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

4.1. Organizational Characteristics

The initial study took place in a large multinational firm headquartered on the East Coast of the United States. The organization was experiencing severe financial problems and implementing a downsizing that called for significant across-the-board layoffs. A prototypical old employment contract organization, it had a number of programs to integrate employees into the organization over a long period of time. In the spirit of "modern" employee relations, the organization had support services that promoted employee dependency, and the psychological bond supporting this relationship was seen to be violated when the organization instituted layoffs. Although there was no formal nonlayoff policy, the shared expectation ...