Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations

Table of contents

1. Copyright
2. PREFACE
3. THE SHATTERED COVENANT
   1. Forgotten Survivors: What Happens to Those Who Are Left Behind
      1. Lessons from Act One: Juanita and Charles—Victim and Survivor
      2. The Basic Bind: Lean and Mean Leads to Sad and Angry
      3. Metaphor of the Surviving Children
      4. Acts One and Two: A Family Legacy
      5. Issues to Be Explored
      6. Definitions
      7. Learnings and Implications
   2. Changing Organizations and the End of Job Security
      1. From Assets to Costs: The New View of Employees
      2. From Nurturing to Violence: The Symbolism of Layoff Language
      3. From Long Term to Short Term: The Shrinking Planning Horizon
      4. From Synergistic to Reductionistic: Taking Apart Is Better Than Putting Together
      5. Layoff Survivor Sickness: The Legacy
      6. Learnings and Implications
4. THE SURVIVOR EXPERIENCE
   1. Learning from the Past: The Survivor Syndrome Across Time
      1. The Saga of "No Toes," the Gunslinger
      2. Universal Survivor Linkages
      3. Lifton's Model of Hiroshima Atomic Bomb Survivors
      4. Learnings and Implications
   2. Speaking for Themselves: Layoff Survivor Stories
      1. Organizational Characteristics
      2. Research Methodology
      3. Job Insecurity
      4. Unfairness
      5. Depression, Stress, and Fatigue
      6. Reduced Risk Taking and Motivation
      7. Distrust and Betrayal
      8. Optimism
      9. Continuing Commitment
      10. Lack of Reciprocal Commitment
      11. Wanting It to Be Over
      12. Dissatisfaction with Planning and Communication
      13. Anger over the Layoff Process
      14. Lack of Strategic Direction
      15. Lack of Management Credibility
      16. Short-Term Profit Orientation
      17. Sense of Permanent Change
      18. Unexpected Findings
      19. Learnings and Implications
   3. Times Does Not Heal All Wounds: The Effects of Long-Term Survivor Sickness
      1. Stress, Fatigue, Extra Workload, Decreased Motivation, Sadness, and Depression
      2. Insecurity, Anxiety, and Fear
      3. Loyalty to Job (Not Company), Nonreciprocal Loyalty, and Self-Reliance
      4. Sense of Unfairness and Anger over Top Management Pay and Severance
      5. Resignation and Numbness
      6. Lack of Management Communication
      7. Helpful and Communicative Managers
      8. Honest Communication
      9. Short-Term Plans and Strategy
      10. Layoff Process Problems
      11. Resentment over Being Made to Feel Guilty
      12. A Look Back from the Second Act
      13. Learnings and Implications
5. INTERVENTIONS FOR HEALTHY SURVIVAL
   1. A Four-Level Process for Handling Layoffs and Their Effects
      1. Layoff Survivor Feeling Clusters and Coping Strategies
      2. The Four-Level Intervention Model
      3. Learnings and Implications
   2. Level One: Manage the Layoff Processes
      1. "Clean Kills" and the Survivor Hygiene Factor
      2. Redundant Communication Is Essential
      3. What to Communicate
      4. Control Traps That Block Communication
      5. Balancing Feeling and Thinking
      6. Tell the Truth, and Never Say Never
      7. Two Denial Traps
      8. Process Research
      9. Learnings and Implications
   3. Level Two: Facilitate the Necessary Grieving
      1. The Burden of a Heavy Bag
      2. A Team Intervention
      3. An Attempted Systemwide Intervention
      4. A Small Business Visioning Intervention
      5. A Departmental Wake
      6. Empowering Leaders Through Models of Change
      7. Learnings and Implications
   4. Level Three: Break the Codependency Chain and Empower People
      1. Dagwood's Prescient Stand
      2. Codependent Relationships
      3. Organizational Codependency
      4. Detachment
      5. Letting Go
      6. Connecting with a Core Purpose
      7. Learnings and Implications
   5. Level Four: Build a New Employment Relationship
      1. The Global Context of the New Reality
      2. From Long-Term to Situational Employment Relationships
      3. From Rewarding Performance with Promotion to Rewarding Performance with Acknowledgment of Relevance
      4. From Paternalistic to Empowering Management Behavior
      5. From Toxic Fidelity to Healthy Self-Responsibility
      6. From an Implicit Career Covenant to an Explicit Job Contract
      7. Elements of Explicit Contractual Relationships
      8. Learnings and Implications
6. THE LEADERSHIP WAKE-UP CALL
   1. Requisite Leadership Competencies They Don't Teach in Business School
      1. Choose the Right Wolf to Feed
      2. Avoid Layoff Leadership Traps
      3. Behave Courageously
      4. Let Go of Outdated Managerial Commandments
      5. Don't Listen to Chicken Little
      6. Learnings and Implications
   2. Rethinking Loyalty, Commitment, and Motivation: The Long and Painful Birth of the New Reality
      1. Ten Old Paradigm Commandments Reframed
      2. Putting the Pieces Back Together: Reintegrating the Busted Culture
      3. Learnings and Implications
   3. Developing the Right Leadership Stuff
      1. Developing Philosopher-Kings: Learning from Plato
      2. Intrapersonal Insight
      3. Interpersonal Competence
      4. Core Skills and Relevant Models
      5. The Global Context of New Paradigm Leadership
      6. Learnings and Implications
   4. Life After Downsizing: Revitalizing Ourselves and Our Organizations
      1. The Top Ten New Reality Managerial and Employee Roles
      2. Fragile Choices
      3. The Existential Act of Choosing Freedom
      4. Learnings and Implications
7. REFERENCES
8. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
9. THE AUTHOR
10. INDEX