| This study examined the psychological impact of involuntary job loss and the process of posttraumatic growth for senior organizational leaders. The research utilized Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) model of stress, appraisal, and coping; Janoff-Bulman's (1992) model of psychological trauma; and Tedeschi, Park, and Calhoun's (1998) model of posttraumatic growth. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, this study examined the lived experience of leaders who encountered sudden employment termination. To explore this experience, three questions guided the process of inquiry: (a) How does the stress, appraisal, and coping process explain how psychological trauma can emerge from the experience of involuntary job loss for organizational leaders? (b) What are the psychological or cognitive experiences of organizational leaders traumatized by involuntary job loss? and (c) How does the experience of posttraumatic growth offer insight into the process of emerging from the trauma of involuntary job loss?;Five senior organizational leaders who had experienced involuntary job loss were interviewed. Each interview lasted four hours and produced over 200 pages of transcripts. Participants reviewed the transcripts for accuracy and clarification. Transcripts were revised accordingly and then examined using van Manen's (1990) approach to thematic analysis. Six major themes emerged from this analysis which included: (a) the initial shock and fear of involuntary job loss; (b) disorientation and loss of control; (c) damage to self-esteem, self-worth, and perceptions of competency; (d) rebuilding of self-esteem, self-worth, and self-efficacy; (e) changed interpersonal relationships; and (f) the reconfiguration of personal philosophy of life.;This study found that involuntary job loss created psychological trauma by disrupting fundamental cognitive schemas. The research also revealed that coping resources impacted the severity of the trauma, as well as influenced the length of the recovery process. Each participant reported personal and professional growth and a changed perspective about life. The presence of new growth and emerging hope in the participants existed in tandem with an ongoing disappointment and struggle brought about by the experience of involuntary termination. |
