|
EXECUTIVES
IN TRANSITION |
This questionnaire is
designed to gather information on what may have been a stressful experience in
your life--the separation, whether voluntary or involuntary, from a position
of executive responsibility. At any point in this questionnaire, you
are welcome to make the marginal note "Confidential" if you wish. If you want
all of your responses to be held in confidence, just enter a check mark
here:_______.
Please bear in mind
that these questions focus on your severance from a specific position of
executive responsibility. If that
happened to you more than once, and if you care to comment on more than one
instance, just duplicate the questionnaire and use a separate copy for each
case.
1. The company or organization you left--
Name:
_________________________________________________
Address:
______________________________________________
2. Your position there:
_______________________________________
3. How long had you held that position?
_______________________
4. How long had you been with that company?
___________________
5. The year of separation:
____________________________________
6. Your age at that time:
_____________________________________
7.
Shortly before you
left, say within a year or so, did you find yourself relating or reporting to a
new boss or a realigned board?
Yes ____; No ____.
8. Sometimes restructuring and the offer of attractive
severance benefits complicate an answer to this
question, so let me put it this way: If you resigned, but in your heart of hearts did not really want to, your separation
would, for purposes of this study,
be considered "involuntary severance." With that in mind, was your separation...
(a) voluntary ____, or (b) involuntary
____?
9. If your release was involuntary, was it directed at you individually? Yes
____; No ____. Or, was it part of a wider- spread layoff? Yes ____; No
____.
10. If
you left involuntarily, did the release come as a surprise? Yes ____;
No_____. Did you have any
"inklings?" Yes ____; No ____.
11. How much advance notice did you give/receive?
______________
12. Did
the company provide you with severance compensation?
Yes ____; No
____.
13. Over how long a period did the severance payments
extend?
____________________________________________________________
14.
Did you view the
severance compensation at that time to be
(a)
adequate ___; inadequate ___; more than adequate ___?
(b)
If you care to,
please give the dollar value of your severance package:
$______________________________
(c) It would also be helpful to know the estimated
dollar value of the
benefits you lost: $_______________
(d) What were the
major benefits lost?
15. What was your annual compensation in the job you left or
lost?
(a) cash (salary, bonus, etc., exclusive of stock
options and any
severance package): $______________
(b) value of additional benefits that
year:$___________
|
If you were married at the time of severance
and subsequent transition, please reflect now on the extent to which you
drew support from your spouse at that time. |
16. Your marital status at that time:
(a) married ____,
(b) divorced ____, (c)
separated ____, (d) single ____.
17. If
you were divorced, separated, or single, did you have
a close friend or companion in whom you could confide and
from whom you drew emotional
support? Yes ____ No ____.
Did you discuss the
problem immediately with your spouse ___
or close friend
____? Yes ____; No
____.
19. Was the response one of...
(a) personal
support?..........Yes ____; No ____.
(b)
criticism?.................Yes ____; No ____.
(c)
anxiety....................Yes ____; No ____.
(d)
understanding?.............Yes ____; No ____.
(e) If other words
would better describe the response,
please list them
here:
20. Had your spouse "sensed" earlier on that a severance might be in the works, and said so to you? Yes ____; No ____.
21. Before your severance, did your spouse have paid
employment? Yes ____; No ____. After the
severance?
Yes ____; No
____.
22. Would you characterize your spouse as being, at that time, on a parallel
growth path to your own, either through a career or other interests? Yes. ____; No ____.
23. After the severance, (a) did you separate from your spouse? Yes ____, No
____; (b) did you consider getting a
divorce? Yes ____, No
____; (c) did you actually get a
divorce? Yes ____, No ____.
24. Did the transition require sacrifices on the part of your
dependent child or children? Yes ____, No ____. If yes,
would you please describe those sacrifices?
25. How did he/she/they react?
26. Please give their age(s) at that time:
27. If
the transition period required downward adjustments in your living style, which
were the hardest to accept?
28. It
would be helpful to know the difference in age between you and your spouse
(______ years) and how long you had been married at the time of the severance
(______years).
29. What "bits of wisdom" have served you well in preparing for working your
way through this transition?
30. What advice would you give to another couple in anticipation of either
one of them experiencing involuntary severance from a mid-career executive
position?
(Feel free to write
more if you wish on additional sheets.)
|
If you are identified in any way with
organized religion, it would be of interest to know whether, at the time
of your severance, you found any support in religious faith or religious
practice. |
31. If
you identified with a religious denomination at that time, please name it here:
________________________; if you did not identify with organized religion but
had your own brand of "spirituality" in your life, please so indicate by making a check-mark here:
____.
32. Before the severance, did you attend religious
services?
Yes ____, No ____. If Yes, more often than once
a
week? Yes ____, No
____.
33. At
the time of the severance, did you seek pastoral
counseling? Yes ____,
No____.
34. Did you make a religious retreat?
Yes ____, No ___.
35. Did you pray privately?
Yes
____, No ____.
36. Did you pray with your spouse?
Yes ____, No ____.
37. Would you say your spouse was, prior to the severance, a
religious person? Yes ____, No ____.
Were you?
Yes ___; No___.
38. Did you pray with a friend or friends? Yes ____, No
____.
39. Did you read parts of the Bible?
Yes ____, No ____.
If Yes, please list
any parts or passages that may have proved particularly helpful to you at that
time:
40. Did you read other religious books?
Yes ____, No ____.
41. Please list any books--religious or not--that you found to be helpful at
that time:
42. Did you receive any help at all through church-related support- or
self-help groups? Yes ____, No
____. If Yes,
you may want to mention
the church and the group:
43. Please outline here, in as many words as you choose to use, the relevance
of religion to you when you experienced the severance and started looking for
another job.
(Feel free to write more and use
additional sheets.)
|
This section of the questionnaire deals with
the length of time it took to reposition yourself and some of the factors
that helped you. |
44. Have you now found what you consider to be
suitable
employment? Yes ____; No
____. (If you are working, but consider the position to be unsuitable, please
check here:__)
45. How long did it take you to find suitable
reemployment?___________; (just check ___ if you are
still
looking).
46. Are you now in a new industry?
Yes ____; No ____.
47. Would you say that the severance opened up an
entirely new career for you?
Yes ____; No
____.
48. Is your present position as fulfilling ____,
more fulfilling _____, or
less fulfilling ____, than the one you left?
49. Did any outside activities or interests you
maintained
during your prior employment help you in making the transition? Yes ____, No ____.
If Yes, could you describe the interest
or activity?
50. What factors, persons, networks, or events
proved most
helpful to you in making your transition?
51. Would you care to write a paragraph or two here
on how
you spent the time between jobs and what you learned from this
experience? (You may not think of
it this way, but you do have a lot of wisdom to share!)
(Feel free
to write more and use additional sheets.)
|
It would be helpful to have some current
information on you at the conclusion of this inquiry. Just check here ____, if you want
all of it to be considered confidential. You may, of course, write
"Confidential" in the margin next to any item below that you want to be
held in confidence. |
52. Name:____________________________________________________
53. Present Position:
_______________________________________
54. Company:
________________________________________________
55. Address:
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
56. Phone: (work)___________________;(home)_________________
57. If
you are now retired, give the year in which you
retired:
______
58. Your present age: ______
59. Your religion: _____________________________
60. Your marital status: (a) married ____, (b) divorced
____,
(c) separated ____, (d)
single _____. If married, are you
married to the same person who was your spouse at the time of the
severance? Yes ____, No
____.
61. Would you be willing to participate in a phone- or face-to-face interview
by way of follow up to any of the information or opinions you have given
here? Yes ____, No ____. If Yes, would you prefer a phone call during the day ____, or
evening ____, at work
____, or at home ____?
62. Perhaps your spouse would like to add a page of personal
reflections stimulated by this questionnaire; if
so, they would be most
welcome. Just attach those comments
to these pages. The
experience touched you both, of course; each of you has a lot of wisdom to share
with others. Communication of that wisdom is the purpose of the book I want
to write!
Many, many thanks for your
cooperation! Any additional
comments you may want to add will be most welcome. Again, thank
you!