ORGANIZATIONAL VIRTUES AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE:
RELATIONSHIPS AFTER DOWNSIZING
Kim Cameron
University of Michigan
A Presentation for the Conference on Positive Organizational Scholarship
5-7 December 2001
Ann Arbor, Michigan
THE PREVALENCE OF DOWNSIZING
BEFORE 911
· Almost all medium and large firms downsized in the last five years.
More than 90 percent of firms downsized in the last five years. A large majority downsized more than once in the last ten years.
· Downsizing is not a one-time action.
Approximately 62 percent of firms that downsized two years ago downsized again last year.
· Downsizing is not motivated solely by bad economic news.
Only 37 percent of firms downsized last year because of economic difficulties compared to 71 percent at the beginning of the 1990s. Only five percent downsized because of decreased market demand.
· In one third of all U.S. households, a family member lost a job.
Nearly three quarters of all U.S. households had a close encounter with layoffs in the last decade.
AFTER 911
· The number of layoffs has equaled the total of all previously announced layoffs for the year. 416,000 lost jobs in September alone.
RESULTS OF DOWNSIZING IN AMERICA
· Fewer than half the companies that downsized between 1990 and 2000 had short or long-term profit increases.
· Fewer than a quarter reported increases in employee productivity, product and service quality, and shareholder value.
· Three years after downsizing, the ma ...