Managing Growth And Downsizing Research Papers Example

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Introduction

At times, layoffs may be necessary for an organization to sustain its business and survival in market. However, terminations or layoffs must be handled with utmost care so as to prevent any negative feelings emerging against the organization. For example, growing negative feelings emerging from some unexplained layoff may trigger the undesired attrition or prevent the ability to retain talented people. "From a company's standpoint, the decision to terminate a group of employees is fraught with potential legal, financial and public relations consequences," said Thomas Silveri, president and chief executive officer of Consulting firm Drake Beam Morin (DBM). .
Growing a profit organization requires eliminating the non performing assets. Human resource is key to the performance and growth of an organization and an employee who has shown consistently poor performance may qualify for separation. . The employee is usually assessed through a process of performance evaluation, which goes on for some duration of time. If the performance of the employee is not rated up to the mark, he or she qualifies as non performer and may be marked for further action. Usually such employees who are not performing well, may be recommended for separation or layoff.
Profit organization also depends upon Responsible Restructuring, which is explained as the intended change in company’s organizational structure which influences its use of people. In other words the organization is restructured to realign and reinvent the organization hierarchy and reforming the team structures. This object does not directly relate to pay reduction. It is mainly based on improving the financial performance by increasing the effectiveness and productivity by team realignment. .

Layoffs in KILLEEN, Texas

Another pattern which is observed in this area is the decrease in the insurance claims on the basis of unemployment. If the number of claims has decreased, it shows that the job position has either become stable or improved. Whenever there are new opportunities, new projects and better economic and market potential, companies are noticed to increase their work force. Hence, more unemployed people tend to get jobs, thereby reducing the overall unemployment claims. This pattern keeps changing, but, in the current report, it is found to be better as compare to the previous year reports, especially for the years 2009 and 2008..
However, there are certain issues which keep coming as the companies tend to recruit staff on the basis of projects. If a company gets new projects, they go on and recruit new employees. Once the project ends or is terminated, the companies tend to terminate the services of the employees working on the projects. Therefore, to control the layoffs, a company must professionally manage the downsizing, especially if it does not experience losses or the company has been registering huge profits.

Managing Downsizing – HR Activities

Companies resort to downsizing as a means to improve productivity, efficiency and effectiveness. This has become a major strategy, including Texas, and even globally since mid-1990s. . Downsizing and layoffs lets the companies redesign the processes, improve business process optimization, align to new business objectives and increase profitability. But, this is something which pertains to financial management. A direct impact of such activities is noticed on human resource management.
Human Resource Managers have to deal with the layoffs in the professional manner. There are certain Dos and Don’ts which they must follow to prevent litigation, spreading of negative feelings towards the company and triggering attrition of the high performing staff and talented employees. DBM, for example, recommends that the HR Managers must directly explain the reasons to the employee and must make special preparation or notes before such meeting. All the things must be clearly stated to the employee like separation dates, separation logistics and settlements, if any. They are further recommended not to engage in unwanted talk or humour or seek apologies. .

Approaches to managing change

Downsizing decision is managerial decision and the organization must prepare for this major change to mitigate the related risks following mass separations or layoffs. Firstly, the organizations, especially the HR Managers in the organization must control risk-averse employees. These are the employees who would create resistance to change and these should be handled by proper training and effective communication. . Another approach is that the organizations must encourage employee’s recognition system, which is blind to period. This ensures that an employee who has been rewarded once can still be separated, if the company so desires.
One other approach as the contemporary material suggests is that the organizations must move away from detailed and long term career planning approach for the employees. This ensures that the workplace should look as flexible and avoid any terms like permanence of tenure or long term employment strategy. . Thus, to encourage flexible work places, companies are recommended to introduce schemes like short term career plans, contract employment and freelance based workforce hiring.

Bibliography

Anonymous. (n.d.). Tips for handling layoffs. HRM Guide. Retrieved from http://www.hrmguide.net/usa/layoff_tips.htm
Cascio, w. (2002). Responsible Restructuring. Berrett-Koehler.
Forbes. (2010). Layoff Tracker. Forbes Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/23/layoff-tracker-unemployment-leadership-careers-jobs.html
McNamara, C. (2007). Growing your business. Authenticity Consulting, LLC. Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/businessdevelopment/index.htm#anchor3163774
Mirabal, N., & DeYoung, R. (2005). Downsizing as a Strategic Intervention. Cambridge: Journal of American Academy of Business.
Walker, D. (2006). Managing Growth. Photo District News, 26(4), 42-44,46,48.
Wells, S. J. (2008). Managing a Downturn. HRMagazine, 53(5), 48-53.