PROMOTION

पदोन्नति
MEANING, FEATURES & BASES
OF PROMOTION
B.A., M.A., UGC NET, UPSC, PCS
By – Dr. Komal Singh Chauhan
▪ Promotion means the advancement of an employee to a
higher job involving more work, greater responsibility and
higher status.
▪ Employee is placed on a higher post involving greater
amount of responsibility, better status, more pay and more
perks.
▪ It does not mean only increment in salary, because sometimes
it increases and in some cases, it may not.
▪ Promotion involves greater responsibilities, and usually
involves higher pay and better terms and conditions of
service and, therefore, a higher status or rank.
▪ The change in duties and responsibilities forms an essential
characteristic of the promotion process. For example, if a
lecturer is appointed the Head of the Department in a college,
it is a promotion because it has led to a change of duties and
responsibilities.
▪ So, promotion means moving the employee to a job involving
more work and greater responsibility and enjoying better pay,
status and facilities.
▪ It involves higher responsibilities, better job status and increase in
salary.
▪ Promotion is beneficial to both employees as well as organisation.
It motivates, increases the involvement and commitment of the
employees, leading to increased productivity.
▪ It enhances employee morale and job satisfaction.
▪ Promotion is a reward for consistently good performance of the
employee.
▪ To fill up higher vacancies from within the organisation.
▪ PROMOTION BY SENIORITY
▪ PROMOTION BY MERIT
▪ SENIORITY CUM MERIT PRINCIPLE
▪When promotion is given on the basis of seniority
and not merit
▪Seniority is based on the total length of service
and is counted from the date of employee’s
appointment in the organisation. The senior most
person gets the promotion first.
▪Merits such as qualifications, knowledge, skills,
performance, etc., are not given weightage as
promotion is based on seniority.
▪ It is very simple method of identifying employees for
promotion.
▪ Creates a sense of security among employees since
they can predict in advance when they will get
promoted.
▪ Avoids favoritism and nepotism in identifying
employees for promotion.
▪ Leads to cordial relations in the organisation as
decisions on promotions are based on seniority alone.
▪ The person with long service or seniority may not be efficient in
comparison to others
▪ Does not lead to the selection of the best among the eligible.
▪ Will demotivate others in the organization who do not have seniority
but have better qualifications, which will further lead to loss of
efficiency in performance
▪ No differentiation between efficient and inefficient employees and
promotes mediocrity in the organisation.
▪ if seniority alone is the basis of promotion, employees would not
make any effort for self-improvement.
▪ competent employees not eligible for promotion will leave the
organisation
▪ Promotion based on merits of the employees, i.e.,
qualifications, knowledge, skills, interpersonal
relationship, effective communication and of course
performance in the job.
▪ Employee is promoted on the basis of superior
performance in the current job, which can be known
through performance appraisal done by the organization.
▪ Seniority is not given weightage.
▪ The HR department keeps updated records about each
employee which include details regarding performance
in the job, increments, performance awards etc.
▪ Values the merit - Appreciates and recognises the
knowledge, skills and performance of the employee.
▪ Even employees with less experience can expect
promotions.
▪ Motivates the employees to perform better as promotions are
based on merits, hence improvement in the efficiency of the
organisation
▪ The management is able to retain competent employees as
they are eligible for promotions based on merits.
▪ Leads to increased productivity in the organisation.
▪ Scope for favoritism, nepotism and bias.
▪ Determining merit is difficult and complicated in
the absence of accurate criteria.
▪ No guaranteed promotion even if the person has
put in several years’ service in the organisation.
▪ Demotivates senior employees
▪ Blended method - that mixes both principles
▪ Purpose – to establish a balance between the 2 principles
▪ 1st type - Minimum period of service (seniority) is fixed and then, employees
with best performances than the others (merit) are promoted.
▪ 2nd way - A list of Employees with a minimum performance record and quali-
fications (merit) are made eligible for promotion, out of which the senior
employees are given promotions first and the junior employees later.
▪ In another strategy, relative importance of both seniority as well as merit are
followed in the organisation. Example, an organization may keep 50% for merit
and 50% for seniority or 70% for merit and 30% to seniority.
 THANK YOU &
HAVE A
WONDERFUL DAY