Two super-optimum solutions in a cut-back mode

This essay reviews two approaches toward achieving super-optimum solutions under the duress of organizational down-sizing. The first focus is on demotions as an alternative tool in adverse personnel actions. Several applications of the underlying demotion design have been made in the cases of employees who were satisfactory performers, and their goals include increasing individual mastery in community settings, recognizing past service, and retaining valuable human resources. The second focus has more macro-features, and describes a collective response of a field unit to a corporate demand for substantial emergency savings on an authorized budget.