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The Downside of Downsizing
Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries
Raoul de Vitry d'Avaucourt Professor of Human Resource Management, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France
Katharina Balazs
INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France
With the help of data obtained from open-ended interviews conducted with the various stakeholders in downsizing operations and applied within a clinical framework, individual reaction patterns are explored in the victims, the survivors (those staying with a company after layoffs), and the "executioners" (those responsible for the implementation of downsizing). Special emphasis is given to the reactions of the executives implementing the downsizing operation. Among this group of people, a number of ways of coping can be discerned, described as compulsive/ritualistic, abrasive, dissociative, alexithymic/anhedonic, and depressive. The article ends with a number of practical recommendations about how to facilitate the downsizing process. From the interviews conducted, it appears that downsizing, in the more narrow sense of the word, can be a quite destructive process. Reframing the concept so that downsizing is viewed as a continuous process of corporate transformation and change, a way to plan for the continuity of the organization, seems to be a more constructive approach.
Key Words: downsizing • clinical approach • coping patterns • psychological contract
Human Relations, Vol. 50, No. 1,
11-50 (1997)
DOI: 10.1177/001872679705000102
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