Downsizing, etik atau tak etik?

Perdebatan atau tepatnya diskusi mengenai “downsizing” atau “rightsizing” sebuah perusahaan, bertumpu pada “ Is downsizing ethical or unethical?”.

Sebenarnya pertanyaan ini mudah untuk dijawab, tapi para student yang rata-rata matang di dunia kerja itu, cukup lama berfikir untuk mengacungkan tangan mereka. Bagi meraka ini bukan pertanyaan mudah, ini menyangkut “bagaimana yah, jika saya diposisi mereka?”Bagaikan makan buah simalakama kata para datuk dulu.

Ada Brian yang seumuran denganku, yang tentu saja belum matang dalam dunia kerja bekerja. Katanya , “I am kind of fall in between.” Tergantung bagaimana kita memandang downsizing itu, begitu katanya.

Ah, aku juga ga mau kalah, sepengamatanku, yang kata temen-temenku ini lebih cenderung menjawab permasalahan dengan kacamata manusia dan Tuhan, maka dengan penuh keyakinan inilah jawabannya.

Downsizing could be ethical or unethical. Depends on the intention or the aims of the company when downsize the employee. Lay off, it could be better if we call it early retirement, which is much more ethical, since the word “retirement” seems have a positive sense in terms of the employees’ future.

Downsizing is unethical when the purpose is merely for the shake of CEO. It is ridiculous when the company cut off the life of some employees, but in the next short run, the CEO gains more bonuses. It could be worst if the company still has bad performance as the aims of downsizing is to enhance the company performance.

Downsizing is ethical, as long as it keeps on the right track, to save the company from bankruptcy. If the company sincerely applies the utilitarianism in laying-off the employees, downsizing remains ethical. Utilitarianism is based on the laying-off 500 employees to save 5000 employees. Downsizing still consider ethical since using criteria to dismiss the employees.

Furthermore, Jim Collins in his book, Good to Great, stated that put the right people on the right bus. So, downsizing is one of many ways to eliminate the wrong people in the right bus or the bad people in the good bus.

Right fella?