April 11, 2005
The Secret Sauce At UPS UPS Inc., the package delivery and logistics company, relies on IT. It spends more than $1 billion a year on technology, and has used its technology infrastructure and logistical savvy to enter a variety of new markets. But the secret sauce, says Senior VP and CIO David Barnes, is something called "constructive dissatisfaction." Jim Casey, who founded the company in 1945, coined the concept. It can be summed up simply: What was the right answer last year probably isn't the right answer this year. Barnes says that concept is part of all UPS management-training courses and is "part of our DNA. It is the key to UPS" Barnes, who spoke at the InformationWeek Spring Conference on Monday, used himself to illustrate the point. "I've been with the company 27 years and it's easy to get comfortable with the processes you're involved with. You've refined the processes and, you hope, made them world class. So you're happy with them. But that is a trap, and we don't want people to fall into that trap." That's why UPS encourages employees to constantly challenge the status quo, to believe "there's got to be a better way to do things." And by making it part of the culture, employees don't get defensive when other employees challenge the way things are done. Said Barnes, "This is the best way we've found to constantly improve our processes and the company." Posted by ptravis
at April 11, 2005 03:29 PM
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