"Less Is Not Always More"
     Downsizing; everyone has heard about it, talked about it, been a victim of it, or even had to implement it. Reports of downsizing occur frequently. I have repeatedly read the newspaper, watched the news on television, or listened to the radio and heard about mass lay-offs. There have been times that I have felt pity for the various people who lost their jobs, and there have been instances that I have not given it a moment's consideration. I just thought, "I'm so glad it is not happening where I work!" Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.
      When it was announced that Nevamar Distributors, a division of International Paper located in Cerritos, California, was in trouble, no one in the company could deny it. Everyone that worked in the building, from office personnel to warehouse personnel, knew that the business was changing: incoming and outgoing order volumes were slowly decreasing; sales were at an all-time low; and the profit margins for our division of the company were plummeting. When the facility manager had announced in a company meeting that downsizing was inevitable, or we may have to close our branch, a deafening silence immediately filled the room. Even though several of the employees knew that it might happen, it was still a big pill to swallow.
     Gary Dessler, author of Management: Leading People and Organizations in the 21st Century, defines downsizing as "Dramatically reducing the size of a company's workforce." (Dessler, 2001). All of the supervisors and managers held a separate meeting on the downsizing concern, and included me in the meeting since I was a candidate for the open supervisor position. They assured me that my job w ...