2. To study restructuring as a part of strategic human resource management with the reference to Unilever

3. To Study downsizing as a part of strategic human resource management with the reference to Unilever

5. Downsizing in an inappropriate manner may lead to the breach of physiological contract that exist between employer and employee which may adversely affect the performance of survivors in the organization due to job insecurity and those who are laid off may spread a negative word of mouth for a company.

7. Downsizing inappropriately to increase profitability and efficiency of organization by sidelining the important asset of human resource on which organizations thrive.

9. Companies usually downsize for increasing organizational profitability and effectiveness however, advantages of downsizing have failed due to ineffective communication and reasoning to employees which may bring change in employee attitudes leading to tardiness, absenteeism and reduced productivity. For e.g. In 2008 when company was restructuring Unilever reported that, in the interests of acting in a socially responsible manner, it prefers to sell rather than close businesses. Wherever people are laid off, Unilever provides substantial support to help those people gain alternative employment. For instance, when they closed a plant in South Africa, with sizeable job losses, many were redeployed within Unilever. Those who actually lost their jobs were placed in small businesses that supplied Unilever. Unilever considers downsizing as an exception rather than a rule. They respect the human talent and give them adequate support to both survivors and laid off employees who are often helped until they have some alternative arrangement. In addition to this all the employees are welcomed to suggest through e-mail system which is then evaluate by HR department, thus they share an open communication system which according to them builds trust and loyalty in employees.

10. While restructuring there is a risk of cutting the wrong people without realising it until too late. Another risk, commonly overlooked, is increase in voluntary turnover rate and over-shooting company’s reduction target. Additionally, organization could lose key people. Unilever has reduced its top three layers of management by 45% since 2005. In 2008, the global giant continued its restructuring, shedding 5000 jobs in total. But Unilever has given them appropriate support and training when they were trying to relocate themselves. For Instance, In India, when they divested their tea estates business, we sold the business to three separate companies, each of whom is in the plantation/tea business. In each case, the acquisition helped them strengthen their business presence and performance. As part of the agreement with the new owners they explicitly covered the continuance of service of all these employees and the protection of their employment terms and conditions. Apart from normal attrition, no employees lost their jobs as a result of this transfer. So, as per the market condition and circumstances of the situation Unilever has been well able to manage its employees needs and handle their grievances by employing effective strategies. Conclusion Unilever believes in aligning strategy and succession planning in order to fill important positions in the organization and has special model to evaluate and train the internal talent to strategically fill the important positions in the near future due. It also involves employees in continuous training in order to provide a successor in case of any mishap or uncertain circumstances which may arise in course of business. While downsizing and restructuring due to demand of the situation company has been able to support its employees in every possible way they could have. They often try to incorporate redefine employees position in another subsidiary or another company in their channel rather than making them completely resource less along with the counselling sessions which help company to communicate their voice and listen to employees problems too. Downsizing for Unilever is rather an exception than a rule but due to uncertain economic conditions sometimes it may be unavoidable, the only solution to this is rightsizing the organization. <br />