| dc.description.abstract | Since 1988, more than one-half of mid-sized and large corporations have pared their work forces by laying off employees, affecting employees in both hourly and management ranks. Factors that may prompt employee layoffs, moreover, do not appear to be in decline. These include: global competition, burgeoning computer and telecommunications technology, a shift from manufacturing products to providing services, and an aging population of baby-boomers. These economic, technological, and demographic influences have drawn a boundary line between workplaces of the 1960's and 1970's and the present time, and appear to be pervasive as the 21$\sp{\rm st}$ century approaches. Individuals who are employed by an organization that is faced with downsizing, or who remain with a company after a round of layoffs, may be daunted by feelings of job insecurity. To date, however, evidence that job insecurity is a salient issue for most American workers and businesses appears mainly in the popular press literature and is largely circumstantial and anecdotal. Accordingly, this study has empirically demonstrated that higher levels of job insecurity are associated with: (1) lower perceptions of employee teamwork, sensitivity to customer service, and a willingness to improve the efficiency and quality of work, which are the targeted outcomes of Total Quality Management (TQM) programs; (2) more frequent job behaviors that serve as marker variables of low employee productivity, including psychological withdrawal (e.g., on-the-job daydreaming) and negative work behaviors (e.g., purposely doing the job wrong); and (3) lower levels of employee organizational commitment and job satisfaction. Moreover, the findings presented indicate that the relationship between job insecurity and each of the job behaviors and attitudes listed above may be mediated by two workplace stressors: role ambiguity (having unclear job objectives, reporting relationships, performance expectations etc.) and role overload (having too much to do). Mediating relationships are important because they statistically define the psychological factors which intervene between job insecurity and an outcome of job insecurity. Consequently, they point to how or why two variables are related of one another which, in turn, suggests specific intervention strategies to lessen the impact of job insecurity. This paper concludes with several suggestions that may assist organizations with more effectively managing their layoff proceedings. | |
