Managing the survivor syndrome as scenario planning methodology … and it matters!

PurposeThe importance of foresight is discussed in relation to why traditional scenario planning methodology is problematic at achieving it. The “survivor syndrome” is borrowed from the human resources literature and presented as a metaphor for foresight to illustrate how better “scenarios” can be achieved by understanding the syndrome better. A practice perspective is given on the use of a seven-theme framework as a method of interviewing survivors. The paper aims to discuss this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws from an empirical research that took place during the 2008 global financial crisis to illustrate the richness of the insights that would otherwise not be obtainable through scenario planning methods that do not involve “survivors.” In that research, semi-structured interviews were employed with key personnel at multiple levels of one private and one public organization that had undergone a redundancy process at the time of the crisis to explore its effect on the remaining workforce.FindingsThe “survivor syndrome” itself would be minimized if managers consider the feelings of survivors with more open communication. Survivors in private firms were found generally to experience anxiety, but are more likely to remain more motivated, than their counterparts in the public sector. These detailed insights create more accurate “scenarios” in scenario planning exercises.Originality/valueOrganizational performance can be better enhanced if the survivor syndrome can be better managed. In turn, scenario planning, as a form of organizational foresight, is better practiced through managing the survivor syndrome. Scenario planning methodology has proliferated well in the human resource management literature.

Should Declining Firms Be Aggressive During the Retrenchment Process?

In this study, we test the effects of retrenchment aggressiveness on turnaround performance. Using the downward-spiral, threat–rigidity, and survivor syndrome perspectives, we hypothesize the direct effects of the two dimensions of aggressiveness—time aggressiveness and volume aggressiveness—on turnaround performance. We also examine the moderation effect of time aggressiveness on the relationship between volume aggressiveness and turnaround performance. We use data on a sample of declining firms collected from the Compustat North America database and use a matched-pair sample of 494 surviving and nonsurviving firms between the years 1990 and 2010. Our results show that time aggressiveness has a positive effect on turnaround performance, whereas volume aggressiveness has a negative effect. We also find that time aggressiveness positively moderates the negative relationship between volume aggressiveness and turnaround performance. We contribute to the scant but critical literature indicating the importance of time in a turnaround setting and to the long-held discussion of retrenchment as a cause of turnaround or a consequence of decline.

The Emigrants (1992)

In this chapter, Schütte analyses the work that transformed Sebald’s career. The Emigrants is a collection of four stories which reflect on the suffering of the victims of Nazi terror. They explore the tragic phenomenon of ‘survivor syndrome’, where victims repress the burden of escaping persecution before being compelled to end their lives. Two of the narratives, Dr Henry Selwyn and Paul Bereyter, end in forms of redemptive suicide as the characters are troubled by long-repressed memories and feelings of collective responsibility for the Holocaust. Reflecting on the title, Schütte argues that Sebald, thinly cloaked as the narrator, believed the loss of one’s homeland as a result of forced migration to be a paradigmatic experience of modern life.

Quality of the relationship between origin of childhood perception of attachment and outcome of attachment associated with diagnosis of PTSD in adult Finnish war children and Finnish combat veterans from World War II (1939–1945) – DSM-IV applications of the attachment theory

ABSTRACTBackground:Using diagnoses exclusively, comparable evaluations of the empirical evidence relevant to the content can be made. The term holocaust survivor syndrome according to the DSM-IV classification encompasses people with diagnoses of posttraumatic stress disorders and psychopathological symptoms exposed to the Nazi genocide from 1933–1945 identified by Natan Kellermann, AMCHA, Israel (1999).Methods:The relationships between disorders of affectionate parenting and the development of dysfunctional models on one hand, and various psychopathological disorders on the other hand were investigated. Multi-axial assessment based on PTSD diagnosis (APA, 2000) with DSM-IV classification criteria of holocaust survivor syndrome and child survivor syndrome earlier found in holocaust survivors was used as criteria for comparison among Finnish sub-populations.Results:Symptoms similar to those previously described in association with holocaust survivor syndrome and child survivor syndrome were found in the population of Finnish people who had been displaced as children between 1939–1945.Conclusions:Complex PTSD syndrome is found among survivors of prolonged or repeated trauma who have coping strategies intended to assist their mental survival. Surviving Finnish child evacuees had symptoms at similar level to those reported among holocaust survivors, though Finnish combat veterans exhibited good mental adjustment with secure attachment.