The incessant stream of answers we have been producing has not been able to heal what ails us because they are the very reason for our current condition. A study by Deborah Dougherty of the University of Montreal and Edward Bowman of the University of Pennsylvania s Wharton School suggest that companies seem to do well immediately after they downsize but then lose their innovative edge compared to non-shrinking organizations. The waves of downsizing and reengineering that have hit North America and most of the industrialized world have taken their toll on the soul. We have created the bulemic organization, which, like the bulemic person, is firm and solid on the outside but lacks balance and control on the inside. Medical research now suggests that body fat serves to support our immune system, helps sustain us when our reserves are low, keeps us warm and contributes to longer life.
Organizations are the same.
Lean and mean organizations have lost this elbow room along with their spirit and are therefore unable to inspire the remaining souls within. Some traditional managers claim that reengineering and downsizing can be done humanely , but humane downsizing is still an oxymoron. The very term being downsized is the ugly euphemism that hides a lie - it cannot disguise the act of firing, terminating or laying off a colleague. But the cause of the trauma remains an act of violence. The pressure to strive for ever higher performance each quarter is aggravated by the rising competition for jobs.