There is an increase in the use of downsizing by organizational leadership. While there is an increase in downsizing, empirical evidence as a result of there search, shows a large percent of downsizing events fail to achieve leadership goals. The conceptual framework of systems theory was used to describe the individual components that contribute to the outcomes of a downsizing event. The components included leadership’s role, leadership’s role in downsizing, organizational communication, employee motivation, and organizational knowledge. Data was collected from five managers who comprised the focus group using semi-structured, open-ended interview questions and individual interviews from business leaders for the single case study. The findings from this study suggested communication at all layers of the downsizing process, and work-life balance could lead to greater employee productivity. It is suggested leadership integrate better communication and work-life balance into strategies to improve employee productivity.
