Downsizing and Building Organizational Memory

Author(s):  
Nicholas N. Bowersox

Recent business practices over the past decade have been tainted with corporate restructuring strategies such as downsizing, reorganizations, and job redesigns. With the hopes of increasing efficiency, gaining productivity, and reducing costs, many companies have participated in such efforts. However, one must consider the irony behind this shrewd, if not tactfully harsh, business practice. While organizations continue to decrease their workforce in an effort to regain acceptable profit margins, cut back on “waste” and become “leaner”, they also stress the importance of sharing knowledge among employees and building organizational memory. How can a company effectively share knowledge and build organizational memory when its employee base is shrinking? This is an interesting question that has stirred much debate over recent years, both in the public and private sector. As such, this book chapter attempts to explore the paradoxical relationship between downsizing (brain-drain) and building organizational memory (brain-gain).

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Julius Ramanauskas ◽  
Sarunas Banevicius

Health tourism is when patients travel to another state (or within a country) to improve or restore health (Hudson and Li, 2012). Recent studies show that health care spending is on the rise, averaging around 9 percent of GDP in OECD countries, and that the right balance needs to be struck between spending on disease prevention and treatment. Assessing the problem field of the health tourism industry and the current situation, the following key problems are identified: lack of communication and support between health tourism policy makers and health tourism organizations; lack of a culture of cooperation and organizational partnership between the public and private sectors; lack of strategic planning; gaps in the targeted distribution of responsibilities between actors in the health tourism network; resistance of the public and private sector to change. Thus, the article solves the problem – how to ensure the effective application of the principles of organizational wisdom in the health tourism industry? According to the authors, it is expedient for the organizations involved in this complex field of tourism to base their activities on the principles of organizational wisdom. The aim of the article is to propose the application of the principles of organizational wisdom in the health tourism industry. For the systematic review, scientific articles were searched in databases: Cambridge Journals Online; EBSCO; Emerald Publishing; SAGE Journals Online; Science direct; Taylor & Francis. The scientific articles included in the systematic review cover the period 1999-2020. The following methods are used to present the results of the research: comparative analysis, synthesis, graphical representation and generalization. The study identified the following essential principles of organizational wisdom that are appropriate to adapt in the health tourism industry: transformational leadership; organizational culture, management structure and teamwork; recognition of environmental change and rapid and effective response to it; systemic thinking; interaction between different organizations that can lead to high-quality solutions (innovation); the ability to accumulate organizational memory to compare past and present situations and decisions made. The authors in the article substantiate the opinion that the sustainability of the application of these principles depends on the mechanism of organizational partnership in organizing / creating health tourism cooperative. Such an organization has: a balanced structure and clearly defined roles and responsibilities of participants; long-term commitments are matched by specific short-term objectives that can be measured; periodic evaluation of the effectiveness of the role played by each partner; accurate and effective communication between partners and all stakeholders.


Author(s):  
Sorela-Maria Pruteanu ◽  
◽  
Marius Nita ◽  

The focus on social responsibility is even more pronounced given that competitiveness in the private sector can be surpassed by responsible business policies towards both the environment and the community. All institutions from public sector should act in the interest of the communities they represent, promoting at the same time the benefits of the “social responsibility” concept. Including this concept within the public sector creates an added value, in terms of both the morality of the decisions (taken by the legal representatives of the communities) and this kind of behaviour’s promotion by the organizations working for the public sector or by the companies which represent the private sector. Since ancient times, moral judgements were concepts debated by both psychology experts and within the church, however, at present, this area has been expanded so that major companies are building their development strategy by placing customer satisfaction as the central element; and the public sector has the same target: solving citizen’s needs. Making ethical decisions, by taking into consideration communities’ benefits, is a goal both public and private sectors are trying to achieve in their approach of carrying out their mission: act for the good of the community by including social measures and environmental protection in the foundation of their decisions. Competition between community initiatives and socio-environmental projects where companies get involved is getting tighter and tighter in a context where business practices are more and more visible.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Moumita Acharyya ◽  
Tanuja Agarwala

PurposeThe paper aims to understand the different motivations / reasons for engaging in CSR initiatives by the organizations. In addition, the study also examines the relationship between CSR motivations and corporate social performance (CSP).Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected from two power sector organizations: one was a private sector firm and the other was a public sector firm. A comparative analysis of the variables with respect to private and public sector organizations was conducted. A questionnaire survey was administered among 370 employees working in the power sector, with 199 executives from public sector and 171 from private sector.Findings“Philanthropic” motivation emerged as the most dominant CSR motivation among both the public and private sector firms. The private sector firm was found to be significantly higher with respect to “philanthropic”, “enlightened self-interest” and “normative” CSR motivations when compared with the public sector firms. Findings suggest that public and private sector firms differed significantly on four CSR motivations, namely, “philanthropic”, “enlightened self-interest”, “normative” and “coercive”. The CSP score was significantly different among the two power sector firms of public and private sectors. The private sector firm had a higher CSP level than the public sector undertaking.Research limitations/implicationsFurther studies in the domain need to address differences in CSR motivations and CSP across other sectors to understand the role of industry characteristics in influencing social development targets of organizations. Research also needs to focus on demonstrating the relationship between CSP and financial performance of the firms. Further, the HR outcomes of CSR initiatives and measurement of CSP indicators, such as attracting and retaining talent, employee commitment and organizational climate factors, need to be assessed.Originality/valueThe social issues are now directly linked with the business model to ensure consistency and community development. The results reveal a need for “enlightened self-interest” which is the second dominant CSR motivation among the organizations. The study makes a novel contribution by determining that competitive and coercive motivations are not functional as part of organizational CSR strategy. CSR can never be forced as the very idea is to do social good. Eventually, the CSR approach demands a commitment from within. The organizations need to emphasize more voluntary engagement of employees and go beyond statutory requirements for realizing the true CSR benefits.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jovita Varias De Guzman

This study seeks to survey and assess the preference, insights or views of the Chinese-Filipinos regarding business. It attempts to present the preferences or non-preferences of the respondents in the areas of study and its relevance to the community, to show a clearer picture of the Chinese-Filipinos in relation to business thus augmenting closer cooperation, expansion of understanding, and line of communication with Non-Chinese Filipinos. Analysis of the results may serve as an eye-opener for the public and private sector to initiate programs or actions for the creation of guidelines and policies for the awareness of those concerned.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-55
Author(s):  
Salome Sakvarelidze

Abstract The motivated employee represents the essential condition of any organization’s success. Public and private sector managers should constantly work toward coordinating and increasing employee motivation in order to ensure the timely and effective implementation of the plans set by the organization. Accordingly, proper assessment of processes and prompt determination of individuals’ driving motives are needed. Studies have shown that public service employees from all around the world face challenges, such as: incompatibility of knowledge, experience and position, as well as hard and lightweight work. Consequently, public managers should be aware of modern human resource management methods that can be used in effective and efficient ways to increase employee work quality. The main purpose of the paper is to determine the current situation of the public sector in Georgia. In addition, the research seeks to identify and examine the factors that influence employee demotivation and to determine under what conditions motivation can be a worthwhile investment in a public organizations. Methodologically, the work is based on analysis of the available literature and the results of the research statistically processed based on the survey example of 449 respondents from different Georgian ministries selected by a random simple.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kumaran Kanapathipillaii

<p>Social media such as Facebook has become an essential strategic tool for organisations. Facebook is a platform where a large pool of consumers would use to make purchase decisions. Organisations are designing and maintaining their Facebook account to expand their social networks and build relationships with the public. This research explains current situations regarding the influence of online social media technology with reference to Facebook on employees' work performance in Malaysia. The problem statement focuses on both the public and private sectors in Malaysia. Additionally, various literature was reviewed, indicating the relationship between social media (usage at work, sociability, and trust) and work performance. The mediating role of the organisational framework on the relationship between online social media technology (Facebook) and work performance was also scrutinised to formulate the research hypothesis. The findings of this research established a significant relationship between online social media (Facebook) and organisational framework and work performance. Conclusively, the hypothesis depicted that the organisational framework fully mediates the relationship between online social media technology (Facebook) and employees' work performance in public and private sectors in Malaysia. This study also verifies that both the public and private sector organisations that incorporate Facebook can enhance networking and information sharing, influencing employees' work performance, creating a stable organisational framework, generating value for customers, and improving employee relationships with all stakeholders. In conclusion, work performance can be heightened by a well planned and structured organisational framework. Additionally, through a well planned and implemented online social media technology such as Facebook, an organisation would have a smooth operating organisational framework and a workforce with enhanced performance.</p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0854/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>


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