Promotions and Responses to Disappointment

The Missed Promotion Exercise

1) What is your opinion on MICHAEL's ANSWER to the MANAGER's SCENARIO questions below?

MICHAEL's ANSWER: I am playing the role of the manager.

My goal for this meeting would be to provide Sam with an opportunity to voice his concerns in an environment in which he wouldn't feel penalized or believe his comments would pose some type of adverse action. By the end of the meeting I want Sam to be able to walk out knowing that he is a valued member of the team and that the company sees what he is doing and they are greatly appreciative of it and although he was not selected for that particular position there will be other opportunities for him to grow within the company.

I think Sam's goal of the meeting is to gain a detailed understanding as to why he wasn't selected for the promotion.

I will reach my goal but first allowing Sam the time to express his frustrations and concerns if any. I would use an affective motivation approach by validating his self worth and highlight his achievements with the company.

The concern I would have is how open Sam would be to receiving. Not being selected for a promotion can make someone feel very unworthy to the point of anger.

QUESTIONS & SCENAROS?????In managing others, human perception, attitudes and motivation are of great importance. One important OB issue spanning these dimensions is the concept of "perceived fairness" in the workplace.

Fairness is such a common phenomenon in organizations that most leaders/ managers typically give it little thought. If an employee says the vacation/ leave, or other policy, isn't fair, he or she might get some attention. But what seems fair to one person may not seem fair to another. Part of the reason for this discrepancy is that people use different rules for deciding what is fair. Collectively these rules are called "Organizational Justice" and there are 3 types of Justice:
Distributive Justice - people decide what is fair based on results and outcomes that are fair to everyone
Procedural Justice - people decide what is fair based on the methods or procedures that are perceived as being fair to everyone
Interactional Justice - people decide what is fair based on the way people are treated that is seen as being fair to everyone

1. In this module, we will be exploring the question of Justice through a modified role play involving a missed promotion. During week one, we will be dividing into two groups. You will be asked to read some instructions on the exercise for one or the other group. Please avoid the temptation of reading the instructions for both roles. Your ability to successfully complete the role play will be severely compromised if you do. If you are curious, you can always go back at the end of the module and read the other's instructions! This exercise is modified from Caza, A., Caza, B.B., & Lind, E.A. (2010). The missed promotion: An exercise demonstrating the importance of organizational justice. Journal of Management Education, first published on October 1, 2010 doi:10.1177/1052562910381875

If the last digit of your Social Security Number is 0-4, go to Manager Scenario attached below. If the last digit of your social security number is 5-9, go to Employee Scenario attached below.

1. Read the instructions and jot down your answers to the questions. Keep these notes, and attach them to your first post in the Discussion. (15 minutes)

2. This week's discussion will be a meeting between members of both parties. First, identify your role. Stay in your role and using the answers to the questions you prepared above, present your case to the other "side" and try to accomplish the goal you have set out in step one. You will want to return to the discussion at least twice during the week to respond to someone who is playing the other role, and see how others have responded to your arguments. Make additional points if necessary to clarify your position or further your argument. (30 minutes)

EMPLOYEE SENCERIO: You have been employed at Universidad Cable for 2 years. You will soon be meeting with your immediate supervisor, Chris. You sent an e-mail requesting this meeting, because you just found out that you did not receive a promotion you were expecting.

You were surprised and disappointed when you learned that you did not get the promotion. You are definitely qualified. Moreover, your unique combination of skills and experience would have made you very effective in the new position.

You will be meeting with Chris in 10 minutes. To prepare, think about the issues involved in the meeting. There are four questions below. Please consider and write your answer to each of the questions in the space provided. Focus on the most important points in answering the questions.

1) Describe your goal for this meeting. What would make it successful?
2) What do you think Chris's goal for the meeting is?
3) How will you reach your goal? What approach will you use?
4) Describe any other issues or concerns you have about the meeting.

MANAGER SCENRIO: You are a unit supervisor at Universidad Cable. Sam, one of your direct reports, has just sent you an e-mail requesting a meeting. You know that Sam was expecting a promotion and was denied that promotion yesterday. The promotion decision is what you are meeting about.

Sam is valuable employee, whom you definitely want to keep in your unit. To prepare for this meeting, you reviewed the minutes from the promotions committee meeting. There were six applicants for the position Sam wanted, and all six applicants were strong candidates. Sam was clearly qualified for the position, but the committee decided that one of the other applicants was a better choice.

You will be meeting with Sam in 10 minutes. To prepare, think about the issues involved in the meeting. There are four questions below. Please consider and write your answer to each of the questions in the space provided. Focus on the most important points in answering the questions.

1) Describe your goal for this meeting. What would make it successful?
2) What do you think Sam's goal for the meeting is ?
3) How will you reach your goal? What approach will you use?
4) Describe any other issues or concerns you have about this meeting.

2) What is your opinion on EMMANUEL's ANSWER to the EMPLOYEE SCENARIO above?

EMMANUEL's ANSWER: I am playing the role of the employee

As an employee, I will be direct yet with a tone of respect to my supervisor. I would ask him why I missed the promotion. What are the requirements that I should have completed, where did I failed him on his expectations of me, the things that I needed to improve, or the things that I have done in the past that should not be repeated . I think, an open 2-way communication will get this situation resolved.

I think Chris goal in calling this meeting is to formally inform me that I missed the promotion. Also I expect that he will tell me the reasons why I wasn't get promoted, and would counsel me and gave me a direction of what are the things that I needed to worked on, the details of the things that are expected from me, and requirements that I needed to complete; and all other things if done will give me a window of opportunity to get the next cycle promotion.

To be able to get promoted, I would diligently and religiously work on the reasons why I wasn't promoted, work on my boss expectations of me, get all requirements knock-down and completed, and all other things that have been discussed in the meeting.

Not really have any concerns on this meeting other than if I missed to ask something that I should have asked in order to correct the things that failed me to get promoted and/or are expected of me that will give me shot for the next cycle's promotion. I would take this meeting a great opportunity to check my qualifications and things that I needed to improve and work on to be a competitive nominee for next year's promotion.