Abouts Books

By Lance Winslow

There has always been much written about downsizing over the years and during each business cycle we see it again. No matter how you feel about it, well, it makes sense to understand it. Simply calling it evil or those who do the restructuring terrorists to the corporation, it makes sense to realize how companies can become more efficient through such efforts.

Indeed, there is a right way and wrong to downsize; if it is done incorrectly, it can cause more chaos and damage to the company than running inefficiently and ineffectually ever could. Well, to help you better understand my point here, I would like to recommend a very interesting book to read:

"Downsizing - Reshaping the Corporation for the Future" by Robert M. Tomasko. 1987.

This book discusses how to "prune the bureaucracy" in a way that is fair, smart and strategic. How to avoid the pitfalls that are inherent in downsizing, rightsizing and laying off folks are also considered. Re-inventing the organizational charts is also hashed out; what should that structure look like once the downsizing is completed, shouldn't you know before you start? Making cuts, just to make them without considering the whole leads to the unintended consequences of linear decisions.

How will the company operate and function while the restricting is taking place, what about lost productivity issues. Should you be looking for a new type of manager during the change and carrying forward afterwards? If you are redesigning the company for the future, will the future be there to greet you once you are completed? The book chooses numerous fortune 500 companies as examples such as:

1. TRW
2. Exxon
3. HP
4. GE
5. Xerox
6. Campbell Soup
7. IBM
8. Proctor and Gamble

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