THE DOWNSIZE OF DOWNSIZING: USING RESEARCH ACTION AS CONSULTING PROCESS (original) (raw)
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There has been a world-wide increase in the incidences of downsizing practice across economies and across organizations. This has been considered as the basis for coping with increasing competition. The present paper looks into some studies on downsizing. The focus of the ...
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This paper presents the findings of a phenomenological study, which describes the experiences of human resource (HR) managers implementing a downsizing programme in a steel manufacturing organisation in India. Data were collected through conversational interviews. Following van Manen's sententious analytic approach, the core theme of "a necessary evil," emerged, which indicates that while participants were pained by their task of having to terminate workers and deprive them of their livelihood, they believed that they had no choice in the matter if they had to ensure the competitive position of the organisation and their own survival as employees. The findings of the inquiry provide insights into a virtually unstudied area and raise questions about the role of HR managers in contemporary organisations.
Strategic downsizing: critical success factors
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Aims to review the literature pertaining to downsizing with an emphasis on the organization level, and establish the critical success factors of downsizing, that is, guidelines to the successful implementation of downsizing activities. Addresses these objectives by examining first, how downsizing is defined in the literature reviewed, then discusses the different ways in which or measures by which organizations carry out downsizing activities and the reasons that prompt companies to downsize. Addresses the rationale utilized by firms to downsize, the expected outcomes in terms of economic and human consequences, the approaches to downsizing (reorientation and convergence) and specific strategies such as workforce reduction, work redesign and systemic strategy. Also downsizing tactics, human resources as assets vs costs, planning, participation, leadership, communications, and support to victims/survivors are examined. Both laboratory experiments and empirical research concerning sur...
Alternatives to Downsizing: An Organizational Innovation Approach
Fifty alternatives to downsizing are offered. A brief literature review was conducted with specific emphasis on advantages and disadvantages of downsizing. Downsizing alternatives are divided into economic, institutional and socio-cognitive frameworks. Though many of the alternatives have been used in isolation, the writers provide a conceptual framework that challenges those involved in making the decision whether to downsize or not. The authors further challenge decision makers to resist the almost reflexive response to downsize when confronted with gaps in efficiency and effectiveness. Decision makers should consider alternatives to downsizing while keeping the two major goals of downsizing intact. Decision makers are charged to carefully identify the root cause of their challenges and to explore and create viable alternatives before downsizing becomes an option. Organizational leaders, human resource management and policy makers are given specific methods to conceptualize business decisions without the need for permanent employee layoffs.
Global Business Review, 2005
The restructuring of organizations through downsizing is a significant phenomenon in the contemporary global business scenario. But academic research on the subject has focused limited attention on important stakeholder group, namely, the managers implementing the programmes. The article reports a qualitative study of managers in an Indian firm. Thematic analyses of narratives pointed out that managers experiences comprise three core themes which included the objective aspect of the experience (events, processes, tasks, outcomes), the subject component (opinions, perceptions, feelings) and coping. Linkages among these themes and their sub-themes provide a conceptual basis for further research.
Downsizing, in recent years, have assumed a commonplace in various organisations. The views of various practitioners and in fact results of various studies indicates that these initiatives, albeit, intended to produce positive results, often do more harm than good to some organisations, workforce and their performance. The unending quest for lower costs, higher productivity and fatter profits have often led to the wielding of the ''big stick''. Organisations of varying sizes and shapes have used downsizing as a cost cutting management strategy, however, the untold stories are the actual cost of these exercise to the organisation, performance and it's far reaching implications to the workforce. This paper explored the costs and implications of the massive wave of redundancies in the workforce in Nigerian banks. With the help of data obtained from open-ended interviews conducted with various stakeholders in downsizing operations and applied within a clinical framework, individual reaction patterns are explored in the victims, the survivors and the executioners. Among the victims and survivors within the Nigerian setting, a number of ways of coping can be discerned, and described as compulsive, abrasive, dissociate and depressive. Findings revealed a plethora of mixed feelings among various employees and expose the far reaching implications both to the organisations, affected individuals (victims) and the psyche of their co-workers (survivors). The article ends with a number of practical recommendations.
Learning from the Past - Downsizing Lessons for Managers
Downsizing as a change management strategy has been adopted by companies and governmental agencies since the 1970s. While workforce reductions were utilized mainly in response to organizational and economic crises prior to the mid-1980s, downsizing developed into a proactive restructuring strategy of choice for a multitude of organizations in the mid-to late-1980s. Since then, downsizing has transformed the corporate landscape and changed the lives of hundreds of millions of individuals around the world. While downsizing has attracted a lot of attention in academic circles, the business community, and the popular media, many misconceptions and mysteries surrounding the phenomenon have remained. This research study presents an overview of the reported financial, organizational, and human consequences following the conduct of downsizing. More importantly, the paper draws out implications for practicing managers and showcases four downsizing lessons that need to be considered by executives contemplating the adoption of downsizing.
DBA800 - Dissertation on downsizing - 2018-8-1.docx
Research on downsizing is done because it is a critical issue with diametrically opposed viewpoints and, as yet, an unresolved question as to its ability to succeed. More to the point, succeed for whom? Most researchers do their best to objectively observe the positive versus negative effects on the several effected parties; the corporation, those employees left behind and those made redundant. To a lesser degree there is an effect on the community and the nation's economic well-being itself. In order to deal with any strong viewpoint it is important to secure a solid background in the facts and so this paper reviews the research on these topics and discusses them as to their theoretical implications. Who is to say we are not allowed to fight or dispute the assumption that “Survival of the Fittest” is the same in business as it is in nature? Ultimately, the purpose is to find out if stress occurs in those downsized, and if so, what kind of stress, and what can be done about it
Organizational downsizing: From concepts to practices
Vikalpa, 2005
Downsizing is currently one of the most popular strategies being used by organizations in an effort to survive and compete in the current business scenario. Existing literature in the area has broadly focused on the following three issues: Why do organizations downsize? What are ...