean sweep at HQS and PLEASE TEACH “PEOPLE SKILLS” That is the biggest problem with the USPS… They treat their EMPLOYEES LIKE CRAP!!!
Does Bruce Mast or any of his “associates” have any hands on experience working at or in the Postal Service? How much $ will it cost to attempt to teach these glorified clerks what they don’t need to know? If postal supervisors worked in restaurants, they would starve for lack of tips. They do what the PM says; right or wrong. The PM does what the district says; right or wrong. The districts do what the plaza says, right or wrong. The plaza does what it wants to do. It answers to no one.
Taken straight from Wiki.
Potential negative effects
A Fortune article stated that “of 58 large companies that have announced Six Sigma programs, 91 percent have trailed the S&P 500 since”. The statement is attributed to “an analysis by Charles Holland of consulting firm Qualpro (which espouses a competing quality-improvement process).”[20] The summary of the article is that Six Sigma is effective at what it is intended to do, but that it is “narrowly designed to fix an existing process” and does not help in “coming up with new products or disruptive technologies.” Advocates of Six Sigma have argued that many of these claims are in error or ill-informed.[21][22]
A BusinessWeek article says that James McNerney’s introduction of Six Sigma at 3M may have had the effect of stifling creativity. It cites two Wharton School professors who say that Six Sigma leads to incremental innovation at the expense of blue-sky work.[23] This phenomenon is further explored in the book, Going Lean, which describes a related approach known as lean dynamics and provides data to show that Ford’s “6 Sigma” program did little to change its fortunes.[24]
[edit] Based on arbitrary standards
While 3.4 defects per million opportunities might work well for certain products/processes, it might not operate optimally or cost effectively for others. A pacemaker process might need higher standards, for example, whereas a direct mail advertising campaign might need lower standards. The basis and justification for choosing 6 (as opposed to 5 or 7, for example) as the number of standard deviations is not clearly explained. In addition, the Six Sigma model assumes that the process data always conform to the normal distribution. The calculation of defect rates for situations where the normal distribution model does not apply is not properly addressed in the current Six Sigma literature.[2]
[edit] Criticism of the 1.5 sigma shift
The statistician Donald J. Wheeler has dismissed the 1.5 sigma shift as “goofy” because of its arbitrary nature.[25] Its universal applicability is seen as doubtful.[2]
The 1.5 sigma shift has also become contentious because it results in stated “sigma levels” that reflect short-term rather than long-term performance: a process that has long-term defect levels corresponding to 4.5 sigma performance is, by Six Sigma convention, described as a “6 sigma process.”[8][26] The accepted Six Sigma scoring system thus cannot be equated to actual normal distribution probabilities for the stated number of standard deviations, and this has been a key bone of contention about how Six Sigma measures are defined.[26] The fact that it is rarely explained that a “6 sigma” process will have long-term defect rates corresponding to 4.5 sigma performance rather than actual 6 sigma performance has led several commentators to express the opinion that Six Sigma is a confidence trick.[8]
The USPS needs to get back to the basics and start doing what they are supposed to be doing. Deliver the mail in a timely manner. That’s all they have to do. That is all they have to offer the public. Stop playing these games. This has been going on for years. More palms being greased. And they have no money?
Sirs,
It is meaningless to try to teach business skills to people who cannot or will not be fired no matter what the offense. The crucial point is how people are hired and the criteria under which they are hired. Currently, postal managers are hired for any reason OTHER than capability. Reasons that come to mind are, in no particular order, relatives, girlfriends, boyfriends, would-be girlfriends and boyfriends, major butt kissing, favor for a friend, poor working employee so promote him/her to get them out, overbearing and mean personality, and easily the biggest, making the class picture look good. Being representative means handing out jobs to people regardless of qualification, but because they representative the flavor or the week.
BUSINESS SKILLS!!! When are they going to teach those dumb bastards some PEOPLE SKILLS???