e spirit; D) Stronger competitive postures.
Greer says "Although there are many associated costs, downsizing is a fact of life in the United States, and layoffs occur with downturns in the business cycle" (p. 19). The costs, however, are usually offset by the increase in value and greater profitability of the resulting organization.
The change suggested in this question is the result of form following function. If organizations are becoming leaner, as most experts agree is the case, then it is because sophisticated computer technology is making the individual employee capable of handling more work. For instance, a company that originally performed data processing in house now has the opportunity of jobbing that data processing out to specialist companies that do nothing but data processing. (This is called outsourcing).
This is best seen in the very field of Human Resources. Once considered the "paperwork center" of a company, today many of the time-consuming and essentially valueless tasks -- tracking benefits, maintaining payroll and so on -- are being outsourced by HR departments to companies that specialize in this kind of detail.
This leaves the HR department free to concentrate on more important tasks, such as establishing training programs, and helping management strategize future growth. This is a good example of technology making it possible for more important work to be done by fewer people. The HR department, therefore, becomes an important element in structuring and complementing strategic direction.
Probably the biggest trend in utilizing human resources is the act of outsourcing all, or most of what has traditionally been considered the record-keeping aspect of the HR programs. It has reached such a sophist
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