Does Downsizing Make Survivors Truly Empowered? –
Ever since Roger Moore filmed Roger and Me, a scathing documentary of GM and the closing of its production facilities in Flint, Michigan, the concept of downsizing equates to most people with out-of-work, under-appreciated employees and ruthless, greedy insensitive corporate executives. However, with the continuing competition to retain a competitive advantage in a developing global economy and marketplace among corporations, downsizing continues to be a reality for many organizations. Yet, despite the particular insensitivity of GM executives in Flint, Michigan, in this particular case, downsizing appears to be a way of helping raise quality, raise productivity, empower employees and to catalyze the creation of a more satisfied, more loyal and more productive workforce. Concepts like downsizing and total quality management have been in existence for quite some time, but there is statistical evidence now available that demonstrates the effects of downsizing create empowered employees and self-directed work teams that often reduce costs and raise manufacturing productivity:
By most measurements, empowerment and self-directed teams work. Nearly 63% of the plants with 100% empowered workforces and more than 68% with between 76% and 99% empowered workforces report productivity (dollar value of shipments per employee) of $150,000 or more. Less than 45% of the plants with no empowerment report similar productivity. The benefits extend to other key measurements of productivity: nearly 24% of fully empowered plants report cycle-time reductions of more than 50% during the last five years, compared with only 4.3% of plants with no empowered workers. And plants with a majority of their employees engaged in teams report annual productivity of $180,000 per employee, with nonempowered plants reporting only $130,000 per employee.
For downsizing to result in greater empowerment for ...