With layoffs and downsizings all around us, today’s guest columnist, Maurizio Morselli, wonders whether HR can help ensure that these “staff-ectomies” are carefully planned and cut no deeper than absolutely necessary.
Organizations and individuals are faced with new challenges every day. The global “FDD” (fiscal decadence disorder) is the latest malady that has created enormous pressures to carry out expeditious procedures such as cost/resource reductions or reductions at the personal level. And, for those of us still working, there is the pressure of trying to be a strategic partner at the organizational level, with some known side effects felt throughout the entire organizational organism. But what is the cure? What should the organizational physician and his or her team do?
Enter the Organizational Surgeons
Many “coping strategies” or so-called “cures” are emerging to deal with this malady. Our management teams convene in the “operating room” and decide where to “cut” and what organs to remove. The simplest strategies—eliminating staff and outsourcing activities that are not core—appear to be immediate quick fixes or measures that can at least stop the bleeding. They can, however, (and we know it) carry their own risks and side effects.
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Downsizing (also euphemistically called “rightsizing”) and reductions in force (RIFs) unfortunately become procedures/protocols of choice. Indeed, they can expeditiously restore a semblance of renewed organizational health almost overnight. While I certainly admit that surgery may be required when organizational survival is at stake, I strongly believe that the downsizing scalpel wielded without proper diagnosis and thought about “postoperational” consequences can lead to serious, irreparable damage to core competencies and the loss of critical institutional knowledge.
The results will be seen in a reduced ability to innovate, take creative risks, execute business plans as originally envisioned and, in general, to succeed in a globalized economy that is becoming increasingly competitive, entrepreneurial, and extremely focused on utilizing knowledge as a core asset. Now, more than ever, knowledge, information, and content are key resources of the firm.
Knowledge plays a critical role with respect to performance, both with the individual worker and at the organizational level. Moreover, the knowledge required is a moving target, forever in flux—it is a living organism. It evolves constantly as a result of the rate, volume, and nature of changes occurring within organizations and in their environments. The central role of knowledge, and its fluid nature, brings to the fore the significance of organizational strategies for developing and deploying content that conveys useful knowledge.
When we downsize, we remove important informational, institutional connective tissue. Without the staff who once had that knowledge and who used its content effectively and contextually in the culture of the firm, the firm is at a disadvantage, and it may have compounded the problem by creating side organizational stressors that will not go away.
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My Question to All of Us
The question I am trying to answer is how the HR function can be (or become, if it’s not) an effective member of the corporate operating room ensuring that:
- Unnecessary “operations” are not carried out.
- Necessary “operations” are approached with diligent diagnosis and are the least invasive possible.
- Quality of life (for all, not just the executive team) after the “operation” is seriously considered.
- Alternate therapies have been sought before rushing in with the scalpel.
- Postoperative health maintenance has been considered thoroughly as part of the “pre-op” process.
(Sources and inspiration: Postings and articles on: McKinsey Quarterly; Knowledge@Wharton; HR Daily Advisor®, BLR®)
Maurizio Morselli is national director of organizational development and training for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, International.
Do you have a response to Maurizio Morselli’s column? Or do you have an e-pinion of your own that you would like to share? Send your submission to ckilbourne@blr.com.
Maurizio seems to propose a humane, compassionate ideology toward corporate layoffs. However as one who has recently gotten the ax, I’m not feeling the love. The use of acronyms like FDD, RIF and downsizing and rightsizing as opposed to terminated, all attempt to sterilize the blood letting process for the employer and leave the employee cold. In my experience HR departments carry out the directives of the employers. Period. To talk about being an effective member of the corporate operating room and all that entails, would require changing the corporate mentality. Lobotomy anyone?
(Nia)