Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T00:56:50.988Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How do large Australian and Swiss banks implement downsizing?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Franco Gandolfi
Franco Gandolfi*
Affiliation:
School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship, Regent University, Virginia Beach VA, USA Faculty of Business & Informatics, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton QLD, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Large Australian and Swiss banks have been trimming their workforces since the mid-1990s. With further rounds of downsizing activities predicted, this study sought to identify, examine, and compare the adopted organizational downsizing implementation strategies. The primary purpose of this cross-cultural study was to determine how large Australian and Swiss banks implemented downsizing in their most recent endeavors. The research has revealed three key findings. First, Australian banks primarily adopted workforce reduction strategies, whereas Swiss banks employed a mixture of organization redesign, workforce reduction, and systemic strategies. Second, Australian banks had considerable depth in their downsizing, whereas Swiss banks had more breadth in their overall strategies. Third, Australian banks favored reorientation approaches, whereas Swiss banks embraced reinforcement approaches. It remains unclear as to why large Australian and Swiss banks differed in the selection of implementation strategies and why they diverged in their overall approaches to downsizing. Further research is required to explore aspects that are likely to influence the adoption of downsizing strategies in both Australia and Switzerland.

Keywords

downsizingimplementation strategiesbanksAustraliaSwitzerland
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , June 2007 , pp. 145 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, GR and Schvaneveldt, JD (1991) Understanding Research Methods, 2nd edn, Longman, White Plains, New York.Google Scholar
Appelbaum, SH, Delage, C, Labibb, N and Gault, G (1997) The survivor syndrome: aftermath of downsizing. Career Development International 2(6): 278.Google Scholar
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (2004) Employer Training Practices, Australia, Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Baruch, Y and Hind, P (2000) ‘Survivor syndrome’ – a management myth? Journal of Managerial Psychology 15(1): 29–45.Google Scholar
Berg, BL (1989) Qualitative Research Methods for the Social Sciences. Allyn and Bacon, Boston.Google Scholar
Bogdan, RC and Biklen, SK (1998) Qualitative Research in Education, 3rd edn, Allyn & Bacon, Boston.Google Scholar
Bjorkegren, D (1989) It doesn't have to be that way. Paper presented at the Organizational Behavior Teaching Conference, Columbia, MO.Google Scholar
Brown, S, Steven, R, Troiano, P and Schneider, M (2002) Exploring complex phenomena: Grounded theory in student affairs research. Journal of College Student Development 43(2): 173–183.Google Scholar
Cameron, KS (1994) Strategies for successful organizational downsizing. Human Resource Management 33(2): 189–211.Google Scholar
Cameron, KS, Freeman, SJ and Mishra, AK (1991) Best practices in white-collar downsizing: managing contradictions. Academy of Management Executive 5(3): 57–73.Google Scholar
Cameron, KS, Freeman, SJ and Mishra, AK (1993) Downsizing and redesigning organizations in Huber, G and Glick, W (Eds) Organizational Change and Redesign (19–63) New York, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Carson, DJ, Gilmore, A, Gronhaug, K and Perry, C (2001) Qualitative Marketing Research. Sage, Thousand Oaks CA.Google Scholar
Cascio, WF (1993) Downsizing: What do we know? What have we learned? Academy of Management Executive 7(1): 95–104.Google Scholar
Clair, JA and Dufresne, RL (2004) Playing the grim reaper: How employees experience carrying out a downsizing, Human Relations 57(12): 1597–1625.Google Scholar
Craig, CS and Douglas, SP (2005) International Marketing Research, 3rd edn, John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, West Sussex.Google Scholar
Dolan, S, Belout, A and Balkin, DB (2000) Downsizing without downgrading: learning how firms manage their survivors. International Journal of Manpower 21(1): 34–46.Google Scholar
Dutton, JE and Dukerich, JM (1991) Keeping an eye on the mirror: Image and identity in organizational adaptation. Academy of Management Journal 34(3): 517–554.Google Scholar
Eisenhardt, KM (1989) Building theories from case study research. Academy of Management Review 14(4): 532–550.Google Scholar
Elliott, SJ and Gillie, J (1998) Moving experiences: a qualitative analysis of health and migration. Health & Place 4(4): 327–339.Google Scholar
Farrell, M and Mavondo, FT (2004) The effect of downsizing strategy and reorientation strategy on a learning orientation. Personnel Review 33(4): 383–402.Google Scholar
Filipowski, D (1993) Don't rush downsizing: plan, plan, plan. Personnel Journal, 11 72(11): 64–76.Google Scholar
Finance Sector Union (2005) The Finance Sector: Workforce Report, Vol. 1, Finance Sector Union of Australia.Google Scholar
Freeman, SJ (1994) Organizational downsizing as convergence or reorientation: implications for human resource management. Human Resource Management 33(2): 213–238.Google Scholar
Gandolfi, F (2005) Australian and New Zealand banks and the implementation of downsizing. Sasin Journal of Management 11(1): 25–35.Google Scholar
Gandolfi, F (2006) Corporate downsizing demystified: a scholarly analysis of a business phenomenon, ICFAI University Press, Hyderabad, India.Google Scholar
Gandolfi, F and Neck, P (2005) Organisational downsizing revisited. The Australasian Journal of Business and Social Inquiry 3(3). http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/socialsciences/ajbsi/papers/vol1/gandolfi.htmlGoogle Scholar
Glaser, BG and Strauss, AL (1967) The discovery of grounded theory, Aldine, Hawthorne, New York.Google Scholar
Griffin, E (1997) A first look at Communication Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York.Google Scholar
Hallier, J and Lyon, P (1996) Job insecurity and employee commitment: managers' reactions to the threat and outcomes of redundancy selection. British Journal of Management 7: 107–123.Google Scholar
Jain, A and Ogden, J (1999) General practitioners' experiences of patients' complaints: qualitative study. British Medical Journal 318: 1596–1599.Google Scholar
Keller, M (1998) Downsizing in the New Zealand banking industry, Seminar paper presented to the Roche Consortium. University of Auckland, 07.Google Scholar
Langdridge, D (2004) Introduction to research methods and data analysis in psychology, Prentice-Hall, Harlow.Google Scholar
Larsson, R (1993) Case survey methodology: qualitative analysis of patterns across case studies. Academy of Management Journal 36(6): 1515–1546.Google Scholar
Littler, CR (1998) Downsizing organizations: the dilemmas of change. Human Resources Management Bulletin, CCH Australia, Sydney.Google Scholar
Littler, CR, Wiesner, R and Dunford, R (2003) The dynamics of de-layering: changing management structures in three countries. Journal of Management Studies 40(2): 225–256.Google Scholar
Macky, KA (2004) Organizational downsizing and redundancies: The New Zealand workers' experience. New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations 29(1): 63–87.Google Scholar
Marshall, MN (1999) Improving quality in general practice: qualitative case study of barriers faced by health authorities. British Medical Journal 319: 164–167.Google Scholar
Mirabal, N and DeYoung, R (2005) Downsizing as a strategic intervention. Journal of American Academy of Business 6(1): 39–45.Google Scholar
Mishra, AK and Mishra, KE (1994) The role of mutual trust in effective downsizing strategies. Human Resources Management 13(2): 261–279.Google Scholar
Mone, MA (1997) Relationships between self-concepts, aspirations, emotional responses, and intent to leave a downsizing organization. Human Resources Management 33(2): 281–298.Google Scholar
Morris, JR, Cascio, WF and Young, CE (1999) Downsizing after all these years: Questions and answers about who did it, how many did it, and who benefited from it. Organizational Dynamics Winter 1999: 78–87.Google Scholar
Noer, D (1993) Healing the Wounds: Overcoming the Trauma of Layoffs and Revitalizing Downsized Organizations, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, CA.Google Scholar
Patterson, P, Probst, J, Leith, K, Corwin, S and Powell, M (2005) Recruitment and retention of emergency medical technicians: A qualitative study. Journal of Allied Health 34(3): 153–162.Google Scholar
Patton, MQ (1990) Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods, Sage, Newbury Park CA.Google Scholar
Perry, C (1998) Processes of a case study methodology for postgraduate research in marketing. The New Zealand Journal of Business 32: 9–10.Google Scholar
Robbins, SP (1983) Organization Theory. The Structure and Design of Organizations, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs NJ.Google Scholar
Ryan, L and Macky, KA (1998) Downsizing organizations: Uses, outcomes and strategies. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources 36(2): 29–45.Google Scholar
Sahdev, K (2003) Survivors' reactions to downsizing: The importance of contextual factors. Human Resource Management Journal 13(4): 56–74.Google Scholar
Silverman, D (1997) Qualitative Research, Sage, Thousand Oaks CA.Google Scholar
Stake, RE (1994) Case studies in Handbook of Qualitative Research (Eds) Denzin, NK & Lincoln, YS, pp 236–247, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
Strauss, A and Corbin, J (1998) Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory 2nd edn, Sage, Thousand Oaks CA.Google Scholar
Swiss Banking Revue (2004) The Magazine for the Swiss Abroad 4: 08, Swiss National Bank Publications, Zurich.Google Scholar
Swiss National Banking Review (2006) Past, present, and future: An analysis of employee levels in the Swiss finance industry 1, Swiss National Bank Publications, Zurich.Google Scholar
Ticehurst, GW and Veal, AJ (1999) Business Research Methods, Addison-Wesley Longman, Sydney.Google Scholar
Westerman, JG and Sherden, WA (1991) Moving beyond lean and mean. Journal of Business Strategy 12(5): 12–16.Google Scholar
White, MD and Marsh, EE (2006) Content Analysis: A flexible methodology. Library Trends, 55(1): 22–45.Google Scholar
Whitley, R and Crawford, M (2005) Qualitative research in psychiatry. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 50(2): 108–114.Google Scholar
Williams, SM (2004) Downsizing – intellectual capital performance anorexia or enhancement? The Learning Organization 11(4/5): 368–379.Google Scholar
Yin, RK (1994) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 2nd edn, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
Yin, RK (2003) Case Study Research: Design and Methods, 3rd edn, Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA.Google Scholar
Zyglidopoulos, SC (2003) The impact of downsizing on the corporate reputation for social performance. Journal of Public Affairs 4(1): 11–25.Google Scholar