Application of Contemporary Management Practices

Application of Contemporary Management Practices
Jenny had been reading several management periodicals for her class assignment. She was confused by all the terms she had come across in her search for changes that were reshaping contemporary organizations. The first article had described a new business owner who had taken a large calculated risk to initiate his new business venture where he had become quite successful at the age of 26. The next article dealt with a process that managers were using for quality control at a local cheese producing plant. The company was constantly monitoring the cheese- making process and little by little improving the quality of its cheese. The next article was in direct contrast. This roller blade manufacturer had decided that its product needed to be completely remade in order to keep up with the competition. So it had basically started from scratch and developed a new revised product. Several of the articles Jenny had read talked about companies laying off numerous employees, and the practice was not limited to the United States. It was occurring worldwide. Finally, several articles had also mentioned that businesses were hiring fewer core employees and using more contingent workers. Many larger businesses were hiring people to fill in for those employees off for an extended time period, such as for a new dad off for 12 weeks after the birth of a child.
-The practice of laying off employees is known as

A) downsizing.
B) rightsizing.
C) total quality management.
D) reengineering.