Question

Pick an organization currently in the news that is either downsizing or rightsizing. It should be within Atlantic Canada, if not then Canada. Prepare a discussion paper on this organization’s human resource challenges Specifically, how to train, develop and retain employees, reward, compensate and manage employee relations while making adjustments in the workforce. Please identifying an interesting organizational issue, defining the problem, offering an innovative approach to resolving the issue and of course the quality of the investigation and the presentation of the issue/problem and its resolution

Answer 1

Many organizations have faced or will face the decision to downsize
their workforce. Especially in tough economic times, companies struggle
with how to best manage their most valuable resource—their human
resources—while staying viable as a business. It is this challenge that
led us to prepare this Effective Practice Guidelines report, Employment
Downsizing and Its Alternatives.
In 2004, the SHRM Foundation developed the Effective Practice
Guidelines series, a resource that we believe is one of the best available
for busy HR professionals like you. Recognizing that you have little
time to keep up with results of academic research—and let’s face it,
some of it is challenging to wade through as well—we created this
series. By integrating the latest research findings on what works and
expert opinion on how to conduct effective HR practice into a single
publication, we make theory and practice accessible to you.
Recent reports in this series, all available online, include Recruiting and
Attracting Talent, Developing Leadership Talent, Retaining Talent and
Human Resource Strategy. This report on downsizing is the 10th in
the series. For each report, a subject matter expert is chosen to be the
author. After the initial draft is written, the report is reviewed by both
academics and practitioners to ensure that the material is research-based,
comprehensive and presented in an easy-to-use format. We also include a
“Sources and Suggested Readings” section as a convenient reference tool.
This series supports our vision for the SHRM Foundation to “maximize
the impact of the HR profession on organizational decision-making and
performance by promoting innovation, education, research and the use
of research-based knowledge.” Overall, the Foundation has a strategic
focus on initiatives designed to help organizations maximize leadership
talent. We are confident that the Effective Practice Guidelines series
takes us one step closer to making our vision a reality.

Employment downsizing has become a fact of working life as companies
struggle to cut costs and adapt to changing market demands. But does this
practice achieve the desired results? Studies have tracked the performance of
downsizing firms versus nondownsizing firms for as long as nine years after a
downsizing event. The findings: As a group, the downsizers never outperform
the nondownsizers. Companies that simply reduce headcounts, without
making other changes, rarely achieve the long-term success they desire. In
contrast, stable employers do everything they can to retain their employees.
More than three million Americans lost their jobs in 2008. However, 81
percent of the top 100 companies in Fortune’s 2009 list of “Best Employers
to Work For” had no layoffs that year.
Employment downsizing is often implemented during economic downturns
as a reactive, tactical action. The most successful organizations, however,
use downsizing more strategically as part of an overall workforce strategy.
Layoffs become just one tool in a portfolio of alternatives to improve firm
performance. Management may view this as an opportunity to enhance the
organization’s medium- and long-term agility through well-planned and
targeted coaching, change and career-management interventions.1
Cisco Systems, a company that has changed its workforce strategy in recent
years, laid off 20 percent of its workforce in 2001 due to tough times. In
2008, the firm implemented employment downsizing only as a last resort,
after deploying several other alternatives. The new, measured approach
was more consistent with Cisco’s long-term talent management strategy of
building internal talent rather than buying it in the external labor market.2
This report will explore why downsizing happens and how to do it right. It
will also address the alternatives to downsizing and the consequences of a
downsized workforce.