Journal of Business and Technical Communication Jan 2001

The Lessons of Survivor Literature in Communicating Decisions to Downsize

John E. Guiniven University of South Carolina

Abstract

Many companies have entered a new era of human resources management—one based on transaction cost economics and one in which downsizing has become a permanent part of the corporate landscape. But their insistence on communicating decisions to downsize solely in economic terms is creating serious problems among employees who survive the layoffs. Disloyalty, disaffection, increased absenteeism, and even acts of sabotage are growing among workers who view downsizing as a social, not economic, issue. This article discusses the new era of human resources management and reviews survivor literature in an effort to provide guidance to companies about how to communicate downsizing, specifically, and how to communicate with the postdownsized workforce, generally.

Journal
Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Published
2001-01-01
DOI
10.1177/105065190101500103
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Cited by in this index (1)

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