Relationships After Downsizing

ORGANIZATIONAL VIRTUES AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE:

RELATIONSHIPS AFTER DOWNSIZING

Kim Cameron

University of Michigan

A Presentation for the Conference on Positive Organizational Scholarship

5-7 December 2001

Ann Arbor, Michigan

THE PREVALENCE OF DOWNSIZING

BEFORE 911

· Almost all medium and large firms downsized in the last five years.

More than 90 percent of firms downsized in the last five years. A large majority downsized more than once in the last ten years.

· Downsizing is not a one-time action.

Approximately 62 percent of firms that downsized two years ago downsized again last year.

· Downsizing is not motivated solely by bad economic news.

Only 37 percent of firms downsized last year because of economic difficulties compared to 71 percent at the beginning of the 1990s. Only five percent downsized because of decreased market demand.

· In one third of all U.S. households, a family member lost a job.

Nearly