A review and synthesis of downsizing research: the dilemma endures

Downsizing, the intentional employment reductions firms undertake to enhance their performance, remains a significant management issue and a persistent practice that regularly makes headlines. With an accumulation of four decades of research, and 15 years since the publication of the most comprehensive review, this chapter presents a literature review of 329 articles to fill the temporal gap and gain a more contextualized perspective of downsizing. The review incorporates individual experiences and organizational motives/outcomes, the two dominant themes of prior inquiry, and adds downsizing's direct and spillover impacts for those who lose employment. It offers a more recent and comprehensive perspective on downsizing's features, the context in which downsizing decisions are made, how they are implemented, and the consequences of their use. Downsizing decisions in organizations and scholarship are challenging, as they are situated in a complex system of influences and effects. Although the headlines are short-lived, the dilemma and research opportunity endure.