Sustaining a service quality initiative in the midst of downsizing

This study examined employees' perceptions of the factors associated with a service quality initiative during and following organizational downsizing. The participants were employees of a large Canadian federal government department that began implementing a service quality initiative in 1995 and then reduced its workforce by 20% between 1996 and 1997. One hundred employees were interviewed in 1996 and 275 employees completed a questionnaire in 1997 and 14 months later in 1998. Overall, survivors perceived that the downsizing had an adverse effect on the department's quality initiative. Factors during the downsizing that were associated with greater perceived support for the quality initiative, service quality, teamwork and quality improvement efforts following the downsizing were job level (management), greater initial commitment to the quality initiative, lower perceived negative downsizing effect on the quality initiative, higher perceived organizational morale, and higher trust in the organization and organizational commitment. Initial commitment to the quality initiative was an especially important predictor of how remaining employees perceived the quality initiative following the downsizing. Respondents reported a significant increase in service quality and teamwork following the downsizing period suggesting that these key features of a quality program may be only temporarily affected by organizational downsizing.