Most of us have come to equate the term “restructuring” with layoffs. The reason is simple: during restructurings, management’s focus is typically on developing severance and incentive packages to reduce employee head count. By focusing primarily on how people leave the restructured organization, however, companies too often neglect the matter of who leaves. Senior managers focus so heavily on cutting costs that they don’t give sufficient attention to the company’s future strategy — and who will implement that strategy.
Yet a key strategic issue for any company that is restructuring is the quality of employees who remain. Companies often lose their best people, who quickly find other opportunities rather than wait for the haphazard results of a typical reorganization. Unfortunately, a company can be crippled following a downsizing if the wrong mix of employees remain. Indeed, scores of beleaguered companies seeking to reshape themselves have been damaged for years by focusing on reducing head count rather than on ensuring that the best qualified people staff the new organization.
We cannot overemphasize that workforce reductions, to the extent they are required, should be the outcome, not the objective. The restructuring process must be directed toward positioning the organization for the future, not implementing a downsizing. In planning any restructuring, managers need a link between the reorganization and the company’s ongoing revitalization — a link that traditional methods... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.
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