Respectfully Challenging the Process

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An acquaintance of mine, a business man, entrepreneur and social leader explained to me one time about the many mistakes he has made throughout his business career. At one point on his career path he managed to purchase a small gymnastics and soccer club that seemed to be a thriving entity, only to discover that the projected revenues were going to be much less than originally planned for. As a recent article espoused "organizations adjust to new business condition and economic realities" (Kristick, 2009, p. 48) and that was exactly what my acquaintance was facing. He could not afford to keep nearly half of the staff, coaches would have to be fired, and some of the instructors would have to be realigned. As Kristick wrote, companies are being forced to cut costs across the board, which often means cutting critical positions, programs and staff (p. 49).

My acquaintance prepared for the worst. He called his staff together and explained the situation. One coach in particular was especially incensed about the circumstances. In front of this group of employees he trashed the new owner, saying mean and hurtful things that were meant to denigrate the character of my friend. The new owner was rather hot blooded when he was younger and instead of responding in a sensible and calm manner, he allowed his emotions to get the better of him. The two men became entangled in a fisticuffs right there in the conference room. The scene was chaotic and (needless to say) led to some very interesting results, none of which helped my acquaintance in any way.

What is interesting in this scenario is that my friend had laid out an entire program for dealing with what he knew would be a tense situation. The scenario included a rational discussion on the options available to the employees.

He had planned on offering opportunities to both the employees that were being let go, as well as the ones that would be staying. Some of those options included a form of severance pay and assistance in finding other jobs in the immediate area. He had also planned on providing the remaining employees with incentive-based compensation packages that would have ensured long-term viability of the company. Instead, the situation had erupted into a fireball.

Looking back on the situation, my acquaintance offered the following advice; never announce a massive layoff to an entire crowd of employees. Instead, a one-on-one situation could be used to contain the backlash that such scenarios can provoke. My colleague also pronounced that he would be much more circumspect if he was ever faced with the same type of situation. His reaction to the provocation was unwarranted and idiotic, he realizes that now and regrets it to no small degree.