Editorial:

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Economics

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Recruit magazine, Hong Kong

Management

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Date: May 1997

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Sample(s): 1

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How to win the promotion game

by Laura Perez

While many young executives in Hong Kong receive a pay rise soon after the annual performance appraisal, promotion sometimes eludes them. And the reason may not be lack of opportunity but the criteria for promotion. While technical ability still counts as an important criterion for promotion, compatibility also plays a key role. In the case of promotion to a managerial position, management ability is also important.

In general, employers look for three things when promoting staff to managerial positions,'' said Iain McCormick, a clinical psychologist and principal of HR consultancy Renwick, McCormick and Maule Ltd.

"First, they look for technical ability in terms of being able to do the job of a more senior position. Second, they look for management ability in terms of being able to plan, control and develop staff. Most importantly, they often look for compatibility within the team, and the ability to get on with peers and customers.''

Chemistry counts. One young executive, Ms Jenny Chan, said she realised this when her boss announced that she was being groomed to be his deputy. "I realised he was choosing me over two other experienced candidates. He said he was satisfied with my overall performance and my versatility. But when I talked to the other candidates, I found out they were just as competent, except that the first often phoned in sick and the second was too aggressive. My boss said getting either of them to work closely with him would be like pounding a hammer onto his head."

Commenting on the role of chemistry in the promotion process, McCormick said: "Bosses tend to prefer people when the chemistry is right rather than when the skills are right. The more you are like your boss, the greater your chances of being promoted. I don't think that's fair but it's reality. It's what happens around the world."

But for most companies, how a worker performs his duties is the most important criterion for promotion. Virginia Lai, senior personnel and general administration officer of Lamsoon HK Ltd, said performance is their company's foremost consideration.

"We rate our staff's activities, efficiency, effectiveness and the quality of their job," said Lai. "We also consider their relationship with their colleagues and supervisor. We don't rate them highly on personality as we are a manufacturing firm."

Some organisations, particularly big multinationals, tend to have well-developed systems of promotion.

Antonio Bucci, chief representative of Telecom Italia which employs about 90,000 people worldwide, said they carry out a sophisticated appraisal system primarily to increase staff's salary and only promote people when a position is to be filled.

"We set objective targets for our people in the middle and top management, then we rate their quantitative and qualitative performance," said Bucci who worked as personnel manager for the company for 16 years. "We have a system for evaluating the potential of every manager and the assessment is done with internal specialists and consulting firms."

He said the criteria they use depend on the position at stake in the department. "For instance, in a marekting position we take into consideration the person's interpersonal skills and his capablity to manage subordinates," he said.

"The supervisor's recommendation can influence the choice of a person for promotion but the technical evaluation of the managers will eventually prevail. We try to be as objective as possible."

Fair play is one of the reasons why well developed multinationals are generally considered to be very good employers in Hong Kong and why they often get the best people, said McCormick. Such companies are seen as the best places to get training, where there are lots of opportunities for promotion.

In big companies like Hongkong Bank, there are several levels you can move on to and where you can transfer between departments or maybe move overseas," he said.

"Bigger companies may also have a policy of only recruiting from the inside. Such companies always have more people on the general level and when there's competition between various people for promotion, it brings out the best in them.

"Every time someone is promoted, it has a cascade effect: the junior person becomes intermedate, intermediate becomes senior, and so on. It has a profound effect on the organisation. It gives everybody a sense that there is opportunity and hope."

Lawrence Ngan, sales service divisional general manager of Holiday Tours and Travel, said that the selection of employees to any position depends on the nature of the job.

"As we are a service organisation, the personality of our staff is important. We take that very much into consideartion when evaluating them for promotion. I must say personality is difficult to judge so that makes our evaluation subjective.

"A supervisor usually recommends to the department manager somebody for promotion. In case there are two or more candidates vying for the same post, they are further evaluated on the quality of work they do, and are interviewed by the managing director or general manager who has the last say," he said.

Lest we get carried away by the complexity of the promotion process, management guru Mark McCormack takes us into the mind of the person who makes the crucial choice.

First, he says, a typical boss does not think well of an assistant who may be scheming to grab his throne. That person would rather have several staff in non-threatening positions.

So if you are extremely competent but still haven't been promoted, you now know why.

Second, a smart boss usually gets a partner who complements his temperament, talent and areas of interest. He has to like and respect the fellow who will work next to him.

Third, a boss wants the support of most subordinates. If a prospective assistant can prove he has considerable following within the workforce, some of whom may not be under the boss' wings, it will definitely work on the assistant's favour.

High turnover and unrealistic expectations of some young executives further complicate the issue of promotion in Hong Kong. Said McCormick: "Many people here are unrealistically ambitious. They come out of university and expect immediately to move to management row. Another problem is that some managers here believe it's not worth training people because if you train them, they'll leave.

"There is a widely held belief in Hong Kong that the only way to get promoted is to leave and go to another company."

The tendency of some Hong kong companies to get management people from the outside reinforces this belief. "When organisations hire middle and senior managers from the outside, it has a profound effect on somebody below that position. It decreases their career opportunities. Because of this, people feel frustrated and go somewhere else," said McCormick.

"But they have to realise that all of us move through our career in the same way starting with a rapid rise and then getting slower and slower on both salary and promotion. We should know when we are at our peak. We may feel like we should be getting more and when we feel we're in a rut, we should be thinking, 'Well, can we broaden our skills, can we make our job more interesting?' "