LOers
This is a very touchy subject for certain groups of people and
corporations. Nobody likes the concept of downsizing, either management
or the rank and file. I think however you have to look at the jobs you
are trying to eliminate or the processes you are trying to combine.
There are two ways for a company to become job heavy:
1) Creating jobs for personnel to keep them around
2) Creating jobs too specific or dedicated to one project
In the first the motivation is to make room for new blood without loosing
the experience or inconveniencing older employees. This leads to the
development of superfluous jobs and job titles. The humanitarian thought
behind this type of position leads to dead end jobs and an eventual need to
eliminate the positions.
If a proper career ladder is in place this can be avoided.
The second reason gives persons jobs too narrow in definition and limited
in scope. The original purpose is to get a complicated project done on
time yet when the project is over what do you do with the excess
personnel? Usually they are assigned to similar projects in similar roles
and eventually given a managerial position where they hire more people to
do the same limited job for several projects and become so specialized
they are either too valuable to the organization or so limited they can
not be hired by anyone else.
Case in point:
Several years ago the US government implemented a program of healthcare
reimbursement based on disease groupings (DRG) and they placed sever
restrictions on the kinds and amounts of testing a clinical lab can
perform. This was a sever handicap financially for most labs. The career
ladder in these areas was either very short or non-existent. Because of
this many clinical lab practitioners had been given jobs to move them up
(or over) and make room for newer, cheaper bench techs. These persons had
titles, limited responsibility, and a compensation package beyond belief.
With the implementation of DRGs however, these jobs were the first
casualty of downsizing. What was discovered was their jobs were NOT
needed. These were jobs and functions that could be performed in a less
centralized environment. This was a case in point that incorporated both
reasons for making a company primed for downsizing.
The cure for this is :
1) Develop a comprehensive career ladder.
Show the new employee a method by which s/he can move up in the company over
a period of time WITHOUT inventing new positions that may have to be
eliminated later on.
2) Examine all jobs for redundancy and complexity.
If a task becomes too centralized in becomes isolated from the original
problem. Define the tasks and the people doing that task and determine if
it can be de-centralized. Does it take a specialized department to perform
a task or can the responsibility be delegated to the person doing the job.
Then make those persons responsible. Make it a part of the career ladder.
3) DO NOT isolate a responsibility.
Use the team approach to all processes. Do not give a single individual the
sole responsibility for any one position. Cross train each individual on the
team to function in any capacity within the team.
4) DO NOT allow the members of a team or group to remain on that team for
extended periods of time.
Move the team members around on a scheduled basis. Let us assume you have a
team of five members responsible for a task. The members know, when
assigned to the task, that they are there for only two years then they will
be moved to another
team (not all at once). This promotes several things; 1) they do not get
bored with the task, 2) new ideas and experiences are being introduced at
all times, 3) there is always an opportunity to advance, 4) the employees
become their own managers, 5) the employees become more involved with the
operations of the company and thus eliminate or reduce the possibility of
downsizing, 6) a sense of family and team become ingrained into the culture
of the organization.
5) EMPOWER the employee.
Allow the employee the leeway to make his/her own decision within the guide
lines of company policy. If an employee sees a problem that needs to be
rectified, give them the power to do so. If a decision has to be made let
the employee have a certain amount of latitude in making the decision ... on
the spot. Every time an employee has to run to the boss to get something
done his/her self esteem and confidence in the performance of their job is
lessened.
6) Educate the employee.
I have found that the training of the employee on a continuos basis is the
biggest reason for retention and improved performance. It doesn't even have
to be a job related course. Remedial reading, writing and math skills helps
the disadvantaged to gain self esteem and self worth. Topics of interest to
the employees may be offered.
We are starting up a computer utilization class.
7) Set NO barriers.
Very simply put .... hire, promote, assign based on only ONE criteria: CAN
THEY DO THE JOB? If experience and training are used as the criteria for
ANY job, and you use only this criteria for your assessment of an employees
promotability, there are no ceilings or barriers.
8) Manage from the floor (Demming)
Isolation of the boss in an Ivory Tower lends an atmosphere of us -vs.- them
in the ranks of the employee. Go down to the level of the employee and DO
their job with them. Show the boss has an understanding of the job being
performed. Nothing causes disrespect, distrust, apprehension and an "I
don't give a damn" attitude faster than having the people in charge of your
job have no idea about your job. I am not talking about the person that has
move up the ladder from the floor to a supervisory position but the person
at the top, usually hired because of business sense not job sense.
These are my thoughts on the subject. If you are being downsized not all of
these will pertain. If you fear downsizing, maybe these will help prevent
it.
Good Luck!
Bruce W. Jones
Organizational Development Specialist
Northwest Texas Healthcare System
Amarillo, Texas
brucej@nwths.com
brucewj@amaonline.com
http://www.scenemaker.com/anon/495/cover.dhtml
--"Bruce Jones" <brucej@nwths.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>