Deck 10: Downsizing and Restructuring

Question 1

What is one challenge that managers must confront when managing in times of uncertainty and potential downsizing?

A) focus on the short-term
B) pay attention to middle-management
C) control the rumour mill
D) take charge and minimize involvement

Answer 1

C

Question 2

How do you define job insecurity?

A) expectations about continuity and life employment
B) overall concern about the future existence of a job
C) inability to predict future employment
D) understanding of negative implications of job analysis

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Perceptions of fairness and equity play a key role in understanding how survivors react to a downsizing. What type of justice is associated with the fairness of a downsizing decision?

A) procedural
B) interactional
C) distributive
D) manipulative

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Downsizing became a huge phenomenon in the 1990s and then it waned. Which year did downsizing make a comeback?

A) 2008
B) 2009
C) 2010
D) 2011

Question 5

In the Bowater Mersey downsizing in 2011, what was the most significant ethical departure, from the employees' perspective?

A) Employees linked their concerns to the "Occupy Wall Street" movement.
B) Only 52% of union members voted in favour of the downsizing initiatives.
C) More than 56% of the workforce was scheduled to be reduced.
D) Two senior executives received multi-million severance packages.

Question 6

Which of the following programs is NOT typically associated with high involvement human resource management?

A) self-managed work teams
B) continuous improvement
C) incentive compensation
D) selective training

Question 7

If employees believe that they will be rewarded for loyal service and feel protected by job security, what type of contract do they have?

A) employment contract
B) psychological contract
C) union contract
D) long-term contract

Question 8

When survivors of downsizing continue to work for an organization, there are several impacts on them personally. Which of the following is NOT an impact experienced by survivors?

A) compliance with workplace safety
B) negative attitudes and behaviours
C) reduced performance capabilities
D) lower organizational productivity

Question 9

If an organization wants to achieve an effective restructuring, what is one strategy that it might implement?

A) outsourcing
B) rightsizing
C) designing
D) rationalizing

Question 10

What time horizon is generally associated with systematic change related to downsizing and restructuring?

A) immediate
B) short-term
C) medium-term
D) long-term

Question 11

What is one HR program associated with embeddedness, given that downsizing is unavoidable?

A) flex-time
B) off-site child care
C) defined-contribution plans
D) severance pay

Question 12

According to a poll of almost 7 000 employees discussed in the text, what personal strategy would the majority of individuals implement if they heard that their company was planning layoffs?

A) visit a lawyer and be aware of their legal rights
B) search for a new job before the layoffs occur
C) make sure that they remain invisible to the managers
D) spend more time at the office and less with family

Question 13

According to Pfeffer, which of the following happens first when a layoff is announced?

A) Companies lose people they don't want to lose.
B) Morale declines and fear rises in the workplace.
C) People head for the door who have not been laid off.
D) Motivation, commitment, and job satisfaction decline.

Question 14

According to the textbook, what is the most common benefit provided to displaced workers?

A) job referral service
B) benefits continuation
C) family counselling
D) severance pay

Question 15

What should union officials and management protect when anticipating potential downsizing and restructuring?

A) human rights of employees
B) positive labour relations programs
C) wage and benefit concessions
D) labour-management climate

Question 16

What do you call an employee who remains with an organization after a downsizing?

A) employed
B) victim
C) survivor
D) talented

Question 17

Which of the following is a medium-term alternative to downsizing?

A) exit incentives
B) hiring freeze
C) mandatory vacation
D) reduced overtime

Question 18

According to the textbook, what is the least commonly used restructuring and organizational change tactic?

A) across-the-board cuts
B) eliminating tasks
C) contracting out
D) use of part-time employees

Question 19

Why do organizations with high-involvement work practices suffer more from downsizing than those with fewer such practices?

A) High-involvement work practices are costly to maintain.
B) High-involvement work practices are for elite employees.
C) High-involvement work practices require a cultural buy-in.
D) High-involvement work practices are linked to competitive advantage.

Question 20

What organizational initiative provides a program of counselling and job-search assistance for workers who have been terminated?

A) ethics
B) succession
C) outplacement
D) re-integration

Question 21

Offshoring occurs when an organization moves work to foreign entities outside the company.

Question 22

What is the relationship between downsizing and workplace safety for employees?

A) Downsizing results in greater safety for employees because there are fewer employees to monitor.
B) Downsizing results in lower levels of job satisfaction, which results in lower safety motivation.
C) Downsizing results in more job insecurity, which produces more turnover and sick days.
D) Downsizing results in higher safety compliance, which produces higher productivity.

Question 23

Many organizations are reactive to downsizing instead of proactive.

Question 24

"High involvement human resource management" deals with treating people as expenditures.

Question 25

Interactional justice refers to the interpersonal treatment employees receive during the implementation of the downsizing decision.

Question 26

What is an essential component that is necessary for senior management prior to developing a downsizing strategy?

A) knowing financial indicators
B) scanning the external environment
C) communicating with employees
D) creating a culture of trust

Question 27

A psychological contract is a written commitment between employers and their employees that guarantees job security and rewards for loyal behaviour.

Question 28

There are three types of restructuring: portfolio, human capital, and organizational.

Question 29

According to the textbook, what is the relationship between job loss and social withdrawal?

A) inverse relationship
B) no relationship
C) negative relationship
D) positive relationship

Question 30

According to the textbook, what is the main goal to be achieved if an organization is downsizing and restructuring with a systematic change strategy?

A) competitive advantage
B) environmental scanning
C) scenario planning
D) continuous improvement

Question 31

What is another term that experienced downsizers might use to describe a workforce reduction or realignment?

A) reinventing
B) reorganizing
C) redistributing
D) revectoring

Question 32

Downsizing is unlikely to disappear in the future because it helps to alleviate the huge financial burdens facing many organizations.

Question 33

There are three types of downsizing strategies: workforce reduction, work redesign, and systemic change.

Question 34

In the research by Classen and Dunn, what is one of their major findings?

A) The risk for suicide increases with long periods of unemployment.
B) Losing a job can have positive benefits.
C) Employees are more likely to quit following a downsizing.
D) Cost cutting is unlikely to disappear in the future.

Question 35

Systematic change is a short-term strategy, whereas work redesign is a medium-term strategy.

Question 36

What is one issue that has received little attention relative to downsizing?

A) reputation for corporate social performance
B) pension contributions and defined benefits
C) effects on long-term profitability and debt
D) employee satisfaction of survivors

Question 37

What type of justice focuses on the interpersonal treatment employees receive during the implementation of the downsizing decision?

A) procedural justice
B) interactional justice
C) distributive justice
D) manipulative justice

Question 38

What type of strategy requires an organization to focus on work process and to assess whether specific functions, products, and/or services should be eliminated?

A) downsizing
B) workforce reduction
C) work redesign
D) systematic change

Question 39

What is one historic issue that necessitates so much emphasis on downsizing today?

A) Organizations focused on growth.
B) Organizations focused on the bottom line.
C) Organizations focused on competitive advantage.
D) Organizations focused on stock prices.

Question 40

Outplacement is providing a program of counselling and job-search assistance for workers who have been terminated.

Question 41

Inplacement provides a program of counselling and job-search assistance for workers who have been terminated.

Question 42

Some researchers have found evidence that the longer a person is unemployed, the higher the person's risk for suicide.

Question 43

Asking employees to take voluntary sabbaticals is one medium-term solution to avoid downsizing.

Question 44

Define "downsizing" and identify and describe THREE types of downsizing strategies.

Question 45

There is considerable evidence that workforce reduction programs ultimately achieve their objectives of cutting costs.

Question 46

Research evidence indicates that downsizing creates job insecurity and low job satisfaction, which are related to greater safety compliance because employees do not wish to be hurt on the job.

Question 47

One issue that has received little attention is the effect of downsizing on the organization's reputation for corporate social responsibility.

Question 48

Negative consequences of downsizing might be minimized with greater communication and employee participation.

Question 49

Downsizing may be considered a breach of the unwritten employment contract between employers and their employees.

Question 50

What are FIVE of the more insidious consequences of organizational restructuring and downsizing?

Question 51

Distributive justice refers to the rules used to determine which employees will be downsized.

Question 52

What are FOUR of the reasons that organizations downsize?

Question 53

When rationalizing decisions about downsizing, many managers will rely on economic, accounting, and revenue-based rationales.

Question 54

Downsizing can be linked to less innovation and more protection of one's turf.

Question 55

Work redesign is a short-term strategy, whereas workforce reduction is a medium-term strategy.

Question 56

Outsourcing refers to the re-absorbing of excess or inappropriately placed workers into a restructured organization.