Problem of Plenty: Managing Employee Surplus

Review Of Literature

In this paper, an attempt has been made to explore the reasons for employee surplus, strategies to handle rationalisation and impact of rationalisation exercise. Academic literature from credible sources in the field of human relations management, strategy, sociology and psychology, were extensively reviewed, and significant attributes were collated. These collated attributes of literature was subjected to brainstorming with peers and experts in the field of strategy resulting in distilling of these studies under the broad heading of reasons for employee surplus, rationalisation strategies and consequent impact on individuals and firms. The brainstorming discussion served as a validation of the review done and resulting distillation of studies under the said headings.

In order to understand the importance and implication of management of surplus employees, it is imperative to understand the contexts in which firms need to shed surplus employees. Active management of human resources is a hallmark of a vigilant organisation that is tuned to its exogenous environment and is ever changing in order to remain sustainable. We explore the literature on environmental change to find out what compels an organisation to rationalise its human capital.