Work characteristics and employee well-being within a context of strategic downsizing.

Abstract

Findings from this 4-year longitudinal study of strategic downsizing suggest that introducing deliberate work organization and change management strategies can combat the negative effects of reduced head count. Results showed that there was no overall decrease in well-being from before to after downsizing for the 139 employees remaining in an organization, despite an increase in work demands. The potentiai detrimental effect of demands appears to have been offset by improvement in work characteristics arising from initiatives introduced as part of the downsizing strategy. This interpretation is consistent with anaiyses at the individual level, which showed that high demands were associated with poorer well-being but that increases in control, clarity, and participation were associated with improved well-being. There are considerable turbulence and change within modem organizations that raise unanswered questions about the consequences for employee well-being. One trend that is increasingly prevalent is downsizing. In response to environmental pressures, or as part of strategic efforts to meet future challenges, many organizations are reducing the size of their workforce. For example, a survey of firms employing more than 5,000 people, conducted by the American Management Association, found that two thirds had downsized during the latter half of the 1980s (Greenberg, 1988), and five out of every six companies covered by the Laborforce 2000 study had shed labor from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s (Marks, 1993). Clearly, such downsizing has major psychological implications, both for those who lose their jobs as a consequence and for those who remain in the organization. In this article we investigate the effects of downsizing for employees who remain in the organization. However, we take a different approach than past research on this topic. Our focus is not on survivors' immediate reactions to their colleagues' job loss (such as feelings of guilt or insecurity) but on

Working for health? Evidence from systematic reviews on the effects on health and health inequalities of organisational changes to the psychosocial work environment

“…(Park et al, 2004) An uncontrolled UK study found improvements in mental health (mean anxiety and depression scores) amongst manual workers (from 2.71 to 2.45; p<0.01) but not managers or clerical employees. (Parker et al, 1997) This review met all of the appraisal criteria.…”

Job control mediates change in a work reorganization intervention for stress reduction.

“…However, they have not employed the rigorous, statistical procedures (see Barnett et al, 1999;Baron & Kenny, 1986; Holmbeck, 1997;Kenny, 1998) that are needed to assess whether or not any such relationships result from job control mediating stress-related outcomes. For example, the association between increased control and well-being that Parker et al (1997) noted may have occurred for one of two reasons.…”

“…There have, however, certainly been work reorganization outcome studies that have tested for relationships between improvements in job control and stress-related outcomes. For example, Parker, Chmiel, and Wall (1997) found a significant relationship between increases in control and job satisfaction, four years after a chemical processing plant instituted strategic downsizing in association with an "empowerment initiative". In contrast, Jackson and Martin (1996) found that changes in timing control (i.e., control over work scheduling) were not associated with changes in psychological strain or job satisfaction, seven months after a manufacturing plant instituted a just-in-time production system.…”

“…However, they have not employed the rigorous, statistical procedures (see Barnett et al, 1999;Baron & Kenny, 1986; Holmbeck, 1997;Kenny, 1998) that are needed to assess whether or not any such relationships result from job control mediating stress-related outcomes. For example, the association between increased control and well-being that Parker et al (1997) noted may have occurred for one of two reasons.First, it may be because control actually served as a mechanism, or mediator, by which the "strategic downsizing initiative/empowerment program" improved job satisfaction; or, second, the program independently affected both control and job satisfaction (i.e., a non-mediating explanation). In the event, it is just not clear which alternative is correct, as these researchers, like most others (e.g., Carayon, 1993), did not use tests that could determine this.…”

How mass layoffs are related to lower job performance and OCB among surviving employees in Chile: an investigation of the essential role of psychological contract

“…support to employees is a powerful tool for organization to attenuate negative effects of downsizing and contract breaches (Brockner et al, 2004;Dulac, Coyle-Shapiro, Henderson, & Wayne, 2008;Parker et al, 1997). It is therefore important to investigate whether support from the manager can be a buffer for employees against negative effects of mass layoffs.…”