Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations

8.2. A Team Intervention

The client: A director of support services in a recently merged health care system and her surviving managers.

The situation: Two large hospitals merged. Sarah's unit was responsible for providing central services such as accounting, information services, training, human resources, records, maintenance services, and other administrative and technical services for the new organization. Before the merger, there were two managers for each of these services; after the merger, there was one survivor. Not only had many managers lost their jobs, but the remaining organization was rightsized, which meant another 20 percent reduction in Sarah's department. Nearly nine months after the layoffs, the productivity and morale of the ...