Downsizing

Many cling to the idea that reducing staff is the fastest, easiest way to cut costs. But there are smarter, more humane approaches.

Today layoffs have become companies' default response to the challenges created by advances in technology and global competition. Yet research shows that...

Big companies formerly took a reputational hit when they laid off massive numbers of workers. But according to E. Geoffrey Love and Matthew Kraatz, of the University of Illinois, U.S. business culture norms gradually changed from 1985 to 1994 as new ideas about boosting shareholder value took hold in executive suites and boardrooms. At the […]

Harry Denton, the CEO in this fictional case study, has been caught off guard. As the head of Delarks, a venerable department-store chain in the Midwest,...

How do you reduce headcount when almost everyone gets the same scores on performance reviews? HR vice president Nils Ekdahl confronts that question at...

Soft management does not mean weak management, says William Peace in this 1991 article. It means candor, openness, and vulnerability, but it also means...

Don't pretend you have all the answers. Do be prepared to deal with the messy emotions people may be experiencing.

A division manager must decide whether to fight 11% across-the-board personnel cuts or, if he is to go along with the decision, how to implement the layoffs...

As the economy softens, corporate downsizing appears almost inevitable. Don't panic yet, though. While layoff decisions might seem beyond your control,...

In 1978, before restructuring was a common boardroom term, Jewel sold its Turn-Style discount department store business to the May Department Store Company. Because May could not immediately use many of the Turn-Style stores outside metropolitan Chicago, Jewel closed them. This meant that almost 3,000 full-and part-time employees were no longer needed. We in Jewel’s […]

Drawing on extensive research of Fortune 500 companies that have lived through industry downturns and economic recessions over the past two decades, Darrell...

A CFO wonders how to turn around a struggling division.

Overhead value analysis identifies structural cuts that will reduce overhead costs by 15% to 30%. Overhead value analysis requires delegating to every...

If your firm has downsized recently, you're now managing a bunch of survivors - the lucky ones who didn't get laid off. But good fortune doesn't make...

Astrigo is in trouble. The home improvement chain has missed its earnings forecast badly and sales are falling. A 10% reduction in staff looks like the...

The way forward after a layoff can offer a chance for self-discovery and positive career adjustments.

Firms often downsize because it is seen as a way to reduce costs, adjust structures, and create leaner, more efficient workplaces. But new research indicates...

During industry downturns, smart executives don’t panic. Instead, they coolly place counterintuitive bets to outperform slumping competitors.

Astrigo is in trouble. The home improvement chain has missed its earnings forecast badly and sales are falling. A 10% reduction in staff looks like the...

Many managers have never before had to shrink their operations or workforces drastically. Now, as they struggle to weather the storm of recession, they...