Organizations must take steps to rightsize effectively Downsizing and restructuring continue to occur, but organizations depend on their people to make them successful. This article proposes a twelve-step model to help organizations consider the human resource component during rightsizing.
Rightsizing is defined as a proactive approach to downsizing and restructuring organizations on a continuous basis. Kozlowsh (1991) states that when a decision to downsize is followed by proactive planning, the organization is more likely to achieve its goal. According to , employees are loyal to organizations when they have employment security Thus, the model seeks to support both the organization's needs and the individual's employment goals.
Rightsizing Factors
The literature suggests that organizations must consider certain factors if they wish to change successfully. explains that rightsizing provides a framework to restructure an organization on an ongoing basis yet minimize the negative effects on employees. He also examines what specific changes organizations need to make in order to avoid the massive downsizing in the first place, including offering team-oriented position descriptions, analysis of past emphases, reward structures, mission-driven career paths, side-motion career management, and humane termination strategies. When the decision to rightsize is made, the specific factors that an organization needs to consider are customer needs, validated requirements, mission objectives, job design, job description, recruitment and hring, initial training, classification of the workforce, professional development, performance evaluation, retirement, and exiting the organization. The twelve-step model presented in this article takes into account all of these factors. It represents a continuous process of reevaluating the company's human resource needs based on customer needs, rightsizing influences, and validation of human FORUM is a nonrefereed section inviting readers' reactions and opinions.