Page 129 - Anne Bruce - Building A HIgh Morale Workplace (2002)

Hard-Core Morale Cases 109

Commitment to Values Helped UPS Take on
Its Toughest Morale Challenge
In 1997, United Parcel Service (UPS) experienced a gut-
wrenching and traumatic drivers’ strike, crippling morale and negative-
ly affecting customer opinion worldwide.To restore employee morale
and pride, UPS reinvented itself by recommitting to some old and
some new cultural values that would ultimately make both its employ-
ees and its customers excited about the company.The values included
increased reliability, efficiency, procedural uniformity, and higher stan-
dards in customer service.The result? Net income for the delivery
organization doubled—and so did workers’ morale.

Law Enforcement—Saving Lives Saves Morale

Read the headlines: “Police calls up—domestic violence on the
rise,” “Precinct morale plummets,” “Police morale at all-time
low following school shooting.” It’s no secret that law enforce-
ment is notorious for officer morale problems. And that’s under-

standable when, for example, it can be difficult to measure the
success of fighting crime or making a direct impact on a specif-
ic crime, like domestic violence or guns in schools.
Like many organizations, law enforcement agencies look for

ways to measure success and demonstrate to the community
that action has produced positive results. When this happens,
employee morale is directly affected in a positive way.

Charleston Police Department Gets It!

The police department in Charleston, South Carolina, is one
example of how law enforcement develops ways to provide vital
morale-building feedback to both its officers and the community.

The department uses city statistics as a weapon to develop
better crime-fighting programs that can result in encouraging
and motivating feedback for their officers, as well as the com-
munity they serve.

For example, soaring numbers on domestic violence made
police realize that they needed to make a drastic change in
arrest procedures. Charleston’s Police Department focused on
developing a severe and effective program that would actually