Redundancy Hrm

Abstract Downsizing has been a common cost-cutting activity for organisations in the last 25 years. Literature in this area has focused mainly on the effects that redundancy may have on people leaving the organisation. However, some research has investigated the effect it may have on the employees who were not made redundant, and from this the concept of 'Survivor Syndrome ' was created. It has been established that redundancy processes result in negative emotions being felt by survivors, such as less job satisfaction, mistrust in the organisation, less pride in the organisation and they feel that the organisation is not supporting them as much. These are just a few of the symptoms that have been associated with the syndrome. However, some research has suggested that Survivor syndrome is a myth, or can be prevented. This study presents the findings of a company-based study, in which employees opinions and emotions were investigated prior to and post-redundancies. It argues that symptoms of survivor syndrome are present in employees after the downsizing process has occurred, and that it is more prominent in non-managerial employees than in managers within the organisation. The study suggests that the way in which the organisation rolls out the process of redundancies, and the way in which employees are treated, both those remaining within the company and those leaving, can result in these negative emotions being felt. This suggests that effective management of employees during the process and after can decrease the likelihood that survivor syndrome will be present within the organisation, and Corus and other organisations going through similar situations should utilise methods that are recommended in order to help avoid the syndrome occurring.

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1. Introduction There has been an increasing amount of research in recent years examining the effect of downsizing and redundancies on those employees who remain within the organisations after redundancies have taken

References: Brockner, J., Wiesenfeld, B. M. and Martin, C. (1995). Decision frame, procedural justice, and survivors ' reactions to job layoffs, Organisational Behaviour and Human Decision Processes, 63, pp. 59 68. – CIPD (2010) – Learnhigher (2008)