JOB CHANGES:

TRANSFER AND
PROMOTION
Chapter 10
TRANSFER
• Transfer means shifting of an employee from one job to another, one unit to
another or one shift to another and may involve a new geographical location.
• Transfers have a number of objectives, such as moving employees to positions
with a higher priority in terms of goals, placing employees in positions more
appropriate to their interests or abilities or filing department vacancies with
employees from overstaffed department.
• According to Dale Yoder, “A transfer involves the shifting of an employee from one
job to another without special reference to changing responsibilities or
compensation.
• A transfer is a lateral movement of an employee from one job to another.
 TRANSFER VS PROMOTION
TRANSFER PROMOTION
It refers to a lateral shift of an individual from one job It implies upward elevation of an individual in terms of job
position to another on the same occupational level and pay responsibilities, pay scale and status
scale
Consideration of merit and seniority do not affects transfer It represents a recognition of and reward for merit, good
decisions. The incentive value of transfer is low. performance and behaviour, length of service,
commitment and so on.
It is a routine administrative matter It involves thoughtful managerial decisions
In case of transfers outsiders do not enter into In promotion management can fill the positions internally
consideration or through external selection
The criteria for transfer may be improving versatility of The criteria for promotion may be merit in the
employees, rectification or correction of wrong performance of job, potential for assuming higher
placement, increase or decrease in volume of activity, responsibilities, length of service in a job,
punishment for poor performance
Transfers may be multi-directional and reversible Normally once a employee is promoted to a higher
position, he is not reverted back or demoted to earlier
position
CAUSES OR RATIONALE OF TRANSFERS
• Meeting Organisational Needs
• Meeting Employees Requests
• Better Utilization of Employees
• Developing Allrounders
• Manpower Adjustments
• Avoidance of Conflicts
• Punishing the Employees
• Relief to the Employees
• Tenure System
TYPES OF TRANSFERS
• Production Transfers: These transfers are resorted to when there is need of
manpower in one department and there is surplus in another department.
• Remedial Transfers: In case an employee does not feel comfortable on his job, he
may be transferred to some other job
• Job-Rotation Transfers: It is a common practice to train employees in different
jobs with the aim of increasing their versatility and improving their chances of
promotion.
• Shift Transfers: In case of industrial firms, there are normally three shifts. Usually
these shifts are rotating.
• Inter-Plant Transfers: If a transfer is from one plant to another, it is known as
inter-plant transfer.
PROMOTION
• A promotion is the transfer of an employee to a job that pays more money
or one that enjoys some preferred status.
• Promotion is the advancement of an employee to a better job-better in
terms of greater responsibilities, more prestige or status, greater skill and
especially increased scale of pay or salary.
• The purpose of a promotion is to provide a position which in general is
worth more to the organization than the incumbent’s present position.
PROMOTION AND UPGRADATION
• Promotion means advancement of an employee to a higher post with greater
responsibilities and higher salary, better service conditions and thus higher status.
• When salary of an employee is increased without corresponding change in job
status , it is called upgrading
• The job itself may be upgraded to a higher scale of pay or if there are variable
scales of pay for same job according to skill required, upgrading may mean moving
to a higher scale without changing the job.
• Both promotion and upgrading are devices used by management to reward
employees for better performance and to increase their morale.
RATIONALE OF PROMOTION
• To recognize an individual’s performance and reward him for his work so that he may have
an incentive to forge ahead. Employees will have little motivation if better jobs are
reserved for outsiders.
• To promote job satisfaction among the employees and give them an opportunity for
unbroken, continuous service.
• To provide opportunities for career advancement.
• To build up morale, loyalty and a sense of belonging on the part of the employees when it
is brought home to them that they would be promoted if they deserve it.
• To create among employees a feeling of contentment with their present conditions and
encourage them to succeed in the company.
• To reduce discontent and unrest among the employees.
• To develop a competitive spirit among the employees for promoting better performance.
MERITS AND PROMOTION
• The internal candidates having intimate knowledge of the
organization can handle the new jobs easily
• It will increase the morale of the employees
• It
will ensure sincere effort on the part of employees because
they know that they may rise to senior positions by promotions
• The costs of training the insiders on the senior posts will be less
DEMERITS OF PROMOTION
• Better qualified outsiders may not be reached by the management.
Moreover, the person promoted to a senior job may not possess the
required qualities.
• The mobility of manpower is restricted. Employee turnover to a certain
extent is good for the health of the organization.
• In promotion, there may be clash between factors like seniority and ability.
The decisions may lead to favouritism.
• Further growth of the business is hindered by the limited talent of the
insiders. The entry of fresh talent into the organization will be restricted.
MERIT AS BASIS OF PROMOTION
• Merit as the basis of promotion offers maximum inducement for improvement.
Employees know that competence is the only basis for getting promotion.
• Promotion on the basis of merit motivates the employees having potential for
growth.
• Merit based promotion ensures that efficiency of the organization is maintained.
• Merit based promotion policy also attracts young and promising candidates to
apply for jobs in the organization.This infuses fresh blood into the organization.
Ability of the employees may be judged by written or oral examination, personal
interviews and their records of performance. Thus, ability criterion ignores the value
of experience.
SENIORITY AS BASIS OF PROMOTION
• Promotion will be made as a matter of course and every employee will know his
place in the promotion list.
• Respect for elders is a part of cultural value system in a number of societies.
Seniority as a mode of employee promotion is consistent with such cultural value
system of the society.
• There will be no chance of favouritism or dispute regarding promotion. The
measurement of seniority is simple as well as exact.
• It will reduce labour turnover as the employees feel secured about their
promotion.
• It will increase the morale and productivity of employees. It will also promote their
loyalty towards the organization.
 SENIORITY CUM MERIT
Increasing weightage to merit

Length of service only

Increasing weightage to
After excluding the truly incompetent, select the senior

Minimum length of service required before an employee could be considered for

seniority
promotion
Select the most meritorious only if ‘head & shoulders’ above the long service employees

From the most able, select the senior

Merit and ability only