Contrary to their widely touted and expected benefits to organizations, the various forms of “managed social change” (e.g., downsizing, RIFing, reengineering, restructuring, outsourcing) over the past quarter century have had widespread devastating psychological effects on those fired, on those who survived the firings, on those whose roles were dramatically changed, and on their families and communities. The result has often been what I call “inconsolable organizations,” that is, workplaces mired in loss and grief. Inconsolable organizations emerge where recurrent traumatic change has occurred together with the often officially-enforced “inability to mourn” the massive losses—not only of others, but of one's very self and self-worth. A tentative model is proposed, one that situates organizational inconsolability relative to other dimensions of adaptation to traumatic change. Recommendations are offered for assisting organizations in these circumstances.
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