5. Colour-Coded Layoffs Consider the following situation: All employees within an organization are told to attend a companywide meeting. Each person is handed a coloured envelope as he or she enters the room and is then directed to a section of the room that matches that colour.

Layoffs are announced at the meeting. Those with one colour are directed to return to their offices; those with the other colour are escorted from the room by security personnel and told that their personal belongings will be packaged for them and returned.

They are then escorted to the parking lot.29

a. Under what circumstances would such a technique be justified?

b. If circumstances changed a few months after the layoff and it was possible to rehire some of the laid-off workers, what effect would this method of workforce reduction have?

c. Suppose you were one of the “survivors.” What would your reaction be? How would this affect your loyalty to the company?