Bitter on Better: A Case of Firing Backfiring

Meera Kapoor; Archana Shrivastava

Meera Kapoor and Archana Shrivastava

Birla Institute of Management Technology, Greater Noida, UP, India

Volume 16: 2023, pp. 59-68; ABSTRACT

The dismissal of employees is an unpleasant management task and if handled with insensitivity, layoffs can appear like virtual massacres. This case is a study of how to deliver the wrong message in the right way and how management should handle crises and sensitive situations. It is a cautionary tale that chronicles how a CEO fell from grace after a spectacle of bungled layoffs and the ensuing revelations about the company’s (mis)management and the CEO’s autocratic leadership style. The case also questions the use of online communication platforms as effictive organizational communication tools in such situations.
Keywords: leadership, HRM, layoffs, communication, crisis, organizational culture, employee relations