A survey of how redundancy situations are handled and carried out among 80 organisations reached through the Manchester branch of the Institute of Personnel Management, has raised many questions, suggesting the urgent need for more in‐depth research. Managerial styles of handling redundancy vary, possibly reflecting the prevailing circumstances for the individual manager. The composition of the workforce, the overall company culture, and interpersonal/intergroup relationships between management and worker are all salient factors, as are aspects of personnel managers' make‐up, which can be roughly defined as “hard‐nosed pragmatic”, “realistic”, “contingency operational” or “idealistic”. It is hoped that further collaboration with industry, commerce and within the service and public sectors will be forthcoming.