Making an Evaluation

Back to Business: Leadership after the Reorganisation

Arthur Andersen LLP announced plans to lay off 7,000 employees, a move that will strike hardest at audit and administrative staff in its headquarters and biggest U.S. offices. The cuts will slash its U.S. work force of 26,000 by more than a quarter. "To take this step in our history is obviously a very painful and difficult step, but a necessary step given the market realities we're dealing with today," said Grover Wray, an Andersen U.S. managing partner. They have a chance to live on as a much smaller, audit-only firm. The layoffs are to take place over the next several months, most of them at large Andersen offices that handled the vanished clients.

"No one can believe this is happening," said Mimosa Unno, 22, who works in the audit division in Chicago. The cuts will be felt most deeply in Chicago, where 5,300 people work at headquarters and another 1,200 at Andersen's training center in nearby St. Charles, Ill. Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said he was saddened by the news. "These layoffs not only adversely affect individual employees and their families, but hurt the local and regional economy as well," Daley said. Chicago-based tax accountant Julie Luptak expressed the frustration and anger of many that their jobs and firm may disappear because of something they had nothing to do with. "It wasn't our fault," she said. "I'm proud to be here."

Reported Dave Carpenter, AP Business Writer, Tue Apr 9, 3:42 AM ET

Arthor Anderson is but one very public company that is going through a trauma that it may not survive. If it does, those that stay with the company will have to be cared for in ways most managers have little experience with.

How does a manager deal with the Survivors?

The first and most important thing that you can do is to examine your own attitude and beliefs. Do you believe in the future of the company? Do you like to work where you work? Do you want to do the work you are doing? Do you care about what happens to the people who work for you? If the answer to these questions is no then you need to either change your attitude or find another position where the answers are yes.

Yes, you can change your attitude.

You can start by setting aside a half day to be alone to think through your attitude. Of course you are busy and don't have time. Changing attitude is frightening but key to helping post trauma organisation and people.

Get a note pad and write out your personal answers - without jargon or cliches to these questions.

"What is your company doing to contribute to the world we live in?" Another way of asking this questions is "What is the larger purpose of the organization?"

"Why do you work for this specific company?"

A boy I knew had a summer job attaching straps to buckles for seat belts - pretty boring work. He believed that he was helping save 20,000 lives a year (the number of lives saved because of the introduction of seat belts in the US). You need a similar self story about your work. This self-story needs to be real, not some fairy tale or self disception.

Are you committed to the goals of the company - both the stated goals and the unstated ones? How would you describe what your commitment to the goals is? How does the day-to-day work you do reinforce that commitment? How does it deflect you from acting out your committment? What can you do to change the way you work so that it is motivating?

Pablo Casels was asked why at 95 years of age he still practised the cello 6 hours a day. He responded that he thought he was getting better.

Are you committed to the personal and professional development of the people who work for you? Do you have the discipline to act out that commitment? Does your behavior reflect that commitment? How? In what ways does your behavior conflict with that commitment? (There is always some gap between what we believe in and what we do.) What practical actions can you take to reduce the gap between what you intend and what you do.

The next step is to reconstruct the trust and commitment of your employees and fellow managers.

Communicate Honestly and Sincerely: Be present, visible and available to people. Be honest about what is happening, what you know and what you don't know. Work at creating trust. Trust is created by having integrity, living with a close relationship between what you say and what you do.

The Human Resources Manager of a division that had to let go 500 of 1300 people at the direction of headquarters of the multinational. She announced that the reductions were to be made. She scheduled meetings with every department to explain exactly what was going to happen. She met with individuals when ever they asked to see her. When union negotiations were at a critical stage,she found out how long the Board of Directors expected negotiations were going to take. She then told people in the division that she couldn't say anything, why she couldn't and explained how long she thought it would take before she could.

Improve Productivity: Review the vision and mission of the company and the department. Re-prioritize the goals; it is not possible to do the same amount of work with fewer and less productive people. Improve the work processes. Reduce waste. Work on improving relationships with internal and external customers and suppliers.

Involve People: Ask employees to be creative. Make them a responsible part of the decision making processes. Ask their opinion about how to improve (and of course, use their ideas and give them credit).

Reward People: Reward them for the extra work that they are needing to do. Give them recognition in public and in front of them. The recognition should be in line with and for what they actually have done. Promise and give rewards in the future if it can't be done now.

Return to Normality: As soon as possible create / go back to normal routines. Return to the activities that are normally done, especially the socially binding one - birthday parties, department picnics, etc.

Recognize Patterns: It is important to become aware of patterns of behavior in the people you work with and within yourself. When people grieve there is a pattern. That pattern gives clues to what you should do when. The same goes for periods of rapid change. Employees respond to change in more or less predictable ways.