Surviving Employees’ Perception of Downsizing and its Impact on Their Job Involvement and Job Security: The Ghanaian Experience

The study was basically to examine surviving employees’ perception of downsizing and how three critical conditions (i.e. closeness of survivor to victim, previous experience with downsizing and one’s status in the organizational hierarchy) affect them in relation to their work attitudes (Job Involvement and Job Security). In all, 200 employees participated in the study. Results of the study indicate that survivors’ relationship with affected victims influenced their job involvement such that, those whose relations/ friends were laid off showed lower job involvement than those whose victims were mere coworkers. Another finding was that, employees who had previously experienced or witnessed a downsizing exercise prior to the recent one showed greater job security than their counterparts who had never experienced any downsizing. Finally, senior level employees felt more involved in their jobs than their junior counterparts. In view of the findings, it is recommended that organizations should manage downsizing programmes in ways that would not disrupt social networks unnecessarily. In addition, management must ensure transparency to reduce the anxiety that characterizes these exercises.