‘Make it a large one’

We are in a packed venue waiting for the main event, but we know what's coming and it's not good. The UK higher education sector is in serious financial trouble, and my own institution is not immune. The financial statements are worse than many feared and there are some audible gasps. As the Vice Chancellor's presentation proceeds, I look down to the front to see who's there in the support capacity. Who's being looked to and being spoken with before the address begins? Who's mentioned in warm terms within the Vice Chancellor's keynote speech? The head of finance is there, a couple of corporate level managers, but no human resource management

(HRM) people. They’re not in evidence and they’re not mentioned, despite the announcement of another round of voluntary severance and the organizational restructuring that is going to occur in its wake, only it's not called ‘restructuring’ until one of the speakers slips up and uses the term. It's grim and I experience a sense of sadness, as well as a sense of impending loss and fear as compulsory redundancies are not ruled out. At the end, the audience applauds, which I don't understand because what is there to praise in this, and I decide to go down the pub. As I pay for my wine, a colleague comes in:

‘What will you have?’

‘A Shiraz, make it a large one.’

Such organizational scenarios have become commonplace in many contemporary organizations whatever their size, age, sector or type. More recently, they have become familiar to academics as well as professional services staff who work alongside us.