Best practice examples

Although many studies revealed that the majority of organizations are badly prepared or react reluctantly in the way they support the surviving workforce (e.g. Amundson et al., 2004; Gandolfi, 2009; Noer, 2009) some studies demonstrated that organizations are indeed aware of survivors’ concerns and know how to address them (e.g. Feldman and Leana, 1994; Dolan et al., 2000). In this sub-section, a series of best practice examples about how organizations managed and supported their survivors successfully is presented and concluded.

A good example was set by the Canadian National bank (CN) where the downsizing announcement was communicated accurately in advance and all survivors received an extensive retraining to improve their competencies and to make them more marketable for future employability in the organization (Dolan et al., 2000). External consultants in co-operation with the management, worked out procedures to rebuild survivors’

commitment and to improve their performance. With no doubt, this was a deliberate decision, since help from outside offers a fresh perspective and tends to be less biased and more objective than internal staff (Hughes, 2000). In addition to that, CN developed a “suggestion system” where survivors were encouraged to be creative by providing ideas to increase the level of productivity (Dolan et al., 2000, p.40). Any useful idea provided, was rewarded with a financial bonus and thereby motivated the initiator (Dolan et al., 2000). It is most likely, that this is an effective method since a similar strategy was applied by GE which launched a “Workout” programme to animate survivors to provide useful ideas and finally helped them to manage a higher workload with less people (Brockner, 1992, p.24).

In another case, after undergoing a large redundancy initiative, the American company Duracell launched a “survivor programme” aimed to increase information exchange, the renewal of organizational commitment and a continuous support for survivors. As part of the programme, senior managers participated in group sessions with survivors to support them in understanding the downsizing reasons and its extent. This is important, since survivors have a “thirst for information” (Noer, 2009, p.61) and a desire to understand the organizations’ strategy. Similar to CN and GE, Duracell provided internal and external support and every individual received personal and one-on-one career counselling to assess future opportunities for the time after the change.

After downsizing completion, the programmes’ progress was monitored and survivors were offered the chance to address all open and unclear issues in a follow-up meeting.

Such meetings are of great importance, since it is not only about informing survivors, but also about to providing an opportunity to check back with the management and to address open questions (Noer, 2009). This in turn was one reason for Duracell’s success, and only two survivors left the company (Feldman and Leana, 1994).

Survivor awareness was also found among European organizations in particular in the UK. In this context, a UK building society, which made more than a thousand people redundant at the beginning of the 1990s, spent immense effort to support their surviving workforce (Doherty and Horsted, 1995). Similarly, as in the case of the Canadian National bank (Dolan et al., 2000) survivors were directly provided with accurate information and board members visited each site to respond to survivors concerns. Support was provided at all levels and to any individual, including training for the managers, a helpline to support staff and assistance by professional counselling.

Furthermore, for any survivor, a personal development plan was prepared (Doherty and Horsted, 1995). To motivate survivors, an incentive plan was launched with the

goal to pay them with extra money when customers’ satisfaction increased. Although it was shown that a non-monetary incentive scheme is more powerful than a monetary one (e.g. Sahdev et al., 1999) however, money is still considered as an important element to motivate survivors (Malik, Bibi and Rahim, 2010b) and to recognize success. Opinion surveys which were carried out annually revealed that the organization’s effort in terms of survivor support, was successful and the organization had chosen the right strategy (Doherty and Horsted, 1995).

In summary, the examples clearly demonstrated how different organizations were managing and in particular taking care of their survivors. Although every organization approached the situation in a different way, there were many measures in common (e.g. advance information or counselling) which contributed managing the survivors successfully and easing their pain after downsizing. The studies provided evidence that management and HR functions have to cooperate with each other in supporting and assisting survivors, and how external consulting is appropriate to provide help and advice. One interesting and remarkable finding needs to be highlighted at this point.

The American company Duracell and the UK building society gave special attention to informing survivors about how their dismissed colleagues were progressing in the job market and which kind of support and assistance was offered to them. By doing this, the organization demonstrated sympathy and respect for the ones dismissed. Moreover, it is an indicator for how the organization treats employees and thereby spreads confidence to the survivors (Brockner, 1992). In the context of the present study it is therefore essential to explore the individual measures organizations have initiated to support their survivors, since this contributes not only to a better understanding of their reactions, but it also helps to gain more knowledge about possible causes for the survivor syndrome.

2.7 Summary

This chapter formed the first part of the literature review and discussed the outcomes and reactions of downsizing survivors which were found in the existing literature. The findings gained from this literature review have provided strong evidence for the existence of the survivor syndrome. In section 2.4 survivors were studied from the individual survivor perspective. This revealed that a downsizing experience has a negative impact on survivors’ attitudes and behaviours and influences their emotions and well-being in an unfavourable way. In addition, section 2.5 reviewed the literature with a focus on the longitudinal studies about downsizing survivors. In this respect it was found that previous studies arrived at differing conclusions, since the findings of one group of researchers indicated that the effects of downsizing survival were only of a short duration, whereas the outcomes of another group of management scholars indicated that the after-effects of downsizing continued to impact survivors for some time post-downsizing. Finally, section 2.6 analysed the existing literature with regard to management action post-downsizing. This showed that in most cases, no support was provided to the survivors, which in turn intensified their negative responses and increased the mistrust towards the organization.

Through this literature review it was also possible to identify some research gaps (see also previous discussion in section 1.2 about gaps in the literature). In summary this includes that most of the previous research was conducted in North America, where the data were predominately obtained through quantitative methods or in a laboratory setting. Moreover, the vast majority of studies followed a cross-sectional approach, but they rarely examined the effects of downsizing on survivors over time, and thereby missed the opportunity to sufficiently clarify whether experiences from downsizing are short-lived or long-lasting. Although appropriate communication and organizational

support were recommended by management scholars in order to mitigate the extent of survivors’ reactions, the existing literature has not sufficiently investigated how management action affects survivors’ reactions to organizational downsizing.

As stated earlier already (see section 1.3 about research purpose), the goal of this study is to address these gaps and to explore survivors’ reactions in the European context, by paying attention to how management action affects survivors’ reactions post organizational downsizing. This is important, because as a consequence of the financial crisis, many European organizations had to downsize their workforce and survivors were left alone and suffered from its effects. Thus, it is justified to conduct this research and to continue the exploration of this phenomenon.

3 Literature review part 2: Theoretical models and concepts