“Restructuring” justifications in annual reports: Legitimizing job loss and sweeping change

Abstract

This research examines corporate public rhetoric used to describe and justify business restructuring activities in the past decade, during which more than 40 million American jobs were eliminated. The study is grounded in content analysis of 340 Shareholder Letters found within the annual reports of 53 corporations which restructured operations during the period 1989‐1997. The findings suggest that American CEOs use isomorphic restructuring idioms and three common justification themes in public statements. These common idioms, along with the prevalence of restructuring actions by well‐known corporate actors, and incorporation of restructuring responsibilities into the job requirements of employee teams, may contribute to the legitimation of ongoing business restructuring practices and corresponding job losses.

Notes

Bruce K. Berger (Ph.D., Communication, University of Kentucky), is Associate Professor of Public Relations at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35487‐0172 ([email protected]). An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Conference of the National Communication Association, New York, NY, 1998. The author wishes to thank Joachim Knuf and William Blodgett for their helpful suggestions and assistance with this research project.