| dc.description.abstract | Most employers and employees alike know that in this current economic climate,
there are few businesses immune from at least the possibility of staff downsizing. Of
course this knowledge does not mean that laid off employees are going to be any
happier or more understanding about it.
Though the psychological and behavioral effects of retrenchment/early retirement on
the affected employees was conducted in Kenya, the aspect of the reason for staff
downsizing, the process of the exercise and the alternatives to staff downsizing has
not received attention as it should be the effect/impact. In fact the impact is as a result
of the process of implementation of downsizing exercise.
The perception of employees on how companies handle staff downsizing is pathetic.
The way many companies are going about their staff downsizing leaves a lot to be
desired - and their reputations may suffer as a result, due to mishandling of the
process.
This research project reports a study of the practices of staff downsizing among the
major oil companies in Kenya, in terms of reasons for staff downsizing, process and
alternatives to downsizing by organizations.
The first objective was to examine why oil firms resort to staff downsizing and to find
out whether or not there were any organizational intervention programs. Further, the
study sought to establish the practices, in terms of the process of staff downsizing,
alternatives to downsizing and find out whether there is any relationship between
staff downsizing and other company characteristics.
The population of study comprised of all the major oil companies in Kenya and the
definition for 'major' is based on the distribution network, turnover, number of
employees and ownership. The sample consisted of eight human resources experts
from those oil companies.
The data was collected by the use of questionnaire that was designed to capture the
aspects of the process of staff downsizing, reasons why companies resort to
downsizing and factors influencing staff downsizing.
Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the data while chi-square statistic using
the SPSS was used to test the relationship between some characteristics of companies
and the practice of staff downsizing.
I recommend that organizations should properly plan how to conduct staff
downsizing, explore employee contracts that reflect the new employment relationship
and conduct layoffs in the contemporary organizations' new reality. They should also
build intervention models that empower employees and organizations to restore
energy and productivity and make cost benefits analysis in a risk taking downsizing
environment. | en |
