System Dynamic Framework for Analyzing Organizational Stress: United States Postal Service Case Study ARCHES by MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE Davit Tadevosyan OF rECHNOLOLGY M.A. in State and Municipal Governance, 2005 AUG 0 6 2015 State Engineering University of Armenia LIBRARIES Submitted to the System Design and Management Program on January 17, 2014 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Science in Engineering and Management at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY February 2014. Sep~eA- 200 2014 Davit Tadevosyan. All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to MIT permission to reproduce and to distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Sianature redacted Signature of Author Davit Tadevosyan System Design and Management Program / December 18X 2013 Signature redacted December , 1821 Certified by _ V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai MIT Sociotechnical Systems Research Center Director, Email Lab, Internatinal Center for Integrative Systems 1\ r /Thesis Supervisor 'U, redacted- Accepted by_ Sianature Patrick Hale Sct ,ys erm Design and Management Program Massachusetts Institute of Technology - 1 - TABLE OF CONTENTS ACK NO W LEDG EM ENTS ....................................................................................................................- 4 - LIST O F FIG UR ES ................................................................................................................................- 5- CH A PTER 1: UNITED STATES PO STA L S ERVIC E .................................................................... 10- A BSTRA CT .......................................................................................................................................- 10 - 1.0 Introduction.................................................................................................................................- 10 - 1.1 O verview of the U SPS.................................................................................................................- 10- 1.2 U SPS O perations.........................................................................................................................- 21- 1.3 H istory of w orkplace violence in U SPS.....................................................................................- 28- 1.4 Conclusions..................................................................................................................................- 30 - CHATPER 2: INDIVIDUAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL STRESS .................................................- 34- ABSTRA CT .......................................................................................................................................- 34 - 2.0 Introduction.................................................................................................................................- 34 - 2.1 Individual stress: statistics .........................................................................................................- 34 - 2.2 H istory of individual stress research .........................................................................................- 36- 2.3 H istory of O rganizational stress research ................................................................................- 41- 2.4 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................- 46- CHAPTER 3: FUNDAMENTALS OF SYSTEM DYNAMICS ........................................................- 48- A BSTRA CT .......................................................................................................................................- 48 - 3.0 Introduction.................................................................................................................................- 48 - 3.1 System Dynam ics history............................................................................................................- 48- 3.2 Elem ents of System Dynam ics ...................................................................................................- 49- 3.3 System D ynamics Concepts........................................................................................................- 53- 3.4 Concept # 1 - dynam ic com plexity.............................................................................................- 53- 3.5 Concept # 2 - policy resistance.........................:.........................................................................- 54 - 3.6 Concept # 3: system behavior - reference m odes.....................................................................- 55- 3.7 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................- 61- CHAPTER 4: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING INDIVIDUAL STR ESS ................................................................................................................................................- 62- A BSTRA CT .......................................................................................................................................- 62- 4.0 Introduction.................................................................................................................................- 62 - 4.1 Individual stress patterns and system s overview .....................................................................- 62 - 4.2 M ethod .........................................................................................................................................- 66 - -2- 4.3 The proposed fram ework ............................................................................................................ 69 - 4.4 R esults ........................................................................................................................................... 70 - 4.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 73 - CHAPTER 5: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL STR ESS ................................................................................................................................................. 77 - A BSTRA CT ........................................................................................................................................ 77 - 5.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 77 - 5.1 O rganizational stress statistics .................................................................................................... 77 - 5.2 M ethod .......................................................................................................................................... 78 - 53 Proposed fram ew ork ................................................................................................................... 83 - 5.3 R esults ........................................................................................................................................... 86 - 5.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 90 - CHAPTER 6: A JOINT FRAMWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING AND MONITORING EM PLO YEE STR ESS IN O RG ANIZATIO NS ................................................................................... 93 - A BSTRA CT ........................................................................................................................................ 93- 6.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 93 - 6.1 M ethod .......................................................................................................................................... 93 - 6.2 The Joint Framework for Individual and Organizational Stress ............................................ 94- 6.2 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 96 - C O NC LUSIO NS .................................................................................................................................. 101- R EFER ENC ES .................................................................................................................................... 101- -3- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS As I complete this thesis, I realize more and more that I am heavily indebted to certain people. Foremost, I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my thesis advisor Dr. VA Shiva Ayyadurai for inspiring me to work on this subject. It was in his captivating class of "System Visualization" that I decided to put to use the knowledge base and system thinking tools acquired through SDM program to research subjects that I previously had no experience in - stress and organizational stress. I thank you for introducing me to this subject and your continuous support and guidance throughout my research. I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to SDM program director Pat Hale. Without your kind support and generous attention given to each and every one of us SDM program would have been a rather different place. I would like to thank my beloved friends from SDM cohorts of 2012