budget cuts and layoffs

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You are the Department Manager at an organization that has just announced budget cuts and layoffs. You must meet with your employees, who are afraid and angry, tomorrow to explain the impact on your department. Using the tools described in our readings, submit a 2-4 page paper describing how you would prepare for the meeting, present the bad news, and overcome resistance and negativity. Budget cuts and layoffs are never pleasant, but the department manager’s duty is to explain the impact to the department. If the downsize affects entire departments, it’s generally best to make a collective announcement so you don’t keep workers in suspense. Department manager should act quickly to spread the news. The manager wouldn’t let employee speculation precede your official lay-off notification. If employees start buzzing about potential layoffs, you run the risk of having your staff’s morale as well as their productivity drop. Also the efficient workers may move to another company thinking they won’t be in risk of losing a job. It’s crucial when you’re about to layoffs employees that you keep things quiet and set up individual meetings as soon as possible. As soon as budget cuts and layoffs are proposed there will be many different rumours spreading at the office. I will fully evaluate the potential change and examine all implications of its potential impact on the department and the total organization (Liebler, J. G. & McConnell, 2008) . Completely communicate the change, starting early, ensuring that the employees are not taken by surprise. The meeting should be a two way communication preparing the way for employees’ involvement by soliciting their comments or suggestion (Liebler, J. G. & McConnell, 2008) . The department manager who becomes caught up in a change should immediately learn the difference between what can be controlled and what cannot be controlled. Much energy is wasted in trying to control that which is uncontrollable (Liebler, J. G. & McConnell, 2008) . Stress can be response to the change by the employees. An important early step in gaining a measure of control over the circumstance is

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Page 1: Budget Cuts and Layoffs

You are the Department Manager at an organization that has just announced budget cuts and layoffs. You must meet with your employees, who are afraid and angry, tomorrow to explain the impact on your department. Using the tools described in our readings, submit a 2-4 page paper describing how you would prepare for the meeting, present the bad news, and overcome resistance and negativity.

Budget cuts and layoffs are never pleasant, but the department manager’s duty is to explain the impact to the department. If the downsize affects entire departments, it’s generally best to make a collective announcement so you don’t keep workers in suspense.

Department manager should act quickly to spread the news. The manager wouldn’t let employee speculation precede your official lay-off notification. If employees start buzzing about potential layoffs, you run the risk of having your staff’s morale as well as their productivity drop. Also the efficient workers may move to another company thinking they won’t be in risk of losing a job. It’s crucial when you’re about to layoffs employees that you keep things quiet and set up individual meetings as soon as possible. As soon as budget cuts and layoffs are proposed there will be many different rumours spreading at the office.

I will fully evaluate the potential change and examine all implications of its potential impact on the department and the total organization (Liebler, J. G. & McConnell, 2008). Completely communicate the change, starting early, ensuring that the employees are not taken by surprise. The meeting should be a two way communication preparing the way for employees’ involvement by soliciting their comments or suggestion (Liebler, J. G. & McConnell, 2008).

The department manager who becomes caught up in a change should immediately learn the difference between what can be controlled and what cannot be controlled. Much energy is wasted in trying to control that which is uncontrollable (Liebler, J. G. & McConnell, 2008). Stress can be response to the change by the employees. An important early step in gaining a measure of control over the circumstance is learning to control emotions. Since the manager has no control over how the changes of budget and layoffs; however the manager need to have control over how to respond to the changes.

The department manager should know the law. The lawsuits will follow if the manager didn’t layoff the employee correctly. The law should be a major motivator for the manager to learn how to lay off employees. To ensure your departing workers don’t have a case, managers need to become versed in employment law and do things exactly by the book.

Losing one’s job due to downsizing is a traumatic experience, workers deserve to know management is taking the matter seriously and doing everything they can for them. It’s important to go over every detail before you lay off employees. Any employee is sure to have more than a few questions, so having tactful answers ready for some of the more common inquiries. Also managers should familiarize themselves with the details of severance packages. It may seem cruel, but you have to make it clear that the decision is final. Don’t give employees false hope. After all, every lie is a lawsuit in the making. The manager is in a position of leadership, and it’s important to take responsibility when to layoff employees. Managers need to admit that the company has hit a roadblock and that the layoff has little to do with job performance, and no matter how difficult the conversation gets, never should the management ask for pity or understanding.

Page 2: Budget Cuts and Layoffs

Management need to face employees and be honest about the situation, antagonism isn’t necessary when laying off employees. Managers should not trap workers with the bad news and be careful not to cause a scene. As well as having a staff member escorted out like a criminal can be disrespectful to the other staff. Management should keep their cool as it’s a tense situation. It’s OK for a laid-off employee to get emotional; in fact, it’s to be expected. Manager, however, must remain professional at all times. When you lay off employees, you create a major setback in their careers. In most cases, the concern is purely financial, which means the worker’s dedication and job performance barely factor in. As such, you owe it to your departing employees to extend your help in these trying times. Finding work during a recession can be difficult, which is why some corporations offer counseling and various job-placement services. As a manager, you can also provide references, write a recommendation letter and make arrangements with an job agency.