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Home > About USPS & News > Forms & Publications > Postal Periodicals and Publications > Manuals > Employee and Labor Relations Manual - Issue 18 > 1 Organizational Structures
1 Organizational Structures
110 General Information
111.1 Objectives
The organizational structures policies of the Postal Service™ are established
to meet the following objectives:
a. Ensure no duplication of jobs, functions, or responsibilities within or
between organizational units.
b. Ensure consistency of organizational structures and staffing.
This chapter documents the principles to establish organizational structures
and staffing and describes the programs used to monitor and assess them. It
establishes guidelines, policies, and procedures for implementing changes in
organizational structures and staffing patterns, and describes factors to be
considered in decisions related to organizational changes. In view of
functional diversity, varying work requirements, and the wide range of
operational circumstances, factors are considered and decisions are reached
on a case-by-case basis.
111.3 Importance of Concepts
The organizational design system does not operate on the basis of rigid or
inflexible standards. Nevertheless, postal managers should be aware of the
concepts applied in evaluating organizational change requests so that they
can:
a. Make decisions to request such changes on an informed basis.
b. Submit appropriate documentation to support proposed changes.
c. Better understand the basis upon which their requests are reviewed
and evaluated.
112.1 Headquarters
Employee Resource Management within Human Resources at Headquarters
has overall responsibility for the control of organizational structures and
staffing for the Postal Service. This includes:
a. Developing and implementing organizational management policies and
programs for bargaining unit and nonbargaining unit positions.
b. Designing programs and procedures for auditing and assessing existing
structures and staffing.
c. Providing a planning capability for the long-range organizational
development of the Postal Service in response to technological and
environmental changes.
The area Human Resources manager:
a. Serves as an advisory resource on matters relating to field
organizations.
b. Monitors compliance with approved staffing and structures for field
units.
All levels of managers throughout the Postal Service are responsible for:
a. Planning and implementing administrative and operating methods
which comply with organizational structures and staffing.
b. Reviewing their organizations and recommending changes according to
the instructions in this chapter.
113.1 Organizational Terms
a. Activity - a group of related (possibly dissimilar or possibly
heterogeneous) tasks which may be performed by an employee or
group of employees and results in an easily defined operation or
service.
b. Function - a principal method of devising work; may be a single
activity, but is more commonly a group of related activities placed
together under one responsibility. Functions are categorized as major
or minor:
(1) Major Function - a group of activities which has a direct impact
on the overall mission of the Postal Service.
(2) Minor Function - a group of activities which has an indirect,
contributory impact on the mission of the Postal Service.
c. Organizational Structure - the formal relationship that reflects the
organizational units within a given group and the pattern of work to be
accomplished by the employees in the organization; delineates
responsibilities and reporting relationships; and creates a rational
division of work. The structure should (1) respond to the needs of an
organization and foster the achievement of its objectives and (2) be
changed when there is a basic change in the amount or kind of work to
be done or in the assignment of the work to the positions involved.
d. Organizational Unit - an entity in which the necessary activities are
divided into segments small enough to be managed or supervised by
one person. An autonomous unit is a unit which operates under a
manager with discretionary decision-making responsibility. (See also
113.3.)
e. Program - a specialized continuing endeavor, consisting of a group of
selected projects and activities related to one another within a major
function.
f. Staffing - the number and types of positions within organizations,
typically determined by criteria, guidelines, or standards.
113.2 Basic Managerial Positions
Basic managerial positions are as follows:
a. Installation head or manager - one who plans, organizes, directs,
guides, controls, and evaluates employee efforts to achieve
organizational goals.
b. Supervisor - one who has a direct responsibility for ensuring the
accomplishment of work through the efforts of others. Normally, a
supervisor has no subordinate employees with managerial
responsibility for others.
113.3 Organizational Entities
Organization entities include the following:
a. Senior or executive vice president organization - an organizational
entity in Headquarters that exercises managerial and directive control
over one or more vice president organizations or serves as a member
of the senior management team.
b. Vice president organization - an organizational entity in Headquarters
with responsibility for heterogeneous major functions having
servicewide impact.
c. Headquarters unit - an organizational entity in Headquarters managed
by an executive and subordinate to a vice president or a manager, with
responsibility for one or more homogeneous major functions having
servicewide impact.
d. Headquarters-related field unit - an organizational entity that performs
a major function or group of minor functions, reports directly to a
Headquarters manager, and exists outside the Headquarters building.
e. Service center - an organizational entity that reports directly to a
manager at Headquarters and exists outside the Headquarters building.
f. Service office - an organizational entity that performs an activity or
group of activities, usually to support a service center.
g. Area office - an organizational entity that has responsibility within a
specified geographical area for heterogeneous major functions having
areawide impact, including oversight of subordinate districts,
processing and distribution centers, bulk mail centers, airport mail
centers, international service centers, and remote encoding centers.
h. District office - an organizational entity subordinate to an area, with
responsibility for heterogeneous major functions having districtwide
impact, including oversight of subordinate Post Offices™ and delivery
distribution centers.
i. Processing and distribution center - an organizational entity
subordinate to an area, with significant responsibility for the processing
and distribution of mail for a geographic area. May have one or more
reporting facilities.
j. Bulk mail center - a highly mechanized processing and distribution
center subordinate to an area, with responsibility for the processing and
distribution of standard mail.
k. Post Office - an organizational entity subordinate to a district,
managed by a postmaster, with responsibility for customer services,
local delivery, the receipt and dispatch of all classes of mail, and in
some instances, processing and distribution of mail for other Post
Offices in the surrounding geographic area.
The words "disabled" and "disability" are found in many statutes, rules, and
regulations. They are used by the Department of Labor, the Department of
Veterans Affairs, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Office of
Personnel Management, and the Social Security Administration, among
others. Their meaning, however, differs based on the source statute, rule, or
regulation that defines what the word means. For example, an individual
"disabled" as defined by the Office of Worker's Compensation Programs
statute may not meet the definition of "disabled" under the Rehabilitation Act
of 1973. The meaning of these words is controlled by the context in which
they are used.
114 Documentation in Organization Charts
Organization charts are graphic representations of an organization. The
official organization charts of the basic organizational entities of the Postal
Service are maintained by Customer Requirements, Employee Resource
Management, at Headquarters.
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