ORGANIZATIONAL DOWNSIZING AS CONVERGENCE OR REORIENTATION - IMPLICATIONS FOR HUMAN-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

This article proposes that there are two basic approaches to organizational downsizing. Downsizing as reorientation is the proper approach when organizations undertake major downsizing programs. In this approach, many elements of the organization are questioned and changed simultaneously. The goal is a fundamentally different, not just smaller, organization. Downsizing as convergence is part of continuous improvement, and its goal is to refine and streamline all ongoing organizational processes. Each of these approaches to downsizing involves a particular pattern of downsizing tactics, implementation processes, and organizational changes. Thus, each approach to downsizing generates different implications for human resource management. (C) 1994 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.