“Look at Him ... He’s Failing”: Male Executives’ Experiences of Redundancy

Abstract

Participation and success in paid work is a key element of identity for many men. The increased prevalence of downsizing and the associated discarding of individuals from their workplaces, then, has particular relevance for men. This paper shares qualitative findings from an exploratory phenomenological study investigating the experiences of Australian executives who had been made redundant. Three themes related to male identity are presented here: Failing as the breadwinner; Being less of a person; and, Losing success. The participants in this study shared feelings of anger, sadness, fear and embarrassment as a result of the assault to their identity that accompanied their involuntary redundancies. The impacts of redundancy were not only felt in relation to their job loss, but continued after returning to work. At a time when downsizing continues to feature as a routine part of organisational life-for some, an experience repeated throughout their careers-further exploration of the experience of redundancy and its implications is required.

Causes of stress before, during and after organizational change: a qualitative study

“…Downsizing, a stressful experience for most of those involved, has highlighted a number of different causes for various types of actor. In a study of male managers who were victims of downsizing Parris and Vickers (2010) captured feelings of anger, sadness, fear and embarrassment. These accompanied perceptions characterized by the researchers as "failing as a breadwinner", "being less of a person" and "losing success".…”

Reconstruire son identité après un conflit social contre la fermeture d'un site : le cas des leaders syndicaux

“…On this subject, numerous commentators (Shrout et al, 1989;Sainsaulieu, 1985) consider workplace identity as the core of the identity dynamic. Paris and Vickers (2010) report that employees who are made redundant perceive themselves as "lesser human beings". Their identity work ceases.…”

“…As Willott and Griffin (2004) note, the transition from employment to unemployment can lead to resignation on the part of the individual (Eisenberg & Lazarsfeld, 1938). Paris and Vickers (2010) show that the worker never recovers the same tranquillity with regard to his identity, even after returning to work. The second factor is the extent to which the person is exposed to the identity threat.…”

“…The second point is that the meaning given to the worker's life by his identity collapses. Paris and Vickers (2010) and Willott and Griffin (2004) show that the disappearance of this bedrock of identity has repercussions on other aspects of identity, such as gender. The male worker who is no longer able to access resources founded on his masculine identity through his work is forced into resignation (Martin, 1987).…”

“…Firstly, we employ the theoretical frameworks of identity salience (Stryker, 1980;Thoits, 2012), self-categorization (Turner, et al, 1987(Turner, et al, , 1994, and coping (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), and the critical analysis of identity (Watson, 2008) in order to define identity and identity work. We present the issues surrounding identity construction (Sainsaulieu, 1985;Watson, 2008;Dubar, 2011) within the framework of career transition (Latack, et al, 1995;Gowan, et al, 1999;Paris & Vickers, 2010) following redundancy, considered as a context of identity threat (Petriglieri, 2011). Then, after explaining our methodology, we shall present the results of our analyses of 50 life stories of trade-union leaders who had to reconstruct their identities after the closure of their company.…”