Managing careers in downsizing firms

✍ Scribed by Daniel C. Feldman

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 1019 KB
• Volume: 35
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0090-4848
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-050x(199622)35:2<145::aid-hrm1>3.0.co;2-y

✦ Synopsis

The literature on managing careers has traditionally been based on the twin assumptions of organizational gruwth and increased opportunities for individual advancement. Large-scale layofs in the 1980s and continued downsizing in the 199Os, however, have left organizations questioning how to develop the careers of their errrpluyees under cuiiditiuns of diminished resources and have left employees wondering houJ to manage their own careers under conditions of diminished opportunities. This article examines the issues involved in managing careers in downsizing firms from both the organization's and the individual's perspective. In addition, it explores not only short-term tactics for handling career disruptions which occur at the tilire of downsizing but also longer-term strategies for managing careers during times of little or no organizational grozuth.