The implications of downsizing (rightsizing) to the employees, Research Paper

The implications of downsizing (rightsizing) to the employees, communities, and families of the employees - Research Paper Example Downsizing can have many implications on employees, their families as well as the communities in which rightsizing organizations operate. The impacts on employees may include loss of morale, financial loss and emotional and psychological stress among other effects. Similarly, their families are bound to suffer a reduction in standards of living and may also be subjected to psychological torture in the period that their bread winners remain jobless. Downsizing can also negatively impact on societies in which they operate. Through massive layoffs, the living standards in the societies decline and robbery may take lead in communities which are deficient of job opportunities. Irrespective of the motives, corporate downsizing may yield considerable consequences on the superficial corporate social responsibility of any organization. This paper explores the implications of downsizing on employees, their families and communities. How Downsizing (Rightsizing) Affect Employees Downsizing is a practice that has become synonymous with contemporary organizations. The experience of working in an environment with high likelihood of redundancy and seeing co-employees leave an organization has become part and parcel of workers. Downsizing in organizations makes employees to feel anxious. It affects the morale and also threatens the welfare of employees in numerous ways. In most occasions, employees may perceive the organization as unfair and behaving in unwarranted manner. Besides affecting the morale of employees, downsizing also thwarts trust, employee commitment, loyalty and performance. According to Redman and Wilkinson (2001), downsizing causes â€Å"downsizing syndrome† on survivors. It also imposes psychological impacts on leaving employees. i. Downsizing Implications On The Morale Of Employees Employee morale is a crucial determinant of organizational performance. In the event of downsizing, both surviving employees and downsizing victims tend to exhibit low work morale. Downsizing creates adverse emotions among remaining workers who feel withdrawn from executing their organizational duties. Moreover, surviving employees usually feel irritated, grief, betrayal and are psychologically estranged from their organization. Despite the fact that employees usually struggle to perform better in order to retain their jobs after downsizing, their attempt is usually compelled and not out of free will. Surviving employees are always ready to try new approaches to task execution. With few employees increasing, work burden increases and so does the stress level for employees. Consequently, a downsizing organization may fail to realize it anticipated better performance because of deteriorating morale of employees. In some cases, downsizing might even lead to protest and rampant absenteeism among employees, who feel uncertain as to what might become of them in the near future. The loss of longtime workmates and close friends adversely affect both leaving a nd surviving employees. The idea of separation flattens the morale of remaining employees, which in turn lowers the performance level. It is quite obvious that employees are bound to loss morale in the event of downsizing. Therefore, organizations should be ethical enough to mitigate the impact of downsizing on employees by ensuring adequate

Verizon Is Creating a Culture that Focuses on Shareholder Value Case Study

Verizon Is Creating a Culture that Focuses on Shareholder Value - Case Study Example The number of subject matter experts significantly increased by involving L & D organizations in each business unit. As the workforce is skilled through effective training, they can collaborate and communicate for attaining common business goals. There is consensus and commonality of goals and values in each strategic business units attained through training initiatives. Besides, Verizon leadership development program recruits best talents from colleges, and are given 24 month customized leadership curriculum which can result in high performance and operational effectiveness. 2. According to Kreitner, organizational culture includes three layers like observable artifacts, espoused values, and basic assumptions; and, culture change is possible only if the management targets on any one of these basic aspects (p. na). In Verizon, the CEO Lowell Mc Adam desired to move towards adhocracy and market culture. Adhocracy culture in Verizon could be identified from dynamic, entrepreneurial and creative work place which is adaptable to new technologies. For example, prior to the rolling out of new technology 4G LTE network, a training of 60000 plus hours was given to Sales and service reps (Case Study, 258). For measuring the effectiveness of training, a pre training snapshot of success is defined with the help of key stakeholders and business partners, and this pre-training snapshot is compared with post training snapshot. Through the adhocracy culture, when new innovations are introduced, workforce becomes adaptable and creative to new changes. The move towards market culture could be identified from the result oriented work place in Verizon and focus in increasing share value. One of the prime goals of Verizon is to lead in shareholder value, and this is implemented through Leading Shareholder Value education program (LSV) which is led by CEO and CFO of Verizon. In this program, senior leaders are placed in cross business units and teams, and they should