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Although downsizing remains a topic of great interest to scholars and practitioners, little research has examined the link between the process and organizational performance. The current study examines whether organizations showing greater consideration for employees' morale and welfare in the downsizing process experience increased labor productivity. Further, because downsizing diminishes human capital and interferes with an organization's social exchange relationships, we posit that attention to employees' morale and welfare will be particularly important for high-performance work systems (HPWS) that rely on human capital for competitive advantage. We tested our hypothesis with a sample of organizations that had downsized using survey data matched with secondary data. Results support our prediction that organizations with more extensive HPWS can reduce productivity losses from downsizing by heightening their consideration for employees' morale and welfare. We discuss the implications of these fi ndings.

We test empirically the proposition that race significantly affects an employee's layoff chances. Using data from a financial firm (N ¼ 8918), we find that whites are less likely to be laid off than nonwhites and that, among nonwhites, Asians are less likely to be laid off than blacks or Hispanics. These findings are statistically significant after controlling for structural factors (business unit, occupation, and job level) and individual characteristics (tenure and performance rating). A similar pattern of racial differences exists in other employment practices more actively monitored by the firm, including promotions, pay raises, and performance ratings. Yet these differences are smaller than those in layoffs and are significant for blacks only, not for Hispanics. Our findings suggest that monitoring personnel decisions can reduce racial inequality. Furthermore, our findings highlight that racial differences in employment outcomes vary among minority groups.In the last decade, organizations have laid off thousands of employees to cut costs and improve efficiency (Cappelli et al. 1997). Historically, layoffs have resulted from shifting demand patterns and business losses, but recent layoffs have been caused by cost-cutting and restructuring strategies within profitable firms (Osterman 1999). For workers, these layoffs have often meant definitive-not temporary-loss of employment *The authors' affiliations are, respectively, INSEAD and Graduate

Background and aims In 2005 the American College of Surgeons passed a mandate requiring that Level I trauma centers have mechanisms to identify and intervene with problem drinkers. The aim of this investigation was to determine if a multilevel trauma center intervention targeting both providers and patients would lead to higher quality alcohol screening and brief intervention (SBI) when compared with trauma center mandate compliance without implementation enhancements. Design Cluster randomized trial in which intervention site (site n =10, patient n =409) providers received 1-day workshop training on evidence-based motivational interviewing (MI) alcohol interventions and four 30-minute feedback and coaching sessions; control sites (site n =10, patient n =469) implemented the mandate without study team training enhancements. Setting Trauma centers in the United States of America. Participants 878 blood alcohol positive inpatients with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI). Measurements MI skills of providers were assessed with fidelity coded standardized patient interviews. All patients were interviewed at baseline, and 6- and 12-months post-injury with the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Findings Intervention site providers consistently demonstrated enhanced MI skills compared with control providers. Intervention patients demonstrated an 8% reduction in AUDIT hazardous drinking relative to controls over the course of the year after injury (RR =0.88, 95%, CI =0.79, 0.98). Intervention patients were more likely to demonstrate improvements in alcohol use problems in the absence of TBI (p =0.002). Conclusion Trauma center providers can be trained to deliver higher quality alcohol screening and brief intervention than untrained providers, which is associated with modest reductions in alcohol use problems, particularly among patients without traumatic brain injury.

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