This section looks at redundancy, and how it affects those made redundant and those who survive. David Noer spent many years working with individuals in organizations and supporting them through change. He has captured much of this experience in his book Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the trauma of layoffs and revitalizing downsized organizations (copyright © David Noer, 1993. Sections reprinted by permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc). Although, as the title suggests, the book is primarily focused on redundancy, there is much of benefit to anyone who wants to tackle organizational change and change management.
Noer’s research is useful for illuminating the short, medium and long-term impact of change. He also suggests how a manager can intervene on a number of levels to help smoothen and perhaps quicken the change process.
Looks at the individual and organizational short to long-term impact that redundancy can produce. Many of these feelings are not necessarily disclosed: some are acted upon, others just experienced internally but having a clear effect on morale and motivation. Suggests a breakdown of what feelings are disclosed and undisclosed. You might notice that many of the feelings found amongst those going through this process are precisely the same ones that Kubler-Ross described in her work on the change curve (1969).
The individual and organizational short to long-term impact of redundancy
Individual impact
Organizational impact
Short to medium term
Psychological contract broken
Job insecurity
Unfairness
Distrust and sense of betrayal
Depression, stress, fatigue
Wanting it to be over
Guilt
Optimism
Reduced risk taking
Reduced motivation
Lack of management credibility
Increased short-termism
Dissatisfaction with planning and communication
Anger over the process
Sense of permanent change
Continued commitment
Medium to long term
Insecurity
Sadness
Anxiety
Fear
Numbness
Resignation
Depression, stress, fatigue
Extra workload
Decreased motivation
Loyalty to job but not to company
Increased self-reliance
Sense of unfairness regarding top management pay and severance
Disclosed and undisclosed feelings about redundancy
Feelings
Disclosed
Undisclosed
Held in
Fear, insecurity and uncertainty.
Easier to identify and found in every redundancy situation.
Sadness, depression and guilt.
Often not acknowledged and hidden behind group bravado.
Acted out
Unfairness, betrayal and distrust.
Often acted out through blaming others and constant requests for information.
Frustration, resentment and anger.
Often not openly expressed but leak out in other ways.
Dealing with redundancy: Noer’s model
Noer sees interventions at four different levels when dealing with redundancy in an organizational context. Most managers only progress to level one, whereas Noer suggests that managers need to work with their people at all four levels.
Noer’s four-level redundancy intervention model
Level one: getting the implementation process right
Level one interventions are all about getting the process of change right. In any change process there needs to be a good level of efficient and effective management. This includes a communication strategy and a process that is in line with organizational values.
Noer suggests that once the decision is made to effect redundancies, it needs to be done cleanly and with compassion. This requires open communication – ‘over communicating is better than under-communicating’ – emotional honesty and authenticity.
Although this is just level one it is hard to get this one absolutely right!
Level two: dealing with emotions
Once you have attended to getting the task process right, the next level is getting the emotional process right. This involves dealing with the disclosed and undisclosed feelings mentioned above. Let us be frank: a lot of people are not very good at this. For many, allowing the release of emotions and negative thoughts about the situation feels like they are opening a hornet’s nest. Managers need some support and a considerable amount of self-awareness if they are to handle this well.
There are many ways that managers can facilitate this process, with either one-to-one meetings or team meetings.
This level is about ‘allowing time for expressions of feelings about situation plus implications for future and next steps for moving on’.
Level three: focusing on the future
The change curve indicates that a period of inner focus is followed by a period of outward focus. Noer’s research suggests that once levels one and two have been dealt with, the organization now needs to focus on those surviving the redundancy. This is aimed at ‘recapturing’ their sense of self-control, empowerment and self-esteem. In the same way that those who have been made redundant need to go through a process of regaining their self-worth and focusing on their strengths, those remaining need to do the same.
There should be plenty of organizational imperatives for this to happen! But once again, let it be a considered approach rather than haphazard. The organization would not have gone through the changes that it has, without a clear need to do so. It remains to those left to address that need – be it cost-efficiency, productivity, culture change or merger. The more that individuals and teams can be involved in shaping the organization’s future, the greater will be the engagement and commitment, and the greater the chances of success.
Level four: embedding the changes
Level four interventions occur at a whole-system level. One option – the laissez-faire or reactive one – is to pretend that nothing much has changed. In terms of Satir’s model, as described by Weinberg, the organization can fail to really address or redress the situation. It could:
- try to reject foreign elements;
- try to accommodate foreign elements in its old model;
- try to transform the old model to receive foreign elements, but fail.
Any of these options creates a scenario in which the changes are not sustainable. Noer suggests embedding any changes made into the new way of working. This includes:
- creating structural systems and processes that treat and/or prevent survivor syndrome symptoms;
- redefining the psychological contract – being clear about what the new deal now is between employer and employee;
- enacting and embodying the new culture and its values if that is one of the stated objectives;
- ensuring all HR practices and management style are aligned with the espoused culture.
Key lessons that Noer teaches us are:
- to address change on both the task and people level;
- to pay attention, not only to what individuals and groups are going through now, but also the tasks necessary to move the organization along; to use these tasks to engage people as they come out of the more negative aspects of the change curve;
- to take the opportunity of the turbulence of the situation to embed into the organization those structures, systems and processes that will be necessary to sustain the changes in the longer term.