Other Definitions
downsizing (dict)
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DownsizingDownsizing refers to layoffs initiated by a company in order to cut labor costs by reducing the size of the company. Downsizing can occur at any time, but becomes epidemic in difficult economic times. Intuitively, when downsizing outpaces job creation, the result is increased unemployment. Downsizing in America Throughout the last quarter of the 20th century, the manufacturing sector has seen massive downsizing due to increased per-worker productivity, technology advances that have rendered human labor obsolete, and the availability of cheap labor overseas, where worker protection laws are lax or nonexistent. The unemployment that has resulted from pervasive downsizing during the 2000s has become a critical issue. Many of George W. Bush's challengers accuse him of having "lost 3 million American jobs". While the cyclical downturn (and consequent job loss) of the 2000s is probably not entirely his fault, there is little evidence that his policies have, in any way, improved the situation. Job creation is an important issue in the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election, and Bush's opponents argue that the government revenue lost due to his massive tax cuts for the wealthy would have been better spent on education, the environment, and job-creation initiatives. The real or fictional "downsizing boss", an uncaring, selfish individual who lays off workers for his own benefit, has been a favorite villain of the 1990s and 2000s, especially in workplace satire such as Dilbert and The Drew Carey Show. In fiction, this type of person is usually depicted as male, unattractive, lacking in terms of intelligence, personality, and humor, with the air of a "petty tyrant". Strategy of Downsizing The primary goal of downsizing is based upon profit motive. Firms downsize because, salaries assumed constant, it is cheaper-- if less effective, safe, and sanitary-- to work few people for long hours than many people for more reasonable hours. The downsizing that has occurred over the past two or three decades comes, in fact, out of strategic motivations. The civil rights movements and students rebellions of the 1960s were a first upset to the so-called "Establishment", the pro-status quo elite of American society. In the 1990s, the tech boom occurred, and the information technology sector became much more profitable than it had been before. These events were seen as a threat to the existing elite, which now feared that a healthy middle class-- which had always outnumbered them-- would eventually outskill them in an economy where skills-- as opposed to social connections and luck-- were of high importance. If this happened, some feared, the change might be revolutionary, the current elite being stripped of its authority and status as a result. Hence, in recent decades, there has been much so-called "corporate dieting" or "belt-tightening": Many corporations became reluctant to hire new work, and have reduced their size with layoffs. In order to compensate for being understaffed-- sometimes by a factor of 3 or more-- firms have increased worker's hours beyond the traditional 40-hour work week, and often beyond the limits of human health. This serves a two-fold purpose. First of all, it saves money, since more hours and a constant salary mean reduced per-hour pay. Secondly, however, it serves as a pacification mechanism. The corporate elite hopes that, by increasing the proportion of the middle and upper-middle class individual's time and energy which go into his or her worklife, another 1960s-style revolution can be averted. The goal of an individual corporation, in downsizing, is an attempt to "streamline operations". However, downsizing also represents a desire of an existing elite to "streamline" society. A large, skilled middle class represents a direct threat to the existence of the current elite, and downsizing is a pre-emptive method of self-protection. Downsizing in the English Language Downsizing has now come to mean much more job losses, the word downsize being applied to almost everything. People describe downsizing their cars, houses and almost anything else that can be measured or valued. This has also spawned the opposite term upsize, meaning to grow, expand or purchase something larger.
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