SURVIVORS REACTIONS TO A WORKFORCE REDUCTION - A COMPARISON OF BLUE-COLLAR WORKERS AND THEIR SUPERVISORS

This study investigated how management and non-management survivors re acted to a workforce reduction involving across-the-board permanent la yoffs. The participants included 50 supervisors and two groups of tech nicians (n=200) employed in a telecommunications company. Supervisors were significantly more likely to perceive the company's reason for th e cutbacks as fair, and reported greater job security and higher organ izational commitment than did the technicians. However, there were sig nificant differences between the two groups of technicians in perceive d fairness of the distribution of the layoffs, action coping, and orga nizational morale. The results suggest that researchers investigating survivors' reactions need to examine differences within as well as acr oss occupational levels.