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Business Administration QUESTION #9576
Question 1
A telecom company reduces its workforce by 30% following privatization, but customer complaints increase by 45% within 18 months. Which organizational behaviour concept best explains this outcome?
  • Survivor syndrome — remaining employees experience guilt, anxiety and reduced productivity after witnessing colleague layoffs✔️
  • Span of control violation — too few managers are now supervising too many technical roles
  • Theory X activation — downsizing signals distrust which converts motivated employees into passive workers
  • Reinforcement withdrawal — removal of colleagues eliminates the social reinforcement that sustained performance norms
Correct Answer Explanation
Survivor syndrome describes the psychological toll on employees who remain after mass layoffs — they experience guilt, fear of further cuts, reduced morale and productivity loss. This explains why the company's service quality deteriorated despite retaining its workforce, a well-documented post-downsizing organizational failure.