Downsizing and the New American Workplace: Rethinking the High Performance Paradigm

This article considers the way new work practices associated with the high performance work model are being combined with downsizing measures as part of contemporary competitive strategy in American workplaces. In general, downsizing measures and high performance practices are treated as mutually exclusive trajectories of corporate reorganization. Yet in the current economy companies may, in fact, use a mix of approaches as they develop strategies for work reorganization. The case study presented here, based on research in the telecommunication industry, suggests that practices such as cross-functional teaming and multi-skilling can be intimately linked to a strategy oriented toward down-sizing. As such, these practices are not always associated with broad skill enhancement; rather, they can result in a more general tendency toward skill erosion and automation. At the same time, downsizing itself can be used to weaken traditional structures of employment relationships, thereby facilitating the use of high performance practices which emphasize cross-functional flexibility and broad job tasks.