113 Definitions

113.1 Organizational Terms

Activity — a group of related (but possibly heterogeneous) tasks that constitute an easily defined operation or service which may be performed by an employee or group of employees.
Function — a principal method of devising work. A function 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 as follows:

Major function — a group of activities that has a direct impact on the overall mission of the Postal Service.
Minor function — a group of activities that has an indirect impact on the mission of the Postal Service.

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 organizational structure should respond to the needs of the organization and foster the achievement of its objectives. 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, the organizational structure should be changed.

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 operates under a manager with the discretionary decision-making responsibility (see 113.3).
Program — a specialized, continuing endeavor consisting of a group of selected projects and activities related to one another within a major function.
Staffing — the number and types of positions within an organization, typically determined by criteria, guidelines, and standards.

113.2 Basic Managerial Positions

Basic managerial positions are as follows:

Installation head or manager — one who plans, organizes, directs, guides, controls, and evaluates the efforts of subordinate managers, employees, or both to achieve organizational goals.
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:

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.
Vice president organization — an organizational entity in Headquarters with responsibility for major heterogeneous functions having service-wide impact.
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 major homogeneous functions having service-wide impact.
Headquarters-related field unit — an organizational entity that performs a major function or group of minor functions, reports directly to a Headquarters manager, and resides outside the Headquarters building.
Service center — an organizational entity that reports directly to a manager at Headquarters and resides outside the Headquarters building.
Service office — an organizational entity that performs an activity or group of activities, usually to support a service center.
Area office — an organizational entity that has responsibility within a specified geographical area for major heterogeneous functions having area-wide impact. These functions include oversight of:

Subordinate districts,
Processing and distribution centers,
Network distribution centers,
Airport mail centers,
International service centers, and
Remote encoding centers.

District office — an organizational entity subordinate to an area, with responsibility for major heterogeneous functions having district-wide impact, including oversight of subordinate Post Offices™ and delivery distribution centers.
Processing and distribution center (P&DC) — an organizational entity, subordinate to an area, with significant responsibility for the processing and distribution of mail for a geographic area. A P&DC may have one or more reporting facilities.
Processing and distribution facility (P&DF) — an organizational entity, generally subordinate to a P&DC, that has responsibility for the processing and distribution of mail for a geographic area.
Network distribution center (NDC) — an organizational entity, generally subordinate to an area, within a three-tier system of distribution of Standard Mail, periodicals, and packages. Some NDCs serve as consolidation points for truckload volumes.
Surface transfer center (STC) — an organizational entity, generally subordinate to an area, designed to distribute, dispatch, consolidate, and transfer First-Class Mail^®, Priority Mail^®, and periodicals within a specialized surface transportation network.
Logistics and distribution center (L&DC) — an organizational entity, generally subordinate to a district, engaged in the receipt, unloading, sorting, loading, dispatch, and transportation of a variety of mail products for a designated service area.
Remote encoding center (REC) — an organizational entity, generally subordinate to an area, that processes video images of partially resolved or script letter mail for the P&DCs.
International service center (ISC) — an organizational entity that distributes and dispatches international mail received from a designated service area to specific foreign countries or to gateway exchange offices.
Post Office — an organizational entity subordinate to a district, and perhaps also an administrative Post Office, managed by a Postmaster, with responsibility for: