Abstract
Downsizing is viewed as a deliberate and systematic organisational reduction of workforce to cut costs and improve performance. There has been ongoing turmoil in the employment relations fraternity for the past few decades, exacerbated by global economic recessions and the need for organisations to adopt new technologies. The effects manifested in organisations’ widespread use and acceptance of downsizing globally. Downsizing has been widely used by organisations in Zimbabwe as an immediate response to economic crisis. Downsizing has a direct impact on employment relations, including employee commitment. Despite its broad use, the effects of downsizing on employee commitment in freight management service organisations in Zimbabwe, remained equivocal.
This study aimed to investigate the untold effects of downsizing on employee commitment in Zimbabwe’s freight management services. Efforts were made to establish implications of the downsizing strategies that organisations in Zimbabwe used, and how employees in freight management services perceived the effects of downsizing on employee commitment. In addition, the present study also aimed to identify challenges that employees and organisations encountered throughout the downsizing process as means to proffer solutions in this respect.
To successfully achieve the research objectives, this study used a mixed-method research approach and paradigm. Specifically, an explanatory sequential mixed-method approach was adopted, while data was collected, using surveys and structured interviews in a sequential manner. Stratified random sampling was used for the quantitative phase and purposive sampling was used to collect data during the qualitative phase. Collected data in phase 1 (quantitative) was analysed, using SPSS to produce descriptive and inferential statistical inferences, while collected data in phase 2 (qualitative) was analysed by using content and thematic analysis. A colour-coded joint display was used to integrate data and to produce iterations and meta-inferences for mixed-method data interpretation.
The main results of this study demonstrated that downsizing was significantly caused by financial crises faced by organisations in Zimbabwe. Conversely, the results of this study suggested that there was no significant relationship between downsizing and the organisational need to adopt new technologies in Zimbabwe. Interestingly, the study’s findings identified a positive shift in employees’ continuance commitment towards
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downsizing organisations in Zimbabwe. The study suggested that employees remained committed to downsized organisations in Zimbabwe owing to fear of losing their income and a lack of alternative employment. The results also suggested that employees in the freight management services organisations in Zimbabwe suffered detrimental psychological effects such as depression and mental breakdown during and after downsizing. However, the current research made considerable efforts to proffer solutions to reduce the negative effects of downsizing on employees in Zimbabwe’s freight management services.