Resizing the Organization: Managing Layoffs, Divestitures, and Closings—Maximizing Gain While Minimizing Pain

Remember when the cold euphemism "downsize" entered the collective vocabulary? Unfortunately, it is now such a given in corporate life that it has even sprouted offshoots, such as "resize" and "rightsize." This collection of fifteen essays by expert contributors is a serious look at how to approach the financial, strategic, and emotional consequences of layoffs in your company. As the preface states, the goal for companies facing unpredictable times is to cope, survive, and thrive competitively. Essays range from an outplacement consultant's sober and straightforward "How to Implement Organizational Resizing" to the personal history of a human resources professional in "Another Layoff? A Dot-Com Reality! My Story." Editors de Meuse and Marks are, respectively, a professor of management at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and a consultant with a background in organizational psychology.