Employee Morale After DownsizingDownsizing has become an important idea in today's economy and maintaining employee confidence when something like this happening has also become a very serious matter (Brockner, Konovsky, Cooper-Schneider, Folger, Martin, & Bies, 1994). The question is not whether a company should downsize, but how to properly downsize so that as few employees as possible are injured (Brockner, Konovsky, Cooper-Schneider, Folger, Martin, & Bies, 1994). Companies can reduce their workforce in several ways, which will help retain much of the loyalty of the workers who remain (Brockner, Konovsky, Cooper-Schneider, Folger, Martin, & Bies, 1994). Companies that downsize through attrition and buyouts, those companies that work to help laid-off employees find new jobs, and companies that are willing to provide outplacement services to these individuals often find themselves in positions much better than companies that simply lay off workers due to downsizing (Brockner, Konovsky, Cooper-Schneider, Folger, Martin, & Bies, 1994). Those companies that show they care about the workers they have to lay off through downsizing are much more likely to retain much of the loyalty originally given to them by the workers who survived downsizing (Brockner, Konovsky, Cooper-Schneider, Folger). , Martin and Bies, 1994). Trust is a very important asset for these companies but it is very difficult to achieve and equally difficult to maintain (Brockner, Konovsky, Cooper-Schneider, Folger, Martin and Bies, 1994). ). If companies are willing to downsize in a way that is seen as very humane by many workers, they will fare better in the long run than those that view workers as disposable (Brockner, Konovsky, Cooper-Schneider, Folger, Martin). and Bies, 1994). In the late 1970s, companies began downsizing (Brockner, Konovsky, Cooper-Schneider, Folger, Martin, & Bies, 1994). They did this in order to improve their bottom line and also reduce many of their costs (Brockner, Konovsky, Cooper-Schneider, Folger, Martin, & Bies, 1994). Even though some companies today are making record profits, they perpetuate this idea that they must be as efficient as possible to be competitive (Brockner, Konovsky,...... middle of paper ......National Forms ?Organizational Science, 4, i-viDavidow WH & Malone, MS (1992). paints a grim portrait of downsizing survivors (1993 HR Focus, 70, 24. If you're considering downsizing, U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich says in an interview, do it slowly. (1996). Sales and Marketing Management, 148, 118-123. Kets de Vries MFR & Balazs, K. (1997). Smith, E.M., & Hedlund, J. (1993). Organizational downsizing: Strategies, interventions, and research implications. In CL Cooper and IT Robertson, eds., International Journal of Industrial and Organizational Psychology. New York: Wiley, 262-332. Mishra, A. K. (1996). Organizational responses to crisis: the centrality of trust. In RM Kramer and TR Tyler, eds., Trust in Organizations. Frontiers of theory and research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 261-287, 5.