I am keen to identify recent literature that examines ways in which downsizing and organisational restructuring can contribute positively to strategic organisational change. I am particularly interested in examinations of how it can change the behaviours and competencies of a workforce by changing its membership. I am also keen to find recent literature that examines the risks and uncertainties associated with such efforts, including ways in which downsizing and restructuring may itself disrupt efforts to bring about organisational change.
Hi David,
There are some recent studies which talk about the effects of organizational structure on its contribution to positive change. Organizational structure may denote many dimensions such as work environment factors, organizational support, formalization (i.e., level of codified written rules and guidelines), promotional opportunities, institutional communication (i.e., level salient work information is transmitted), and input into decision-making (i.e., having a voice in the process) among others. Are you looking at some of these variables?
You could look at a recent study that studied the effects of organizational structure (not downsizing though) on job involvement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment among Indian police officers.
Article The Effects of Perceptions of Organizational Structure on Wo...
In strategic management, Structure follows the strategy for implementation of strategic decisions, which are taken to maintain / create competitive advantage in a volatile business environment. Downsizing may be an effort towards optimizing workforce, whereas, corporate restructuring may be a strategic need. Human resources are important organizational resources, which need to be prudently deployed, utilized, and developed as human capital, for creating competitive advantage through excellence / innovation in product, process and technology.
Hello David, have you read "An inclusive approach to structural transformation in organisational restructuring" van Graan, JohanView Profile; Ukpere, Wilfred I. African Journal of Business Management 6.50 (Dec 19, 2012): 11916-11922 and "Do downsizing decisions affect organisational knowledge and performance?"
Sitlington, HelenView Profile; Marshall, VerenaView Profile. Management Decision 49.1 (2011): 116-129 ?
Probably you want to ready also my article: http://thescipub.com/PDF/ajebasp.2014.49.57.pdf
Strategic goal of organisational restructuring is to contribute positively towards organisational change.
Downsizing/organisational restructuring are one of many re-engineering techniques that organizations have used strategically to yield positive results. Often with such usages, organization tends to become more efficient, lean and even cost-effective in whatever products, they produce or manufacture.
The following paper describes some of those techniques . Take a look. Thanks
Article Hybrid re-engineering strategies for process improvement
Down sizing in any organisation is taken up with the objective to improve the organizational efficiency, productivity and/or competitiveness. This is achieved by integrating the functionality and promoting cross functional activity in the organisation. The empirical study on the subject reveals that corporations may obtain higher post downsizing performance through downsizing. For instance, the works by Espahbodi et al. (2000) and Chen et al. (2001) show that profitability of American firms improves subsequently to downsizing announcements. 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 potential 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 analyses 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.
Restructuring an organization is normally done when the company is losing a lot of money, not functioning well, and customer is not happy, or for simply the management style for personal reasons.
When reorganization is done for personal style, it rarely works. As it is normally done to accommodate a high power or well connected person or two.
When reorganization is done to cut cost, it may work a small fraction of time. Most of the time, companies lay off key people or key people leave. Critical functions suffer, company shrinks, and spiral of stress and self-destruction starts.
When reorganization is done to streamline operations for eliminating waste and create more value, it works like a charm, benefits are clear, and employees are happier. If done correctly, company top and bottom lines improve, and employees prosper.
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