An Exploratory Study of the Relationship between Responsible Downsizing Strategies and Firm Performance: The Mediating Role of Dynamic Strategic Capabilities

初探負責性組織精簡策略與企業績效間之關係：企業動態策略能力之中介效果

10.6147/JHRM.2007.0702.06

蔡正飛(Philip Cheng-Fei Tsai)；施智婷(Chih-Ting Shih)

組織精簡 ； 負責性組織精簡策略 ； 動態策略能力 ； 企業績效 ； 策略性人力資源管理 ； downsizing ； strategies for responsible restructuring ； dynamic strategic capabilities ； strategic human resource management ； firm performance

人力資源管理學報

7卷2期（2007 / 06 / 01）

113 - 135

英文

組織精簡是長年以來國內外企業經常使用的管理策略，可是精簡後企業的績效卻莫衷一是，而且又傷害了千千萬萬的員工、他們的家庭與社會。組織變革領域學者認為負責性的組織精簡策略應能解決這課題。本研究以跨領域的思維，除回顧組織變革領域的文獻之外，亦探索了策略與策略性人力資源管理等領域的相關文獻。發現「企業動態策略能力」，應是負責性的組織精簡策略與企業的績效之間的關鍵中介變項。意即，負責性的組織精簡策略必須能增強企業動態策略能力後，才能提升企業績效。本研究以台灣129家實施過組織精簡的企業為樣本，以量化研究的方法證實了這概念。這發現對組織變革、人力資源管理與策略等領域的理論發展、管理實務運用及社會議題的舒緩與解決上將有所貢獻。

So far, downsizing in organizations is still a popular management strategy all over the world. However, the question of whether downsizing strategy eventually improve firms' performance is frequently asked and is never satisfactorily answered. The consequences have not always materialized for years. The possible answers could be the ignorance of some important mechanisms (black boxes) between them. After reviewing the literature on organization change, strategy, and strategic human resource management research field, we found that firm's dynamic strategic capabilities is the key mechanism between firm's downsizing strategies and firm performance. We used 129 downsized firms as the sample to empirically test this concept. The result proves that one way a responsible downsizing strategy leads to higher firm performance is through developing and enhancing firm's dynamic strategic capabilities. This finding helps to solve the issue which bothered organization change field and management practice for years.

1. Allen T. D.,Freeman D. M.,Russell, J. E. A.(2001).Survivor reactions to organizational downsizing: Does time ease the pain?.Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology,74,145-164.
2. Amabile, T. M.,Conti, R.(1999).Changes in the work environment for creativity during downsizing.Academy of Management Journal,42(6),630-640.
3. Anderson, J. C.,Gerbing, D. W.(1988).Structural equation modeling in practices: A review and recommended two-step approach.Psychological Bulletin,103,411-423.
4. Appelbaum, S. H.,Everard, A.,Hung, T. S.(1999).Strategic downsizing: Critical success factors.Management Decision,37(7),535-552.
5. Appelbaum, S. H.,Simpson, R.,Shapiro, B. T.(1987).Downsizing: The ultimate human resource strategy: Introduction.Business Quarterly,52(2),52-60.
6. Band, D. C.,Tustin, C. M.(1995).Strategic downsizing.Management Decision,33(8),36-45.
7. Barney, J. B.(1991).Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage.Journal of Management,17(1),99-120.
8. Baron, J. N.,Kreps, D. M.(1999).Strategic human resources: Frameworks for general management.N.K. John Wiley & Son, INC.
9. Beam, H. H.(1997).Survivors: How to keep your best people on board after downsizing.Academy of Management Executive,11(2),92-94.
10. Bentler, P. M.(1990).Comparative fit indices in structural models.Psychological Bulletin,107,238-246.
11. Bentler, P. M.,Bonnett, D. G.(1980).Significance tests and goodness-of-fit in the analysis of covariance structures.Psychological Bulletin,88,588-606.
12. Bollen, K. A.(1989).Structural equations with latent variables.New York:Wiley.
13. Bossidy, L.,Charan, R.(2002).Execution: The discipline of getting things done.New York:Crown Business.
14. Budros, A.(1999).A conceptual framework for analyzing why organizations downsize.Organization Sciences,10(1),69-82.
15. Cameron, K. S.(1994).Strategies for successful organizational downsizing.Human Resource Management,33(2),189-211.
16. Cameron, K. S.,Freeman, S. J.,Mishra, A. K.(1993).Downsizing and redesigning organizations.New York:Oxford.
17. Cascio, W. F.(1993).Downsizing: What do we know? What have we learned?.Academy of Management Executive,7(1),95-106.
18. Cascio, W. F.(2002).Strategies for responsible restructuring.Academy of Management Executive,16(3),80-91.
19. Cascio, W. F.(2002).Responsible restructuring.San Francisco:Berrett-Koehler, Inc.
20. Cascio, W. F.,Wynn, P.(2004).Managing a downsizing process.Human Resource Management,43(4),425-436.
21. Cascio, W. F.,Young, C. E.,Morris, J. R.(1997).Financial consequences of employment-change decisions in major U.S. corporations.Academy of Management Journal,40(5),1175-1189.
22. Chadwick, C.,Hunter, L. W.,Walston, S. L.(2004).Effects of downsizing practice on the performance of hospitals.Strategic Management Journal,25(5),405-427.
23. Christensen, C. M.,Raynor, M. E.(2003).Why hard-nosed executives should care about management theory.Harvard Business Review,81(9),67-74.
24. Coff, R. W.(1997).Human assets and management dilemmas: Coping with hazards on the road to resource-based theory.Academy of Management Review,22(2),374-392.
25. DeWitt, Rocki-Lee(1993).The structural consequences of downsizing.Organization Science,4(1),30-40.
26. Eisenhardt, K. M.,Martin, J. A.(2000).Dynamic capabilities: What are they?.Strategic Management Journal,21(11),1105-1121.
27. Filatotchev, I.,Buck, T.,Zhukov, V.(2000).Downsizing in privatized firms in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.Academy of Management Journal,43(3),286-304.
28. Fisher, S. R.,White, M. A.(2000).Downsizing in a learning organization: Are there hidden cost?.Academy of Management Review,25(1),224-251.
29. Fornell, C.,Larcker, D. F.(1981).Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error.Journal of Marketing Research,18(3),39-50.
30. Freeman, S. J.(1999).The gestalt of organizational downsizing: Downsizing strategies as package of change.Human Relations,52(12),1505-1541.
31. Freeman, S. J.(1994).Organizational downsizing as convergence or reorientation: Implications for human resource management.Human Resource Management,33(2),213-238.
32. Freeman, S. J.,Cameron, K. S.(1993).Organizational downsizing: A convergence and reorientation framework.Organization Science,4(11),10-29.
33. Gowing, M. K.,Kraft, J. D.,Quick, J. C.(1998).The new organizational reality: Downsizing, restructuring, and revitalization.Washington, DC:American Psychological Association.
34. Greenhaigh, L.,Lawrence, A. T.,Sutton, R. L.(1988).Determinants of work force reduction strategies in declining organizations.Academy of Management Review,13(2),241-254.
35. Hambrick, D. C.(1995).Fragmentation and the other problems CEOs have with their top management teams.California Management Review,37(3),110-127.
36. Hamel, G.,Prahalad, C. K.(1994).Competing for the future.Harvard Business Review,72(4),122-128.
37. Handy, C.(2004).Profit and people-are we making any progress?.Executive Excellence,21(10),19.
38. Howard, A.(2002).The new organizational reality: Downsizing, restructuring, and revitalization.Human Resource Management,41(3),399-402.
39. Huang, I. C.,Tsai, C. F.(2005).Stakeholders` responding to downsizing strategies: From perspectives of stakeholder theory.HRM Review,5(1),111-134.
40. Huber, G. P.,Glick, W. H.(1993).Organizational change and redesign ideas and insights for improving performance.Oxford University express.
41. Jaw, B. S.,Liu, W. N.(2003).Promoting organizational learning and self-renewal in Taiwanese companies: The role of HRM.Human Resource Management,42(3),223-241.
42. Jöreskog, K. G.,Sörbom, D.(1996).LISREL 8 user`s reference guide.Chicago:Scientific Software International.
43. Kaplan, R. S.,Norton, D. P.(2004).Measuring the strategic readiness of intangible assets.Harvard Business Review,82(2),52-63.
44. Kaplan, R. S.,Norton, D. P.(2006).How to implement a new strategy without disrupting your organization.Harvard Business Review,84(3),100-109.
45. Kozlowski, S. W.,Chao, G T.,Smith, E. M,Hedlund, J.(1993).Organizational downsizing: Strategy, intervention and research implication.International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology,8,263-332.
46. Landry, J. T.(2004).Downsizing in America: Reality, causes, and consequences.Harvard Business Review,82(2),39.
47. Lenz, R. T.(1980).Strategic capability: A concept and framework for analysis.The Academy of Management Review,5(2),225-234.
48. Lowe, K. B.(1998).Downsizing and firm performance: Panacea or paradise lost?.Academy of Management Executive,12(4),130-131.
49. McCune, J. T.,Beatty, R. W.,Montagno, R. V.(1988).Downsizing: Practices in manufacturing firms.Human Resource Management,27(2),145-161.
50. Mckee-Ryan, F. M.,Kinicki, A. J.(2002).Coping job loss: A life-facet perspective.International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology,17,1-29.
51. McKinley, W.,Sanchez, C. M.,Schick, A. G.(1995).Organizational downsizing: Constraining, cloning, learning.Academy of Management Executive,9(3),32-44.
52. McKinley, W.,Zhao, J.,Rust, K. G.(2000).A socio-cognitive interpretation of organizational downsizing.Academy of Management Review,25(1),227-243.
53. McMaster, M.(2002).The post-layoff blues.Sales and Marketing Management,154(4),26.
54. Mintzberg, H.(1978).Patterns in strategy formation.Management Science,24,934-948.
55. Mintzberg, H.,Waters, J. A.(1985).Of strategies, deliberate and emergent.Strategic Management Journal,6,257-272.
56. Mone, M. A.(1997).How we got along after the downsizing: Post-downsizing trust as a double-edged sword.Public Administration Quarterly,21(3),309-336.
57. Naumann, E. S.(1998).Laid off, but still loyal: The influence of perceived justice and organizational support.International Journal of Conflict Management,9(4),356-368.
58. Naumann, E. S.,Bies, J. R.,Martin, L. C.(1995).The roles of organizational support and justice during a layoff.Academy of Management Journal,special issue,89-95.
59. Oliver, C.(1997).Sustainable competitive advantage: Combining institutional and resource-based views.Strategic Management Journal,18(9),697-713.
60. Podsakoff, P. M.,Mackenzie, S. B.,Lee, J. Y.,Podsakoff, N.(2003).Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies.Journal of Applied Psychology,88,879-903.
61. Ray, G.,Barney, J. B.,Muhana, W. A.(2004).Capability, business processes and competitive advantage: The dependent variable in empirical tests of the resources-based view.Strategic Management Journal,25(1),23-37.
62. Rigby, D.(2002).Look before you lay off.Harvard Business Review,80(4),20-21.
63. Rindova, V. P.,Kotha, S.(2001).Continuous "morphing": Competing through dynamic capabilities, form, and function.Academy of Management Journal,44(6),1263-1280.
64. Shah, P. P.(2000).Network destruction: The structural implications of downsizing.Academy of Management Journal,43(1),101-112.
65. Simons, T.,Pelled, L. H.,Smith, K. A.(1999).Making use of difference; Diversity, debate, and decision comprehensiveness in top management teams.Academy of Management Journal,42(6),662-673.
66. Teece, D. J.,Pisano, G.,Sheun, A.(1997).Dynamic capabilities and strategic management.Strategic Management Journal,18(7),509-523.
67. Tomasko, R. M.(1990).Downsizing-Reshaping the corporation for the future.New York:American Management Association.
68. Tsai, C. F.,Yeh, C. R.,Wu, S. L.,Huang, I. C.(2005).An empirical test of stakeholder influence strategies model: Evidence from business downsizing in Taiwan.International Journal of Human Resource Management,16(10),1862-1885.
69. Ulrich, D.,Lake, D.(1993).Organizational capability: Competing from the inside out.New York:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
70. Winter, S. G.(2003).Understanding dynamic capabilities.Strategic Management Journal,24(10),991-995.
71. Winter, S. G.(2000).The satisfying principle in capability learning.Strategic Management Journal,21(10-11),981-996.
72. Wright, P. M.(2002).Working paper.Taipei:Research Camp of Management Excellence.
73. Wright, P. M.,Boswell, W. R.(2002).Desegregating HRM: A review and synthesis of micro and macro human resource management.Journal of Management,28(3),247-276.
74. Wright, P. M.,Dunford, B. B.,Snell, S. A.(2001).Human resources and the resource-based view of the firm.Journal of Management,27(6),701-722.