Organizational Downsizing and the Instrumental Worker

By:
Dr Keith Macky
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This study tests the proposition that the widespread use of organizational downsizing by management has led employees to adopt a more instrumental orientation to the employment relationship. Using a randomly selected national population sample of New Zealand employees, the findings show that those who had never worked in a downsized firm, or who had been made redundant as a result of downsizing, reported stronger instrumentalist beliefs than those who had experienced at least one downsizing but had never been made redundant. Employees who had experienced more downsizings were also more likely to reject statements suggesting that the primary meaning of work is as a means to an end, an economic transaction whose primary function is that of earning a living. The findings are discussed in the context of the changing psychological contract at work and instrumentalism as a malleable socialized work attitude.


Keywords: Downsizing, Instrumentalism, Psychological Contract, Work Involvement, Job Involvement, Organizational Commitment, Job Security
Stream: Change, Human Resources
Presentation Type: 30 minute Paper Presentation in English
Paper: A paper has not yet been submitted.

Dr Keith Macky

Senior Lecturer in HRM, Department of Management & International Business, Massey University (Auckland)
Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Dr Macky joined Massey University as a full time member of faculty in 2002 after a 20 year career in both academic and consulting environments. His fields of expertise include Organisational Behaviour, Industrial / Organisational Psychology, Human Resource Management and Organisation Development. Prior to joining Massey University, he held positions at Auckland University, was a Manager with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young NZ Ltd., and a Senior Consultant with KPMG. His main research interests are in the impact of management practices on employee attitudes and behaviour. Recent publications have been on employee responses to high-performance work systems, organisational downsizing, employee retention and turnover, and why people do or don’t join unions.

Ref: M06P0515