Original Research
Downsizing and the survivor syndrome: The South African case
South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences | Vol 3, No 3 | a2618 |
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajems.v3i3.2618
| © 2018 Leopold Vermeulen, Retha Wiesner
| This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 06 July 2018 | Published: 30 September 2000
Submitted: 06 July 2018 | Published: 30 September 2000
About the author(s)
Leopold Vermeulen, Department of Human Resources Management, University of Pretoria, South AfricaRetha Wiesner, Department of Human Resource Management and Employment Relations, University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Full Text:
PDF (674KB)Abstract
The purpose of this study was to obtain empirical data about the effect of workforce reduction on "survivors" in the public (n=158) and private (n=71) sectors in South Africa. Analysis of the effects of workforce reduction indicated that downsizing affected the survivors negatively. Employee morale, staff commitment and motivation plummeted, while job dissatisfaction and concern about job security increased conspicuously. It was found that the negative effects were more prevalent in the public than the private sector. Depth and frequency of downsizing seem not to intensify the survivor syndrome.
Keywords
No related keywords in the metadata.
Metrics
Total abstract views: 1638Total article views: 583
Crossref Citations
1. Work Values and Transformation: The South African Case, 1990–2001
Carly Steyn, Hennie Kotzé
Society in Transition vol: 35 issue: 1 first page: 145 year: 2004
doi: 10.1080/21528586.2004.10419111