An investigation into the effects of organization downsizing on employee performance : a case study of Telkom Kenya Limited, Mt.Kenya east region

Abstract

In general terms, downsizing refers to an organization's voluntary actions to reduce expenses. This is usually, but not exclusively, accomplished by shrinking the size of the workforce. However, downsizing is the term used to encompass a whole range of activities, from personnel layoffs and hiring freezes to consolidations and mergers of organizational units. This study set out to evaluate various variables of downsizing and investigate their contribution on employee performance, which are the bases for organization performance. The researcher adopted a descriptive research design. The target population for this study was all the employees of Telkom Kenya at the Mt. Kenya East (Embu) Region. A representative sample was drawn from this population using stratified random sampling. The study was conducted within this region and it involved actual data collection from respondents who were employees of Telkom from all carders. The descriptive study entailed a library research to locate secondary data from books, magazines previous research works and the Internet. The data collection tools were questionnaires that contained both closed ended and openended questions. These questionnaires were administered through personal contacts, where the researcher dropped and picked them after three days. This allowed the respondents, time to fill them. These questionnaires were then edited and data collected analyzed using SPSS computer package. The researcher came up with a project report that revealed major findings and gave recommendations to stakeholders and policy makers. The study revealed that downsizing at Telkom Kenya failed to improve performance, productivity, or profits. Despite downsizing, Telkom has not realized productivity gains and the organization is currently anticipating negative effects. As a result the study therefore has recommended measures such as support to departing employees as well as effective organizational communication that would assist policy makers and managers in addressing issues related to downsizing and their contribution to employee performance