The Impact Redundancies Have on ‘Survivors’: A Case Study of a Large Organisation in the Retail Industry

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to uncover the impact redundancies have on ‘surviving’ employees in comparison to ‘surviving’ managers and to reveal if change is resisted by ‘surviving’ employees and ‘surviving’ managers resist change before, during and after redundancies. A case study of a large organisation in the retail industry was selected to investigate this. The primary research questions are: 1. How do redundancies impact ‘surviving’ managers in comparison to ‘surviving’ employees? 2. Do ‘surviving’ employees and ‘surviving’ managers resist change before, during and after redundancies? In order to answer the primary research questions, three objectives were constructed and are as follows: 1. To identify the personal impact redundancies have on ‘surviving’ employees in comparison to ‘surviving’ managers, 2. To identify the impact redundancies have on the work of ‘surviving’ employees in comparison to ‘surviving’ managers, and 3. To uncover if change is resisted by ‘surviving’ employees and ‘surviving’ managers before, during and after redundancies. Qualitative data collection was used to identify the impacts and to uncover the degrees of resistance as the nature of the research relied of rich data that cannot be obtained from the collection of quantitative data. 5 interviews were conducted in attempt to answer the primary research questions and meet the aims and objectives of the research. Non-probability, purposive sampling was used to select participants. Measures were taken to aid the reliability and validity of the research and thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the data collected. The results of this research found little evidence suggesting ‘surviving’ employees are directly impacted by redundancies, whereas, evidence was found suggesting ‘surviving’ managers are directly impacted by redundancies. Furthermore, this research also found little evidence suggesting ‘surviving’ employees resist change before, during or after redundancies, whereas, there was evidence suggesting ‘surviving’ managers resist change before, during and after redundancies.