Your assignment as mid$-$level leaders in a large company

is to develop a list of workers to lay off for purposes

of company downsizing. The CEO says that she

wants you to develop a list of fifty employees to lay off.

She says that the more money you save the company,

the better, but that you should still pay some attention

to retaining high$-$producing workers. As you and your

team start poring over employee salaries, you notice

that the older employees are often the most highly

paid because they have received salary increases

for many years. These high$-$paid workers are a mix of

outstanding, average, and below$-$average performers

based on the results of performance evaluations. You

also notice that some of the younger employees who

are not necessarily outstanding performers are relatively

low paid.

Your job is to develop criteria for choosing fifty

employees to lay off, taking into account both financial

and ethical factors. You want to practice ethical and

socially responsible leadership, but you also want the

lay off to save the company a lot of money, thereby keeping

your CEO happy.