solucionario capitulo 14

Chapter

15

Operations
Scheduling

Planning

and

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1.

Over the past several years, many corporations have experienced reductions in the workforce of sufficient size to receive attention in the media. Restructuring charges reflected in the annual reports to stockholders are often in the order of magnitude of
$100,000 per employee. If business is expected to recover within a year, the company would usually be better off to keep these employees on the payroll, perhaps shifting some of them to sales, or loan others for community volunteer work. It is difficult to estimate the monetary value of the following costs associated with layoffs:
 Decreased morale and loyalty of employees not layed off
 Employee stress, mortgage defaults, failed marriages, suicides
 Customers may question the ability to perform, creating a chilling effect on sales
 Suppliers may become suspicious of firm’s financial strength, demand cash
 Loss of experience, skill and knowledge inventories
 Loss of goodwill in community, future cooperation in zoning
 Loss of redevelopment incentives
 Loss of reputation as an employer, future difficulty in hiring a qualified workforce

2.

Responses will vary depending on which firms are used as examples. Some industries, such as the U.S. auto industry, have a long history and tradition of workforce furlough and recall to match production with demand. Generations of employees are accustomed to this cycle, and fairly smoothly transition between working in the plant during good times and finding other temporary careers when business is slow. Other industries, such as utilities, have a history of stable employment, but are now faced with competition, restructuring, and dealing with employees who hired on for life and now feel betrayed. Stable employment requires stable markets, management loyalty to the workforce, long product lifecycles, financial strength, skilled workforces, and competition