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Journal of Managerial Psychology,Vol. 15 No. 5, 2000, pp. 460-476.# MCB University Press, 0268-3946

Received March 1999Revised June 1999Accepted July 1999

Surviving redundancy: theperceptions of UK managers

Les Worrall and Fiona CampbellManagement Research Centre, Wolverhampton Business School,

Telford, UK

Cary CooperManchester School of Management, UMIST, Manchester, UK

Keywords Redundancy, Change management, Commitment, Loyalty, Motivation, Morale

Abstract Redundancy, delayering and other forms of organizational change have becomeincreasingly prevalent over the last ten years. This paper is based on a five year UMIST-Institute of Management research programme which has been used to explore the impact ofredundancy on UK managers' sense of loyalty, motivation, morale and loyalty to theorganization. The paper reveals that redundancy is a particularly damaging form oforganizational change even on the survivors of redundancy. The research reveals that whereredundancy has been used as a means of change surviving managers' perceptions of theirorganizations are significantly more adversely affected than where change is enacted withoutthe use of delayering or redundancy. The research raises significant questions about howchange is managed in organizations.

IntroductionThe scale and nature of organizational changeRedundancy is probably the most evocative and fear inducing form oforganizational change for many workers. Each year in the UK, there are over200,000 notified redundancies. What is perhaps of more concern is that manyorganization change programmes have relied heavily on redundancy eventhough they have been articulated as downsizing or, more euphemistically asrightsizing or business process reengineering (Hammer and Champy, 1993;Champy, 1995). The purpose of this paper is twofold: first to quantify thescale of redundancy among UK managers; and second, to assess the impact ofredundancy as an instrument of organizational change on those managerswho have survived programmes of change. Here we will search for significantdifferences in the impact of change on managers' perceptions where changehas been enacted through the medium of redundancy and where there hasbeen change not involving redundancy. In a subsequent section, we willcompare managers' views of their organization as a place to work in settingswhere there has been change using redundancy, where change has beenunaccompanied by redundancy and where there has been no organizationalchange in the last year.

These research questions will be addressed using a unique databasedeveloped by researchers at UMIST in conjunction with the Institute ofManagement. The paper is based on the first two years' research from a fiveyear research programme (Worrall and Cooper, 1997; 1998) designed to explore

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the impact of organizational change on managers' experiences and perceptionsof their working lives in order to provide a more socially complete view of thechanges in organizational structures and working patterns that have affectedcorporate Britain (Lees, 1997). The essence of our research is to explore howwell human resources are being managed within organizations and better tounderstand the impacts of organizational change on managers in differentsectors and at levels in the organizational hierarchy.

The research designThis paper is based on a UMIST-Institute of Management `̀ Quality of WorkingLife'' project which is conducted annually using the Institute of Management'smembership database as a sampling frame. A questionnaire was designedbased on our extensive prior research (Worrall and Cooper, 1995; Liff et al.,1997; Cooper and Lewis, 1994; Institute of Management, 1996a, 1996b, 1996c;and Charlesworth, 1996) and sent to 5,000 members of the Institute ofManagement. The exercise generated 1,362 valid responses in 1997 and 1,313responses in 1998 which represented a response rate of 27 per cent and 26 percent respectively. (A detailed profile of the panel of respondents is contained inWorrall and Cooper, 1997; 1998.)

It is important to emphasise here that the sample reflects the structure of themembership of the Institute of Management particularly when exploring thedistribution of respondents by management level. The profile of respondentsby managerial level for 1998 is presented in Table I. Unfortunately, as there areno reliable and published estimates of the size and structure of the populationof UK managers, it has not been possible to weight the survey data to give amore representative view.

The distribution by managerial level must be borne in mind whenexamining figures related to the total panel of respondents as the responses willreflect the profile of membership of the Institute of Management rather than thestatus profile of managers in UK businesses. Our panel does tend to over-represent managers at more senior levels which should be borne in mind wheninterpreting the results.

Table I.The structure of the

sample by manageriallevel in 1998

Management level Number Per cent

Chair 20 1.5CEO/MD 152 11.6Director 204 15.5Senior manager 390 29.7Middle manager 316 24.1Junior manager 131 10.0Other 65 5.0

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The extent of organizational change and the dimensions ofrestructuringThe extent of organizational change in 1997 and 1998In 1997, we revealed that 59 per cent of respondents had experienced some formof organizational change over the last year (Worrall and Cooper, 1997). By 1998,we revealed that the rate had increased to 62 per cent (Worrall and Cooper,1998). This reveals, first, a considerable degree of dynamism in any one year;second, a degree of persistence and, third, an increasing pace of change.

While there has been an overall increase in the number of managers affectedby restructuring, there has not been an across the board change either by sectoror by size of organization. While 33 per cent of respondents in organizationsemploying under 51 people had undergone some form of restructuring, thisincreased to 76 per cent in organizations employing over 500 people: managersin large organizations were significantly more at risk of being affected byrestructuring.

The extent of organizational restructuring is highest in the public sector andthe former public sector (the utilities, public administration, education, healthand the emergency services all have rates over 64 per cent) with manufacturing(72 per cent) and the financial services sector (banking, insurance and finance)at 74 per cent being the only private sector groups to have levels over the 62 percent global average (see Table II).

Having established that there are significant differences in the extent ofrestructuring between industrial sectors, it is important to identify the extent towhich these changes have been manifest. Table III reveals that in 45 per cent ofcases, organizational change had involved redundancy.

In this section, we have quantified the scale of the impact of organizationalchange and restructuring among UK managers and have revealed that over 60per cent of managers were affected by organizational restructuring in 1998 andthat the rate has increased over the two years of our research. We have alsodemonstrated that the scale of change and the forms of change are variable

Table II.The extent oforganizationalrestructuring byindustrial sector 1998

Base 1312 Yes % No %

All 62 36Construction/engineering 54 45Consultancy 32 68Manufacturing/production 72 28Distribution/transport 56 41Retail/wholesale 53 42Banking/insurance/finance 74 26Utilities 88 12Public administration/government 72 27Education/training 64 34Health services 69 31Uniformed services/emergency 75 25Business services 44 56

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across UK organizations and vary by type of organization, by industrial sectorand by size of business. We have also shown that in 45 per cent of cases,redundancy was used as a means of implementing organizational change. Itnow remains to assess the impact of this change on managers' workingexperiences and perceptions and to explore if responses differ significantlybetween managers in organizations where redundancy has been used andwhere it has not.

The effects of redundancy on surviving managers' perceptionsWe have established that redundancy ± linked to `̀ downsizing'' programmes ±has played a significant part in the overall process of restructuring that hasaffected many UK organizations (see Table II). Although, perhaps bestdeveloped in the USA, many UK companies have used downsizing-drivenredundancy programmes as a means of strategic transformation ostensibly inorder to change organizations' corporate cultures. However, in many cases`̀ downsizing'' has been used more cynically and is often a corporate euphemismfor mass sackings and redundancies (Vollmann and Brazas, 1993).

It has been suggested by previous research that redundancy affectssurvivors' emotions, attitudes and behaviours (Greenhalgh and Rosenblatt,1984; Brockner, 1990; Noer, 1993; Thornhill and Gibbons, 1995). Emotionssynonymous with grieving such as shock, anger, denial, guilt and fear havebeen noted alongside decreased motivation, decreased trust in managementand decreased levels of organization commitment in subsequent jobs (Brockneret al., 1986; Kozlowski et al., 1993). These emotions and attitudes have also beenshown to affect the behaviours of survivors making them indecisive, risk-averse and reducing workers' willingness to go `̀ that extra mile'' (Thornhillet al., 1997; Smith and Vickers, 1994).

Reilly et al. (1993) suggested that under redundancy, individuals becomemore loyal to their own personal development than to the organization perhapsexplaining the origin of the concept of `̀ manager-as-mercenary'' that has begunto appear in the literature (Handy, 1998). Reilly et al. (1993) also found thatmanagers who had survived a turbulent corporate environment expressed

Table III.Mechanisms used in

organizational change

Means used in organizational change Percentage of responses

Cost reduction 57Culture change 49Redundancy 45Delayering 32Use of temporary staff 31Use of contract staff 28Site closure 27Out-sourcing 18

Notes: this was a multi-choice question and the majority of organizations had used morethan one form of adjustment

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more career loyalty (as opposed to organizational loyalty) than those in a morestable organization. This suggests that individuals are redefining andrelocating their loyalty (away from organizations and to themselves) and thatthey are now more inclined to build portfolios of portable skills and marketableexperience than company-specific skills.

In support of Stroh et al.'s (1994) findings, Robinson and Rousseau (1994)argued that employer violations of the psychological contract increases theprobability of employee turnover while decreasing the satisfaction of those whoremain: they also argued that a violation, such as redundancy, could reduceorganizational commitment, morale and motivation. Such violations havecaused employees to reduce their sense of obligation to employers and, at thesame time, to increase their feelings of what they felt they were owed by theiremployers (Ebadan and Winstanley, 1997). In other instances, fear ofredundancy may go some way to explain the increase in `̀ presenteeism''(Handy, 1998) as managers attempt to demonstrate their indispensability byvisibly working long hours.

Downsizing and redundancy are expected to improve productivity,effectiveness, efficiency and competitiveness and thus organizationalperformance (Cameron, 1994; Kets de Vries and Balzas, 1997; Shaw andBarrett-Power, 1997). However, our findings have called this into question withthe main effect of much downsizing and redundancy appearing to be asharpened sense of accountability amongst managers (Worrall and Cooper,1998). There are a number of ways in which performance improvement throughdownsizing is alleged to be achieved (Fowler, 1993; Greenhalgh et al., 1988;Lewis, 1993; Freeman and Cameron, 1993; Turnbull and Wass, 1997), yet, ourresearch (Worrall and Cooper, 1997) suggests that the main consequence ofredundancy on survivors is increased task overload and reduced role clarity asredundancy is far more effective at removing people from an organization thanremoving the tasks that they used to do with residual, disembodied tasks beingcascaded down the hierarchy. This view is supported by Tombaugh and White(1990) who found that redundancy survivors reported undergoing significantchanges in daily operations, morale and work place atmosphere asmanagement expected managers to absorb increased responsibility anddecision making at both the individual and work group levels.

Surviving managers typically had wider spans of control (both in thenumber of workers and in the variety of tasks they had to manage). In manyinstances workers experienced difficulty in assuming their wider role and inundertaking the functions of their (former) immediate work group supervisor.It would appear commonplace that redundancy survivors are unprepared forthe changes which result from downsizing and redundancy. In addition, ourresearch (Worrall et al., forthcoming) indicates that wholesale redundancyprogrammes are effective in removing pockets of specialised organizationalknowledge as entire levels of management are lost and the organization'sreliance on temporary and contract staff increases.

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Given the potentially widespread and damaging effects of redundancy anddownsizing, an increasing number of management researchers have becomeinterested in the phenomenon. Some literature has tended to concentrate on thetechnical or procedural issues associated with downsizing strategies (Cascio,1993; Doherty et al., 1993; Feldman and Leana, 1988). While this field ofresearch is important, such an approach pays limited attention to thepsychological and emotional effects of downsizing on individual managers.More recent research has begun to consider the effects on the individual(Campbell, 1999; Kozlowski et al., 1993; Sahdev and Vinnicombe, 1998; Shawand Barrett-Power, 1997). To further their research, the analysis below focuseson seeking to identify differences in the perceptions of managers on issues suchas loyalty, morale, motivation and job security in organizations where there hasbeen organizational change involving redundancy compared to managers inorganizations where there has been restructuring without redundancy. At asecond level of analysis we will contrast managers' responses on a number ofperceptual measures in three different organizational settings: in organizationswhere there had been restructuring in the last year involving redundancy; inorganizations where there had been restructuring without redundancy; and inorganizations where there had been no restructuring in the last year.

Managers' perceptions of the impact of redundancies on aspects oftheir working lifeClearly, redundancy has serious and negative impacts not only on the victimsbut on the survivors. Below, we will analyse how redundancy has affectedsurviving managers' perceptions of loyalty, morale, motivation and jobsecurity from our panel study. We also explore what effects redundancy hasbeen perceived to have on business performance in terms of speed of decisionmaking and on organizational knowledge and skills bases (Worrall et al., 1999).The tables that follow illustrate the results from those managers whoexperienced redundancy as a form of organizational change in the year of thesurvey. Over 50 per cent of the 1,312 respondents reported the use ofredundancy. The base figures include senior, middle and junior managers.

The first section refers to those organizations who reported experiencingorganizational change. Respondents are divided into two groups: thoseworking in organizations that used redundancy as a restructuring mechanismand those working in organizations that restructured but did not useredundancy. From Table IV it is evident that those organizations whichimplemented redundancy sustained a more negative impact on managerial

Table IV.The perceived impact

of redundancy onloyalty

(Base = 773) Redundancy (364) No redundancy (409)

Increased 10.3 7.6 12.7Unchanged 43.5 32.4 53.3Decreased 46.2 60.0 34.0

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perceptions of loyalty: where there had been redundancy, 60 per cent ofmanagers reported that their loyalty to the organization had decreasedcompared to 34 per cent in organizations where restructuring had not involvedredundancy. This finding reinforces Reilly et al. (1993) who found thatmanagers in a post-redundancy setting had redirected their loyalty away fromthe organization. The results also support Robinson and Rousseau's (1994)finding that redundancy can be seen as a violation of the psychological contractwhich leads to a reduced sense of obligation to employers and hence a decreasein organizational loyalty.

The analysis revealed that it is not only organizational commitment andloyalty which is affected negatively by organizational change involvingredundancy. In particular, redundancy appears to reduce UK managers' morale(see Table V). Of the managers who experienced change involving redundancy,76 per cent of survivors felt their morale had decreased compared to 50 per centwho experienced change not involving redundancy. Indeed, in almost 24 percent of cases where change had taken place without redundancy managersreported increased morale (compared to under 10 per cent in cases whereredundancy had occurred).

The negative effect of redundancy, over and above other forms ofrestructuring, was further apparent when questions were asked aboutmanagers' sense of motivation (see Table VI). Where change had involvedredundancy, 59 per cent of managers reported a reduced level of motivationcompared to 38 per cent in other instances.

As expected, where redundancies have occurred, managers show asubstantially reduced sense of job security even though they had survivedprevious rounds of redundancy (see Table VII). However, even in organizationswhere no redundancy had taken place almost 50 per cent of managers reporteda reduced sense of job security. Clearly, the primary outcome of organizationalchange on managers is an increased sense of job insecurity but this is boosted inour base by 21 percentage points when redundancy is used as an instrument ofadjustment.

Table V.The perceived impactof redundancy onmorale

(Base = 778) Redundancy (365) No Redundancy (413)

Increased 17.2 9.8 23.7Unchanged 20.4 14.2 25.9Decreased 62.3 76.0 50.4

Table VI.Perceived impact ofredundancy onmotivation

(Base = 777) Redundancy (365) No redundancy (412)

Increased 22.1 16.2 27.4Unchanged 30.1 25.8 34.6Decreased 47.7 59.0 38.0

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In terms of the effects of redundancy on the operational aspects of theorganization, our results indicate that while redundancies (often implemented toremove layers in the organizations) attempt to make an organization moreeffective (Kozlwzski et al., 1993), decision making does not seem to have becomeany faster in the post-restructuring organization (see Table VIII). If anything,more managers in organizations where redundancy has been used tend todisagree that `̀decision making is faster'' as a result of organizational change (34.6per cent disagree or disagree strongly compared to 23.1 per cent in organizationswhere redundancy has not occurred). This finding supports Thornhill et al. (1997)who suggested that following a redundancy programme, individuals are morelikely to become indecisive and risk-averse as spans of control and task overloadincrease and role clarity declines. More colloquially, managers seem less willingto `̀ stick their neck out'' following redundancies which may explain whymanagers perceive decision making to have slowed down.

From Table IX, there is strong evidence that the perceived impact of changegenerally is to cause the attrition of organizations' skills and knowledge bases.However, redundancy would seem to have a stronger impact on the process ofknowledge and skill loss. The implications of this perception by managementsuggests that the selection criteria being used by organizations to isolateindividuals for redundancy may be ineffective and short sighted and moregeared to taking out high cost employees than ensuring the preservation andencapsulation of organizational knowledge. To ensure future success, it is

Table VII.The effect of

redundancy onperceptions of job

security

(Base = 778) Redundancy (367) No redundancy (411)

Increased 10.7 4.0 16.5Unchanged 25.7 16.0 34.1Decreased 63.6 80.0 49.4

Table VIII.Impact on business

performance: isdecision making faster?

(Base = 765) Redundancy (361) No redundancy (404)

Strongly agree 3.8 4.2 3.5Agree 26.3 23.8 28.5No change 39.3 35.7 42.6Disagree 18.2 21.9 14.9Strongly disagree 10.3 12.7 8.2

Table IX.Impact on business

performance: have keyskills and knowledge

been lost?

(Base = 759) Redundancy (359) No Redundancy (400)

Strongly agree 15.7 24.8 7.5Agree 34.1 40.7 28.3No change 21.1 14.2 27.3Disagree 19.2 14.8 23.3Strongly disagree 8.4 4.7 11.8

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essential for organizations to maintain their knowledge and skills bases and yetthe use of redundancy remains to be an effective means of stripping out theknowledge base of many organizations. In instances where redundancy hasbeen used, 65.5 per cent of managers felt that key skills and knowledge hadbeen lost compared to 35.8 per cent of managers in organizations whereredundancy had not been deployed.

On each of our four measures which explore the personal impact ofrestructuring, the strong, negative impact of redundancy as a restructuringmechanism can be seen. While all forms of organization restructuring tend toreduce loyalty, motivation, morale and sense of job security, the negativeeffects have been shown to be particularly pronounced when redundancy isused as a restructuring mechanism. Our research has also revealed that theimpact of redundancy seems also to slow down decision making ± in spite ofthe fact that it is often accompanied by delayering ± and it is also perceived tosubstantially reduce the knowledge and skills bases of organization.

In order to explore the impact further, respondents' organizations werecategorised into those where restructuring with redundancy had taken place,those where restructuring without redundancy had taken place and thosewhere no restructuring had taken place. Here, managers were asked to rate theperceived level of morale in their organization. Table X shows a clear gradationacross the three categories: while 68 per cent of managers in organizationswhere redundancy has taken place do not agree that morale in theirorganization is good, this declines to 45 per cent in organizations where changewithout redundancy occurred and to 30 per cent where there was noorganizational change.

Finally, in Table XI, we reveal that managers who have experiencedredundancy hold a substantially more negative view of their organization's

Table X.Morale is good overallin the organization

Restructuring withredundancy (372)

Restructuring noredundancy (440) No restructuring (467)

Strongly agree 0.3 2.7 8.6Agree 18.3 31.6 40.5Neither 15.6 20.5 21.4Disagree 47.3 33.6 23.8Strongly disagree 18.5 11.6 5.8

Table XI.Employees are theorganization's mostimportant asset

Restructuring withredundancy (372)

Restructuring noredundancy (440) No restructuring (462)

Strongly agree 3.0 5.7 10.4Agree 18.3 26.6 31.4Neither 25.5 24.5 24.0Disagree 35.8 31.4 26.2Strongly disagree 17.2 11.8 8.0

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priorities in terms of the importance of employees. While 42 per cent ofrespondents in organizations not having restructured tend to agree thatemployees are the organization's greatest asset, this declines to 32 per centwhere there was restructuring but no redundancy and to 21 per cent whereredundancy occurred.

In summary, our results strongly support earlier research findings on thesurvivors of redundancy and on the impact of the use of redundancy ± oftenused as a dimension of delayering ± as an instrument of organizationalrestructuring. The analysis has shown that UK managers who experiencedredundancy as part of organizational change and restructuring programmeswere far more likely to sustain a decrease in their loyalty, morale, motivationand job security. Prior research (Campbell et al., 1997; Thornhill and Gibbons,1995; Caulkin, 1996) has suggested that mismanaging change programmesrelying on the use of redundancy has led organizations into a spiral of declinewhere more emphasis is focused on internal politics and on managerialpositioning in new structures rather than on products, markets and customers.We have also revealed that the unintended impacts of redundancy anddelayering ± such as on eroding the knowledge and skills bases oforganizations coupled with the perceived slowing down of decision making ±can be quite profound and damaging to the long run success of businesses.

ConclusionOur research has exposed a number of important findings. First, the pace andpersistence of change in UK organizations is considerable with, year-on-year,about 60 per cent of managers being affected by some form of organizationalchange. Second, we have found that the incidence of change is patterned in thatmanagers in certain industrial sectors (particularly the former public utilities),types of organization (PLCs) and sizes of organization (those employing over5,000 people) are more at risk of restructuring. Third, we have found thatredundancy played a major part in the restructuring having been cited by 45per cent of managers in organizations where restructuring had taken place.

We have revealed that the impact of redundancy on organizations isconsiderable not only for the victims of redundancy but also for the survivorsand for the organizational settings in which the survivors now work. Ourresearch appears to have confirmed the findings of several earlier researchprogrammes into the effect of redundancy on survivors. At the individual level,redundancy appears to be very effective at reducing motivation, loyalty andmorale in that respondents who have lived through redundancy have beenmore adversely affected by change than managers who have been subjected toother, less traumatic, forms of change. We have found that the speed decisionmaking in post-redundancy settings has been adversely affected and suggestthat this has been brought about by an increase in managers' role overload andincreasing spans of (people and task) control among survivors. This has beenfurther compounded by the creation of organizational milieu where managershave become more risk-averse perhaps related to fears arising from concerns

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about the selection process for future rounds of redundancy. We also argue thatthe high and persistent rate of organizational change and the use ofredundancy as a mechanism for change has brought about increases in`̀ presenteeism'', increases in managers working long hours, an increase in thetension that arises from managers having to balance work and non-workcommitments and changes in behavioural patterns that indicate that managersmay be becoming more mercenary as loyalty switches from the organization tothe manager's own self-interest. Our findings also indicate that the knowledgeand skills bases of organizations are perceived to have been eroded, thisapparently contradicting the present trend for organizations to manage theirskills and knowledge bases more effectively. These are issues that we willpursue in our subsequent research.

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Abstracts from the widerliterature

`̀ Surviving redundancy: the perceptionsof UK managers''

The following abstracts from the wider literature have been selected for their special relevance tothe preceding article. The abstracts extend the themes and discussions of the main article and actas a guide to further reading.

Each abstract is awarded 0-3 stars for each of four features:

(1) Depth of research

(2) Value in practice

(3) Originality of thinking

(4) Readability for non-specialists.

The full text of any article may be ordered from the Anbar Library. Contact Debbie Brannan, AnbarLibrary, 60/62 Toller Lane, Bradford, UK BD8 9BY. Telephone: (44) 1274 785277; Fax: (44) 1274785204; E-mail: dbrannan@mcb.co.uk quoting the reference number shown at the end of the abstract.

Muddle in the middle: organizational restructuring and middlemanagement careersNewell, H. and Dopson, S.Personnel Review (UK), Vol 25 No 4 96: p. 4 (17 pages)

Considers the impact of restructuring on middle management jobs and careers,discussing how changes in careers following restructuring might constitute abreach of psychological contract between the organization and the manager.Reviews the literature in this area and then presents a case study focusing on theexperiences of 20 individual managers from British Telecommunications whichwas were involved in rationalization and large redundancy programmes; usesinterviews to investigate the impact of a prolonged redundancy programme on thesurvivors; the steps taken by the organization to alleviate `̀ survivor syndrome'';the changes middle managers experienced in relation to their own jobs; the impactof restructuring on their attitudes towards their careers and towards the company;and whether they had experienced a breach of their psychological contracts. Findsthat the nature of middle management jobs and the career opportunities availablehave changed, resulting in breaches of the psychological contract; also discoversthat different individuals have responded in different ways, depending on theirability and willingness to network and follow up personal contacts.

Case studyResearch implications: ** Practice implications: *** Originality: *Readability: ** Total number: ********25AY498Cost: £30 (plus VAT)

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Organizational downsizing ± an ethical versus managerial viewpointLaÈ msaÈ , A-M.Leadership & Organization Development Journal (UK), 1999 Vol 20 No 7: p. 345(9 pages)

Focuses on the impact that downsizing has on the managers that have to carryit out, looking at how they justify the actions to themselves ± from an ethicalviewpoint. Uses in-depth interviews with four Finnish managers who had beeninvolved in managing major redundancy programmes to understand how themanagers made sense of their actions. Identifies two main themes within theirexplanations ± the first being utilitarian, based on rational management,emphasizing that downsizing was necessary to create cost savings for thecompany; could not be blamed on poor management; and would cure thefinancial problems besetting the firm: the second theme, being based on rule-utilitarianism and deontology, and emphasizing that managers have anobligation to put the interests of the firm first; that the need for downsizingshould not be questioned; but that managers have a moral obligation toemployees to carry out the downsizing fairly.

Theoretical with application in practiceResearch implications: ** Practice implications: ** Originality: **Readability: *** Total number: *********28BB564Cost: £24 (plus VAT)

Workforce reduction strategies: an empirical examination of theoptionsSutherland, J.Employee Relations (UK), Vol 20 No 2 98: p. 148 (16 pages)

Reports on the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey, undertaken betweenJanuary and September 1990, of 2,061 UK companies employing over 25 people,to investigate how organizations go about reducing their number of employees,the options facing management, and the factors which influence their choice ofaction. Takes into account variables such a size, numerical flexibility,ownership, union organization, status of establishment, sector, and industrial/employee relations polices, practices, and experiences. Uses a chi-square test toexamine the relationships between the variables. Focuses on three differentscenarios where the organization is making some change to the workingarrangement without reducing employment, the organization is implementingsome changes but also reducing employment, and the organization is carryingout a series of adjustment policies. Provides coverage of the options facing anorganization ± suspension of recruitment, employees leaving or retiring,offering incentives to leave, shorter working hours, redeployment or relocation,job-sharing, compulsory redundancy, increasing demand for product/service,

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increasing market share, and reducing prices. Acknowledges constrainingfactors, including, for example, short-term or long-term options, legislation,government policy, cost-benefit calculations, workforce attitudes to change.Relates that manufacturing is the most affected sector, making use of allsuggested options to reduce staffing levels, and that the existing nature ofindustrial/employee relations determines, to some extent, the degree ofcompulsion in the reduction strategies.

SurveyResearch implications: ** Practice implications: * Originality: **Readability: ** Total number: *******27AJ054Cost: £30 (plus VAT)

Job insecurity and employee commitment: managers' reactions tothe threat and outcomes of redundancy selectionHallier, J. and Lyon, P.British Journal of Management (UK), Mar 96 (7/1): p. 107 (17 pages)

Looks at factors which have contributed to a growing sense of job insecurity atmanagerial levels, and points to some unresolved issues surrounding responsesto insecurity; reviews literature that deals with perceptions of insecurity, andreports on an interview-based study of managers who had registered withrecruitment consultancies because of the possible threat of redundancy.Discusses reactions to this threat, detecting, for instance, feelings of rejectionand loss of trust; considers the aftermath of what became termination,analysing managers, falling into the broad categories of the dispossessed, thereprieved, the dissociated and the converted, in respect of variations in patternsof work attitudes and conceptions of the psychological contract.

SurveyResearch implications: ** Practice implications: * Originality: **Readability: ** Total number: *******26AK312Cost: £24 (plus VAT)

Feelings and interpretations during an organization's deathCunningham, J.B.Journal of Organizational Change Management (UK), Vol 10 No 6 97: p. 471(20 pages)

Uses a detailed case study of the sale of a Canadian sports and social clubduring which the club was closed down and the employees made redundant, toshow the different reactions of the people associated with the organization (inthis case, club members and employees) to the different stages in the

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organizational `̀ dying'' process, and to indicate how leadership andcommunication can mediate the more negative reactions to the event. Drawsout three propositions from this study ± that people's locus of control mightexplain why they react to closure in the way that they do, those who have astrong internal locus of control being far more likely to take positive actionwhen the news of closure is heard; that negative beliefs about the results oforganizational closure are self-fulfilling, and that these beliefs affect the waythat people interpret information; and that people who were more receptive tofeedback were able to be realistic in their assessment of their futures, andadjust their plans accordingly. Outlines the implications for the way thatorganizational downsizings and closures are handled.

Theoretical with application in practiceResearch implications: ** Practice implications: ** Originality: *Readability: *** Total number: ********26BF559Cost: £30 (plus VAT)

The ethics of downsizing: perceptions of rights and responsibilitiesHopkins, W.E. and Hopkins, S.A.Journal of Business Ethics (Netherlands), II Jan 1999 Vol 18 No 2: p. 145 (12pages)

Aims to present an evaluation of the ethics of downsizing and looks into themoral obligations for top management to act in the best interest of the firmwhile not violating employee rights; highlights the conflict between these twoconcerns. Explores how the downsizing is perceived as unethical by employeesif the information is communicated: at a bad time; in an inappropriate manner;or if crucial information is missing ± and states that these are the threedimensions of ethical downsizing. Presents the findings of a study of 47downsizing casualties, 71 survivors, 21 implementors/casualties and 33implementors/survivors all from Colorado, USA. Finds significant differencesbetween the implementors and those being laid off: the latter perceive theexercise to be unethical if information is withheld, if it is announced during theholiday season or if they learn about the downsizing through informalchannels. Argues that ethical, or at least proper, handling of downsizing is asignificant measure of management fairness and credibility, and that ifemployees are provided with a clear corporate message explaining the reasonsfor the downsizing they are less likely to perceive it as unethical.

Survey/Theoretical with application in practiceResearch implications: ** Practice implications: *** Originality: ***Readability: ** Total number: **********28AJ418Cost: £24 (plus VAT)