Dr. Kim Cameron, Case Western Reserve University
Can a corporation be more successful after downsizing if it asks for forgiveness from its employees?

Everyone's heard the urban myth of the downsized executive who seeks revenge against the boss who fired her. But in the cut-back culture of the 1990s, what happens to the workers who're left to deal with downsize fallout?

The echoes of a sudden spate of lay-offs reverberate far beyond the people who are asked to clear their desks, according to Dr. Kim Cameron, Dean of the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. In many downsized companies, he says, insecurity and anger dominate the corporate culture - often with devastating effects.

Cameron has spent the last fifteen years studying what happens to downsized companies. "As far as the workers are concerned, these organizations have violated the trust developed between them," he says. "Downsizing, in their view, is unfair, unethical, and hurtful."

While some see a short-term rise in value, most of the companies studied by Cameron experience long-term problems, including attrition and reduced productivity. "Some employees reach for the phone, dial a headhunter and quit the next day," he says. "Others put their heads down and panic when management meets, terrified their heads will roll. Others just miss their friends. But deep down, everyone wonders who'll be next."

Now Cameron is moving his research to a new level: exploring whether forgiveness can help rebuild corporate culture in the wake of lay-offs. Could a corporation - or the people who head it - ask for, and receive, forgiveness from the employees they have laid off, or from those who remain?

Cameron will work on a two-pronged program which uses interviews and questionnaires to determine attitudes, characteristics and indicators of forgiveness on the part of individuals and of the corporation. Forty organizations will take part in the study.

Cameron's previous work has shown that those companies that invite their employees into the decision making process end up reaping the benefit in the long-term. One company included more than 600 employees in a discussion of the company's finances and then offered each a year's salary if they could come up with a plan that would effectively eliminate their jobs. Those who survived the downsize became vocal advocates for the company.

"My intent is to see if forgiveness can help the corporation and the individual survive the downsize," says Cameron. "If we build understanding between the perpetrator and victim - the company and the employee - an employee could end up on the board, for example, instead of feeling bitter or alienated."

Cameron says his past studies have found a statistically measurable difference between organizations that have tried forgiveness and those that haven't. "It's my hope that forgiveness can help make the downsized company a healthy place to work," he says.

Dr. Cameron is dean of the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. His research on organizational downsizing, effectiveness, corporate quality culture and development of management skills has been published in more than 70 articles and books. Dr. Cameron serves on the National Research Council and is a former Fulbright Scholar. His research on forgiveness has been funded by the Campaign for Forgiveness Research.

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