Sunday 6 March 2011

To Downsize or Not To Downsize-That Is The Question!

The new small business managerial thoughts and strategies of current decade almost turned 360 degree in reverse from the thoughts and strategies of the last five decades! Not long ago, large businesses , more man power , permanency, consistency and the like were considered as a source of small business flexibility .and agility. The same is now being rejected as causes of small business competitive backwardness , business redundancies and managerial ineffectiveness. The prominent among new strategies that can ensure small businesses flexibility and competitiveness is downsizing. However, experiences of small businesses with downsizing are mixed. Some succeeded in achieving anticipated results while others encountered new problems. This is due to adoption of unsound downsizing practices , claim experts on the subject. It is no denying the fact that more and more small businesses have to offload more and more manpower in coming years due to the fast development in technologies, market and management systems. According to a research of Michigan University based on the study of 30 small businesses that were engaged in downsizing, and the researcher enumerated them in his paper titled “strategies for successful downsizing” . According to the researcher Approach is the first factor. This practice advocates that approaching downsizing as a long term strategy. Second should be preparation. It would consist of three activities that would be like involving employees in downsizing implementation rather than driving as top down and also seeking involvement and suggestion from business suppliers and small business customers. On the other hand, treating downsizing as everybody’s activity rather than only of top management.
Leadership matters? Yes it does! During the downsizing process, business leaders must be quite visible and accessible, and they must personally communicate with all employees. They must seek feedback continuously from all the people and find out ways to motivate people in downsizing scenario. Communication is essential, as employees particularly need to be over communicated in downsizing process. Further, the communication must be fast and honest. It must be truly a system of multiple communications. Support involves providing a safety net to those being downsized. Training and retraining is vital to pay attention to the assets of your small business. In order to ponder the benefits of downsizing , simultaneously three things must be considered. A. analyze all the activities in the organization to eliminates inefficiencies, non value added services, redundant process and we also need to develop the measures and parameters and also decide on methodology that facilitates in realistic assessment of various things connected with downsizing in pre, present and post scenarios.
Business Cash Advance gives you an opportunity to increase your cash flow that helps rapid change in working capital. In the end I think there must be a system of measurement to understand what skills of employees are value-added and redundant in order to draft appropriate actions.

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