Paul

thank you for this, it is a considered and well-reasoned article.

Sacking people by SMS is cowardly and shows extremely poor leadership. If you don't have the courage to face the consequences of your decisions, you don't deserve to be a manager.

While I agree that the manner of termination was appalling, business leaders do not 'take office'.
They are not elected, nor are they called by God. They are employed by boards to run a business.
It would be nice if we could expect human decency from them - but it is not a requirement. Of course, the dismissal cannot under law be harsh or unreasonable - that's about all.

What the author failed to mention is that the employees were not allowed to come and collect their personal belongings themselves, thus in order to eventually receive them, others had to touch their belongings without their consent. This is far more degrading and unacceptable than the way they were told about their dismissal.