Downsizing And Organizational Culture Essay

The “lean and mean” organization resulting from downsizing has given way to emerging management concepts such as employee empowerment and self-managed work teams. These characteristics of the current workplace, in combination with a rise in the use of contingent labour, signify a serious cultural shift away from the traditional “pre-downsizing-era” workplace. Hierarchical, bureaucratic organizations which offered employment for life

Downsizing refers to the voluntary actions on the part of organizations to reduce the overall size of their workforce, generally to reduce costs. The disadvantages of downsizing in a survey by the American Society of

Within organizations, large and small, there exists a sense of identity among its members that separates it from other organizations. This sense of identity is known as organizational culture. All over, managers seek to influence and change this into something that can be beneficial for the organization. In his article, “The Six Levers for Managing Organizational Culture”, Professor David W. Young defines the different elements that can influence and change the culture within the organization and how the reader can use these “levers” to their advantage. While the author does present a decent explanation for changing the culture of an organization, he leaves many questions unanswered that leaves his argument incomplete.

According to the article, “The Downside of Downsizing,” Caela Farren, points out that companies no longer have loyalty to their workers; therefore, it is no surprise that workers no longer look to remain in jobs long-term. Farren also believes that companies need to look beyond the bottom line and see that it is the human factor that makes the company successful (Farren, 2008).

P & Barnwell, N. 2006). In an investigation conducted by two Australian researchers, Peter Dawkins & Craig Littler, about the consequences of downsizing, concluded that as the organisation undergoes elimination of staff, the probability of losing honed staff and knowledge is unavoidable. Further, it may lead to unqualified staff and tyros to get promoted, which is certainly vile for the welfare of organisation (Robbins, S.P. & Barnwell, N. 2006). In relation to healthcare system, healthcare organisations require skill and honed individual day-in and day-out for the sterling progress of the organisation and deliver standard and prompt service to the patients. Curtail of such health workforce from the organisation unquestionably creates an obstacle in the services and productivity of the organisation which certainly tarnish the culture and the value it embodies.

A corporation needs to have a strategic plan in place in order for them to be able to implement a downsizing. There are many pros and cons to downsizing and it has a ripple effect on everyone in the corporation. Depending on the planning of the downsizing, one of the big issues to decide on is how to choose who will be terminated. For example, do you go by seniority, a percentage from all departments, an entire department, or by job level or position? These are major options that need to be addressed before anything happens. Most corporations today exist less for the well being of employees than they

In review of the literature, there exists a great deal of research regarding best downsizing models, practices and prescriptions. The most common themes across reviewed articles are 1) Participating employees in the decision making process; 2) Planning ahead of official announcement; 3) Extending open, direct and honest communication; 4) Considering all downsizing alternatives other than layoffs and 5) Providing economic, psychological and career-related support to both victims and survivors of downsizing. We will discuss these and more in the context of some of the major articles on this topic.

Downsizing has become a commonplace strategy for organizations to adopt in an effort to cut costs, eliminate redundancies, and streamline organizational systems. Over the last 15 years, many organizations have engaged in downsizing more than once. Most companies have learned from the mistakes of the past, but some companies are still trying to use the same tactics today that were used in the mid 1980s, that leave employees reeling.

An organization’s culture governs day to day behavior. This type of power may be seen as a control mechanism, which businesses use to manipulate internal and external perception. Every organization has a set of assumed understandings that must be adopted and implemented by new employees in order for them to be accepted. Conformity to the culture becomes the primary basis for reward by the organization. “The role of culture in influencing employee behavior appears to be increasingly important in today’s workplace, as organizations have widened spans of control, flattened structures, introduced teams, reduced

Edgar Schein, a famous theorists dealing with organizational culture, provides the following definition for the term: "A pattern of shared basic assumptions that the group learned as it solved its problems that has worked well enough to be considered valid and is passed on to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems." (organizationalculture101) However, organizational culture is more than sharing assumptions used by a group to solve problems; it is the combination of the points of view, ineffectual processes, education, backgrounds of all the staff which are part of an organization way of doing things. Corporation culture should uncover from the board of the directors to the rest of

The reenergizing employees after a downsizing case study, explains the potential effects of downsizing a company, on both employees and the manager. Andrea Zuckerman is the editor in chief of Blaze and the person who must relay the message to the entire company. It is made clear throughout the case that Andrea does not agree with this downsizing and feels that it is wrong. However, due to the newspaper industry dwindling away and many people now reading the news from a mobile device, it must be done. Andrea’s biggest conflict is figuring out how to properly explain this downsizing to employees, as this is no easy task. The “new normal” that will be implemented consists of merging the five areas of reporting into either two or three. As said, explaining this situation to employees in a reasonable and understanding manner will be a complex task.

From a HR perspective, downsizing often results in discrimination litigation and negative outcomes for survivors, such as lower job satisfaction and higher levels of stress (Campion, 2011). It is the HR manager’s responsibility to ensure that the HR goals are aligned with the business goals, all the while minimising the negative effects on both terminated and surviving employees, while avoiding legal problems that could result from downsizing. As such, according to Campion, there are 8 reasonable HR practices when downsizing a company’s

There is a well known issue in corporations when it comes down to downsizing. Corporate downsizing is that act of corporations cutting workers usually by closing whole plants or divisions to increase profits. This practice is often used today and is thought by some to be a moral practice to improve economy overall. On the other hand, some think that it causes the workers great suffrage from unemployment, which leads to loss of homes, depression, and crimes. Furthermore, it affects the economy by the decrease in money flow.  Many believe that the people who invest their money in the corporation (shareholders) deserve to have the most interest from the managers to maximize their profits. One method of maximizing their profits is

The shared characteristics and, in some cases, perception of employees create what is known as organizational culture. A strong culture constructs a unified employee atmosphere, whereas a weak culture lacks a shared sense of distinction between employees. An employee’s heritage or individual culture, although different than, affects the overall organizational culture of companies. Like society, sub-cultures exist within organizations. Formed by departmental function, geographical location, and/or the personalities of employees, sub-cultures include employees who continue to adhere to the organizations’ overall culture, but have additional independent characteristics. Employees’ individual heritage, along with the culture and

Downsizing, restructuring, rightsizing, even a term as obscure as census readjustment has been used to describe the plague that has been affecting corporate America for years and has left many of its hardest working employees without work. In the year 2001 we had nearly 1.8 million jub cuts, that’s almost three times as much as the year 2000(Matthew Benz). In the 1990's, one million managers of American corporations with salaries over $40,000 also lost their jobs. In total, Fortune 500 companies have eliminated 4.4 million positions since 1979 including the 65,000 positions cut in February of 2002 (Ellen Florian). Although this downsizing of companies can have many reasons behind it and cannot be