Downsizing almost inevitably imposes substantial psychological costs on the workforce. It comes with some social costs for the community, at least in the short-term. And the available evidence on its bottom-line impact isn't clear. So the question" Must you downsize?" should be pondered carefully. Of course, the costs and benefits of downsizing depend on the particular circumstances of the organization. If downsizing seemingly works best when tied to a plan for restructuring or repositioning, then the extent to which management has a good sense of what it is doing and why is crucial.
Family cultures, in which employment has been cast as a social bond rather than a stark exchange relation, are likely to suffer relatively more from downsizing. Firms that depend on good relations with the surrounding community and that loom larger in the local labor market will also find downsizing to be more costly. Firms in a tight labor market will face a stronger adverse selection problem in terms of who departs, although a tight labor market will mitigate the damage to those who depart and thus on the community and on the psychological state of the survivors.
Technology and work organization also figure prominently. Where tasks are interdependent, downsizing tends to be more disruptive, both economically and socially. Particularly when a firm's culture and technology emphasize cooperation across units, downsizing strategies that explicitly or implicitly pit different segments of the organization against one another in struggling to retain employees can be extremely destructive. One common solution to this problem is simply to mandate "across-the-board" layoffs, with each business unit being given a fixed percentage of headcount or payroll that must be trimmed. With respect to business strategy, organizations that seek competitive advantage from continuous improvement or by transferring knowledge gained in one product, service, or division to another part of the firm will tend to suffer most from the knowledge losses wrought by downsizing. leia todo o artigo
