Beyond downsizing: recreating in Australia

Management Decision - Tập 37 Số 8 - Trang 657-670 - 1999
StuartOrr1, Robert A.Millen2, DanMcCarthy2
1Department of Management, Monash University, Australia
2College of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Boston, USA

Tóm tắt

The management literature is replete with articles on total quality management, just‐in‐time manufacturing, strategic partnerships between customers and vendors, re‐engineering the company, flattening the organisation, teams that replace individual decision making and horizontal organisational structures. The terms and descriptions used in the literature for these organisational changes vary, but the overall objective is the same, to increase organisational effectiveness and to ensure the future of these organisations by establishing more efficient operations. In many companies positive organisational change is often undertaken simultaneously with, or following on from a “downsizing” or “restructuring” programme. In business recreation, whether in Australia or any other country, operational efficiency built upon enhanced processes must not be seen as the final objective – the opportunities are much greater. Examples of successful Australian organisational recreation are given.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

Alter, A.E. (1994), “Japan, Inc. embraces change”, Computerworld, Vol. 28 No. 10, pp. 24‐5.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) (1990‐1998), Employment Statistics, Australian Bureau of Statistics Catalogue, Canberra, Australia.

Australian Manufacturing Council (AMC) (1994), Leading the Way: A Study of Best Manufacturing Practices in Australia and New Zealand, Australian Manufacturing Council, Canberra.

Bennington, L. and Cummane, J. (1997), “The road to privatisation: TQM and business planning”, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 10 No. 5, pp. 364‐76.

Brown, A. and van der Wiele, T. (1997), “Insights into TQM and downsizing in large organisations”, Benchmarking for Quality Management and Technology, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 202‐12.

Business Week (1999), “The healing powers of restructuring”, Business Week, (Editorial), 8 March, p. 56.

Byrne, J.A. (1993), “The horizontal corporation: it’s about managing across, not up and down”, Business Week, 20 December, pp. 76‐81.

Cascio, W., (1993), “Downsizing: what do we know? What have we learned?”, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 95‐104.

Chu, J. (1997), “Hydro‐Electric Corporation’s PMLink”, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 116‐72.

Collis and Montgomery, (1998), Corporate Strategy: a Resource‐Based Approach, McGraw‐Hill, Singapore.

Daft, R. (1996), Organisational Performance, Wiley, New York, NY.

Dorfman, J.R., (1991), “Stocks of companies announcing layoffs fire up investors, but prices often wilt”, Wall Street Journal, 10 December, C1; C2.

Drew, S.A.W., (1994), “Downsizing to improve strategic position”, Management Decision, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 4‐11.

Dwyer, L., Murray, P. and Mott, R. (1997), ‘‘Continuous improvement in hospitality: a case study approach”, Australian Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 19‐31.

(The) Economist (1994), “Re‐engineering Europe”, 26 February, pp. 63‐4.

Forman, D. (1993), “Why they’re smiling in Coburg”, BRW (International ed.), Vol. 3 No. 10, pp. 43‐4.

Gottliebsen, R. (1999), “The world credits Australia with success”, Business Review Weekly, 15 February, p. 8.

Hall, G., Rosenthal, J. and Wade, J. (1993), “How to make re‐engineering really work”, Harvard Business Review, November‐December, pp. 119‐31.

Hammer, M. and Champy, J. (1993), Re‐engineering the Corporation, HarperCollins, New York, NY.

Hill, T.J. (1989), Manufacturing Strategy: Test Cases, Irwin, Homewood, IL.

Hotbeinz, P., (1994), “When will Germany come back?”, Fortune, 4 April, pp. 114‐16.

Jarzabek, S. and Ling, T.W. (1996), ‘‘Model‐based support for business re‐engineering”, Information & Software Technology, Vol. 38 No. 5, pp. 355‐74.

Koretz, J.E. (1999), “Matilda is really waltzing”, Business Week, 8 March, p. 10.

Krpan, J. (1993), “Re‐engineering the right way: 10 tips”, Cost & Management, Vol. 67 No. 5, pp. im14‐im15.

Lucas, M. (1997), “Standard costing and its role in today’s manufacturing environment”, Management Accounting‐London, Vol. 75 No. 4, pp. 32‐4.

Magnet, M., (1994), “Let’s go for growth”, Fortune, 7 March, pp. 62‐72.

Mallgrave, J. (1998), “Business re‐engineering for survival”, Credit Union Executive, Vol. 38 No. 2, pp. 4‐9.

Management Services (1995), “Employee benefits a key to business re‐engineering success”, Management Services, Vol. 39 No. 12, pp. 4‐6.

Management Services (1996), “Management tools measure up”, Management Services, Vol. 40 No. 10, p. 4.

McElrath‐Slade, R. (1994), “Caution: re‐engineering in progress”, HR Magazine, Vol. 39 No.6, pp. 54‐7.

Omrani, D. (1992), “Business process re‐engineering: a business revolution?”, Management Services, Vol. 36 No. 10, pp. 12‐16.

Orr, S.C. (1996), ‘‘A longitudinal survey of robot usage in Australia”, Integrated Manufacturing Systems, Vol. 7 No. 5, pp. 33‐46.

Personnel Management (1994), “Poor planning leads to high failure rate in business re‐engineering”, Personnel Management, Vol. 26 No. 8, pp. 6.

Porter, M.E. (1985), Competitive Advantage, The Free Press, New York, NY.

Primrose, P.L. and Verter, V. (1996), “Exaggerating the importance of labour savings”, Industrial Management, Vol. 38 No. 4, pp. 31‐2.

Sadler, R. (1998), “The Australian experience: managing a non‐metropolitan urban water utility – paradigm shifting towards a new mindset”, International Journal of Public Sector Management, Vol. 11 No. 7, pp. 596‐610.

Samson, D. and Sohal, A.S. (1993), “Management, myopia and strategy in the manufacturing function: a problem driven research agenda”, International Journal of Technology Management, special issue on Manufacturing Technology: Diffusion, Implementation and Management, Vol. 8 No. 3/4/5, pp. 216‐29.

Samson, D.A. and Sohal, A.S. (1990), “The strategic status of quality: an Australian perspective”, International Journal of Technology Management, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 293‐308.

Singh, C. and Hart, M. (1998), “Changing business culture: information is the key”, Australian Accountant, Vol. 68 No. 8, pp. 50‐2.

Sohal, A. (1997), “A longitudinal study of planning and implementation of advanced manufacturing technologies”, International Journal of Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Vol. 10 No. 1‐4, pp. 281‐95.

Stalk, G. Jr and Hout, T. (1990), Competing Against Time, Free Press, New York, NY.

Thompson and Strickland, (1998), Strategic Management: Cases and Applications, Irwin, Homewood, IL.

Veasey, P.W. (1994), “Managing a program of business re‐engineering projects in a diversified business”, Long Range Planning, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 124‐35.

World Economic Forum (1994), Annual Competitiveness Report, International Institute for Management Development, Geneva.

Wrennall, W. (1994), ‘‘Productivity: re‐engineering for quantum gains”, Management Services, Vol. 38 No. 7, pp. 6‐10.