Comparing Hiring and Promotions - Term Paper Example

? Comparing hiring and promotions based on affirmative action against seniority system Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name April 25th, 2011. Comparing hiring and promotions based on affirmative action against seniority system Many organizational changes bring shifts in the status, the pay of the employees and the way in which they are involved with the company. Some of the most important changes for an employee include promotion which is a move upwards in the organizational ladder, rotation or job transfers come under the category of lateral moves, and demotions are downward while layoffs move the employees out of the organization. Guadalupe Alegria was working in a poultry farm since the past twelve years and was a valued employee who was promoted to a managerial position temporarily. Although this had to last for two weeks, it stretched over a year due to which she had to put in extra hours without pay which left her few hours to spend with her friends and family. Later she discovered that she will be given a permanent position and she will also have to train a new manager because of which she is looking for another job. Another example is of Porter Douglas, who was a long term farm mechanic and he expected that he will be promoted to the position of a supervisor. However, an outsider got that job which left him disappointed because of which her job performance was affected and eventually he stopped putting up efforts in his work. (Bailey, Netting & Perlmutter, 2000). The loss of morale and the negative impact on productivity cannot be anticipated by the farmers when such organizational actions take place. However, an employee feels rejected which leads to dissatisfaction and they feel resentful because of the treatment they receive from the company and various questions come in their minds. In the case of Guadalupe Alegria, she wanted to know the reason why she was made a manager for so long and why was she told that she has been doing a good job when she wasn’t and why is she being replaced by someone else. After Porter was passed over for his promotion, he felt that his boss used an affirmative action trick when he hired a woman for the position of a supervisor. However, even the employees who are promoted and those who are hired from outside the organization come across various challenges that they need to deal with and morale is less likely to drop in cases when the employees know the reason why the management has taken a decision. In cases when the employees are not consulted, difficulties arise. For instance, if an employee is promoted and is made to work with another employee, she might feel punished than being rewarded and same is the case when an employee is promoted to a more difficult job. When making promotion decisions, some companies also focus on seniority and merit considerations while some select the outside applicants for a job without discussing it with the present personnel. (Barker, 2008). Seniority vs. Merit in Promotions The length of service of an employee in a particular position marks seniority and an individual who has worked with an organization for four years is senior than an individual who has worked for two or three years. However, merit refers to worth or excellence and since it is intangible, it is difficult to measure when compared to seniority. For promotion purposes, merit is measured by looking at the relevant qualifications and the past performance of an employee. Promotion by seniority An organization that follows a seniority system, the promotions are given on the basis of the length of service. Japanese companies mostly follow this system in which an employee joins the organization at a low level after which he is promoted to higher levels. In this system, length of service is the main criteria of moving upwards. However, it counts only within specific work groups and job classifications differ from one group to another. In a farm, all the pickers, tractor drivers and hoers fall in one group while the mechanics come in another and the managers in another group. Both promotion by seniority and merit have their own benefits as well as certain disadvantages. In the case of promotion by seniority, undisputed objectivity is the major strength and it increase loyalty of the employees towards the organization along with increased cooperation. Advantages of seniority based promotion 1. When the employees move upwards in the promotional ladder, they experience various kinds of jobs if they stay with an organization for long. 2. Cooperation between the employee increases because competition does not become a hindrance. 3. Employees do not need any favor from their managers in order to get promoted. Disadvantages of seniority based promotion 1. There are certain jobs an employee might not want to do but an organization that strictly follows seniority system would impel them. 2. This is a not a good idea for employees who are ambitious since they do not like to wait for their turn to get to a higher position. 3. The ethnic groups, immigrants and the women who are new are often underrepresented at the higher levels. (Leat, 2001) 4. Over skilled workers are hired by the company at lower levels so that they can be promoted in the future. Promotion by merit The best qualified workers are promoted on the basis of merit instead of promoting the employees on the basis of seniority. The past performances of an employee are analyzed when they apply for a position and the performance appraisal which is effective also builds trust. As discussed earlier, it is not easy to measure or define merit because it requires subjective evaluations. Someone has to make judgment about an employee and the employees also feel difficulty in making distinction between merits. Advantages of merit system 1. The employees who are ambitious can be rewarded well. 2. Performance is encouraged. 3. Hiring is done for a specific job rather than looking for their ability to be promoted. Disadvantages of merit systems 1. Due to the factor of subjectivity, it is difficult to measure merit. 2. Favoritism occurs since the supervisors may rewards those employees who are their favorites. (Lewis, 2003). 3. Discrimination occurs when merit evaluations are being done. 4. Conflicts can occur between the employees when they compete with one another. Seniority and merit together in hiring and promotions In order to obtain a mix of benefits, the companies can combine the merit based and the seniority based system for hiring and promotions. Companies can promote the employees who are senior and least qualified for a job or the best qualified employees can be chosen from the group of most senior employees. Promoting currently hired employees or Outside Hire? The hopes for advancements that the employees have are often affected by the promotion policies of the companies. Employers often have to promote the employees from within the organization because not doing so can lessen the loyalty and negatively affect the motivation of the presently employed individuals. Moreover, when employer promote from within the organization, the employees are encouraged but promoting from inside also means forgoing the right of the organizations to fill the positions with more qualified personnel from outside. A misconception about performing well at a job often is that it will also lead to success after promotion. For instance, the personnel who are given supervisory jobs from technical jobs or jobs that are related to management does not mean that they will perform well in other areas too and this means that employees are not always capable of handling the responsibility after promotion. However, in some cases the workers who perform poorly perform better after the promotion because they got bored of their previous job. Worker development is also often discouraged by the policies that are made by the companies since when the manager has a time constraint to get the work done, any employee can be promoted on a temporary basis until a proper hiring decision is made. However, it is wise to emphasize the nature of the position to the employee who is temporarily promoted in order to avoid any kind of disappointment later onwards. Demotion also has to be considered when an employee does not perform well after being promoted and in this way both the current job and the previous job can be lost like it happened in the cases discussed earlier. Therefore, a time period should be assigned to the employee which is also known as probationary period. Promotion policy Companies aim to select the most capable candidates for job openings by doing outside recruitment. Employees should be encouraged to apply for positions and they will be provided with the job descriptions. Alternatives to Promotions Even at times when promotions are not available, the employees want growth in their jobs. However, in many cases the employees are not correct by thinking that promotion is the only way of career growth. Similarly, some companies also think about promotion as the way to reward the employees. Employees who want promotion either demand any kind of change and they might also threaten the management for a different job. In cases like these, if the organization is unable to promote the employee, they must be encouraged to pursue other career possibilities. The management must assure the employees that they care for them and they want to develop their careers. There are many situations in which the qualified employees can develop their careers by growing their current positions. Therefore, the companies must use the best strategy to keep the employees motivated and for this they need to know about every employee and their needs of advancement, if he is willing to take more responsibility or if he wants a transfer or a promotion. Job enlargement and enrichment When an employee wants more responsibility within the same job, it can be provided either by job enlargement or job enrichment or in both the cases, the responsibility is added with an additional pay. Job enlargement includes horizontal loading which means giving an additional responsibility to the employee so that he can use the same skills in his current job. However, in job enrichment, vertical loading is involved an employee is given more decision making responsibility. A technician in a lab responsible for berry culture can be made responsible for another task such as to take care of the plant. One more example can be of a cowboy who can be given an added responsibility to choose the horses he wants to work with and more freedom in taking decisions. Transfers and job rotation Some of the forms of job enlargement are transfers and job rotation and they entail the movement of one job to another. Transfers are for a longer period of time while the job rotations are several and are short term. Moreover, job rotations are also cyclical and they often involve the same kind of jobs that needs to be done again and again. Quoting an example of a dairy, the workers can rotate their jobs from milking to feeding the cow and the same happens in companies where the employees can rotate jobs. Rotation helps in alleviating boredom and entitles the workers and the employees to more tasks. In the case of absence or when the rate of turnover increases, the other employees can perform the job which is vacant. However, when employees relocate, their morale can be affected but increase in the pay can help. Organizations also offer assistance to the spouse in finding a job when the other spouse is relocated. Conclusion The changes and movements of the organizations like promotions, hiring, transfers, job rotations, layoffs and demotion of the employees have an impact on the worker’s security as well as their level of satisfaction and productivity. The organizations that favor the merit based system focus on the qualification and the performances of the employees while the organizations that support the seniority based system focus more on job security and protection from illogical treatment. Moreover, seniority based systems rewards the employees for their loyalty while the merit based system promotes excellence. However, the organizations that are more effective have a blend of both and they promote the employees on the basis of both seniority and merit. Similar is the case with their hiring policies. The workers who are in the favor of merit based system also favor seniority based layoffs so that employees cannot be retained for a longer period of time. However, the organizations that favor merit layoffs focus on the fact that they require qualified people to do jobs. To make a promotion and hiring policy successful, the management should not eliminate the option for the management to hire individuals from outside. Promotion is considered as the ladder to success and career growth by some employees but it also comes with various other challenges and to cope up with these, the company can opt for transfers, job rotation, job enlargement and job enrichment. Bibliography: Bailey,D., Netting,E. & Perlmutter,F.D. (2000). Managing Human Resources in the Human Services: Supervisory Challenges.1st Edn. Oxford Cool Soundsiversity Press, USA. Barker,C. (2008). Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. 3rd Edn. Sage Publications Ltd. Leat, M. (2001). Exploring Employee Relations. Butterworth-Heinemann. Lewis,P. (2003). Employee Relations: Cool Soundsderstanding The Employment Relationship. Financial Times Management. Read More