Integrating Teams after Downsizing: A Short Case Study

This article provides a short case study on integrating teams after downsizing. It offers tips for forming a strong and unified team, setting goals, and ensuring that the beliefs and values of the new department are in line with the organization's standards. The article also discusses how HR can assist in planning and organizing training for the new department. Course code, course name, and college/university are not mentioned.

Running Head: INTERGRATING TEAMS AFTER DOWNSIZING 1
A Short Case Study
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Integrating Teams after Downsizing
Question 1
Most companies downsize to increase profitability or make the company more
productive. The organization might not achieve the perceived outcome after layoffs. Due to
negative effects of the downsizing, and the employees who survived might record poor
performance as they have doubts about their jobs and job security which reduces their efforts,
satisfaction in the job and commitment to their work (Armstrong-Stassen, & Cattaneo 2010).
For Paul to form a strong and unified team, first he needs to assure his team that their
jobs are secured. By ensuring the team members have a stable mindset and no doubts about
losing their jobs, the team can focus on their job responsibilities and deliver the required results.
Through determining the economic standing within the company, Paul as the manager can create
a budget and minimize the expenses which can create security for the company and ensuring no
more layoffs and concentrate on the jobs.
Creating an opportunity for the team to bond on personal levels through activities such as
team buildings would strengthen and unify the new team. The bonding of the two new
departments allows the forming of the new team and breaking of separate teams at the same
time.
Question 2
Merging of two departments represent is another way organizations cut cost and increase
profitability and productivity. Paul should set goals in line with the departmental objectives, the
company values, and beliefs for the team members to ensure performance improvement towards
the goals of the organization. Through team building, Paul can find out the strengths and
weakness of all the team members and know what kind of roles they can perform to acheive the

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organizations objectives. The management should also not show favoritism to any members to
promote competency and hard work among the members of the merged departments (Kihl, Shaw
& Schull 2013).
Remind the team members to understand their purpose and reflect on why the team exists
and talk about shared values and guide on how to approach shared work. Paul should also have
the team think about what they need and how to accomplish them to stay focused on the
objectives. Employee engagement is critical in the job performance of employees (Christian,
Garza, & Slaughter, 2011)
Question 3
Beliefs and values that exist in an organization for a long time are referred to as
organization culture (Casida & Pinto, 2008). For the new merger, the manager should ensure that
the beliefs and values of the new department are still in line with the standards and
responsibilities of all the persons involved. The foresee value of their work influences the value
of their work and in turn, influence their attitudes and behavior. Paul as a manager and needs to
adjust his leadership behavior to accomplish the core values and objectives of the organization as
this would influence transition and employee’s job satisfaction.
Question 4
HR department can assist Paul in planning and organizing training for the new
department to understand what the merger is all about and what is required of them as a
department. Training enables the idea of making people more alike than different in one area and
deemphasizes the individual indifference. It provides a different type of learning to the new
changes that occur and how to stay focused on the objective and the organizational goal. Given

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that the new department is made up of people from different departments, communication and
coordination of the new team is critical and the manager should set up channels of
communications to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings.

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References
Armstrong-Stassen, M., & Cattaneo, J. 2010. The effect of downsizing on organizational
practices targeting older workers. Journal of Management Development, 29: 344–363.
Christian, M. S., Garza, A. S., & Slaughter, J. E. (2011). Work engagement: A quantitative
review and test of its relations with task and contextual performance. Personnel
Psychology, 64: 89–136.
Kihl, L., Shaw, S., & Schull, V. (2013). Fear, Anxiety, and Loss of Control: Analyzing an
Athletic Department Merger as a Gendered Political Process. Journal Of Sport
Management, 27(2), 146-157.

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Supervising experienced workers
Question 1
John can easily turn the situation to his advantage by taking full advantage of his
employees’ experiences and learning from them to gain expertise from all the fields of the
organization. The older the employee, the more knowledgeable they are. Getting to know every
member of the team would help John learn from each one of them and value their expertise. He
can also learn the qualities of being part of the team by participating in work activities. It would
increase the chances of exerting authority to other employees when need as they would see that
he can get things done (Jenkins & Poulston, 2014).
He can also develop his strengths and weaknesses through asking for input and feedback
from other team members (Dikkers 2008). The expertise of the experienced workers can give
necessary feedbacks when sharing visions for the team and would help you learn from them and
develop some of his weaknesses. Through the HR, John can learn how to be a people’s manager.
Most HR assist employees with career development plans, recommending mentors and setting up
trainings to learn the necessary skills needed to manage an organization (Alfes et al 2013).
Question 2
Self-improvement and professional competency include those activities that one
undertakes to improve their ability to perform that includes the knowledge, relationships, skills,
resourcefulness, processes, systems, and information. Building one's competency boosts your
confidence which leads to high achievements. The following ways can ensure self-performance
and professional competency;
 Seeking performance feedback- To build competency, one requires courage to face the
facts and be ready to interpret different feedbacks and make changes where necessary.

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 Be willing to learn- Start learning new skills, a new area of knowledge and ideas from
other experts.
 Build team- Choose members who offer positive perspectives and inputs needed to
succeed. Be consistent and learn from them and help them too. Learn to set goals
effectively.
 Be decisive- Acquire information needed from the others and make the right decision you
can to use the information in ways that it would be helpful. Ask relevant questions where
necessary and learn to listen more.
 Improve productivity through better management of goals- Goal tracking provides an
opportunity to get needed feedback and make the necessary adjustments to performance
plans and tackle the prevailing obstacles
Question 3
Working in the fitness industry doesn’t necessarily mean one becomes a fitness center
manager or a trainer. There has been tremendous growth in the health and fitness industry which
reflects an increasingly unhealthy general population that needs to get fit. Below are some other
job opportunities one may venture in;
 Fitness magazine editor-in-chief
 Athletic Trainers
 Fitness careers also include jobs related to treating and preventing injuries
 Group Fitness Instructor
 Personal Trainer
 Strength and conditioning coach
 Physical education teacher

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 Professional scout
 Media and public relations specialist
 Sport instructor
 Sport journalist
 Kinesiology professor or researcher
 Sport facility operations manager
 Coach
 Sport administrator
 Sport marketer

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References
Alfes, K., Truss, C., Soane, E. C., Rees, C., & Gatenby, M. (2013). The relationship between line
manager behavior, perceived HRM practices, and individual performance: Examining the
mediating role of engagement. Human Resource Management, 52: 839–859.
Jenkins, A., & Poulston, J. 2014. Managers’ perceptions of older workers in British hotels.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.International Journal (Toronto, Ont.), 33: 54–72.
Kooij, D., de Lange, A., Jansen, P., & Dikkers, J.( 2008). Older workers’ motivation to continue
to work: Five meanings of age. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 23: 364–394.

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Ethical Decision Making
Question 1
The relevant facts identified against Lucy are as follows:
 Lucy is the only employee in the company to fail the lie-detector test.
 In the timeframe the money was stolen, only Lucy had accessed the banking
 There is a discrepancy in Lucy’s sworn bond and application as it does not match the
prior information such as previous employment.
Following the relevant facts identified against Lucy, it would be advisable for the center
manager to share and conduct an investigation of her own before sharing the facts with the
responsible stakeholders. It is worth noting that Lucy might be innocent till proven otherwise as
it is also clear that firing Lucy makes Martin have the upper hand in his career. I would summon
Lucy and present her the facts identified against her and get the needed clarification from her.
Then inform the relevant group if further investigations are required to determine the case and
next course of action.
Question 2
Ethical issues are situations that require a person or the organization to choose between
alternatives that evaluate the right or wrong (Hudon & Sandberg, 2013). For this case, the
evident ethical issue is that money is missing from the banking and Lucy one of the employees is
the main suspect. It has to be investigated and determined if it is right or wrong and determine if
it is ethical or unethical. The foundation of ethics is how one's behaviors affect the well-being of
other individual involved (Guraga et al. 2017)

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Another ethical issue is the fact that the assistant manager has the right to check the
sworn bond and application forms of Lucy and yet there is a manager who is responsible for that.
Why the assistant manager did his own investigation and did not report immediately he noticed
the money is coming short.
Question 3
The primary stakeholders in the case study are;
 Lucy Jeffery, the employee accused of stealing from banking and might lose her job due
to other discrepancies.
 Martin Saunders the assistant manager who identified the shortage in money and
investigated and found a suspect, the case is an opportunity for him to advance in his
career if he identifies the thief.
 Jacinta Scott the center manager responsible for firing the responsible employee and at
the same time determining the magnitude of the consequences.
Question 4
Other possible ethical alternatives are that the assistant manager might be responsible for
the money short in the banking and might be framing Lucy since if he catches an internal thief,
his performance would be enhanced. There is a possibility that the assistant manager might be
changing the figures at the banking and also that he lied that he checked the videotapes and no
one else accessed the banking as he might also have accessed the banking. Another possible
alternative is that he interfered with the sworn bond forms of Lucy.
Question 5

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The ethical issues in the alternatives are mistrust where the assistant manager is framing
Lucy and this has to be investigated to determine if it is ethical or unethical. Another ethical
issue evident is stealing where the assistant manager is stealing from the company. It is also
notable that harm done cannot be ignored both positively or negatively (Hunt & Iyer, 2015).

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References
Guragai, B., Hunt, N. C., Neri, M. P., & Taylor, E. Z. (2017). Accounting Information Systems
and Ethics Research: Review, Synthesis, and the Future. Journal Of Information
Systems, 31(2), 65-81. doi:10.2308/isys-51265
Hudon, M., & Sandberg, J. (2013). The Ethical Crisis in Microfinance: Issues, Findings, and
Implications. Business Ethics Quarterly, 23(4), 561-589. doi:10.5840/beq201323440
Hunt, N., and G. Iyer. 2015. The Effect of Tax Domain, Income Class, and Personal Norms: An
Analysis of Taxpayer Compliance Decisions Using Paper and Software. Working paper,
University of North Texas