Discussion Thread: Internal Selection
      The issues that the Commercial Sales Division (CSD) of Bioglass Inc. is facing seem to stem from the misunderstanding of the skills required for different roles. The promotion of Tom Caldwell from a successful sale associate to a management role shows a classic case of the Peter Principle, which states that employees tend to be promoted to their level of incompetence. Despite his proficiency as a sales associate, the skills that allow him to excel in the sales position do not translate into effective management skills.
           In future company promotion decisions, Bioglass should adopt a more different approach to promoting employees that incorporates values and job performance. This can involve recognizing that different positions will require different sets of skills and competencies. Instead of assuming that top performers in a role will excel in a higher role, it would be safe for the company to assess the abilities that are required for the new position and identify possible candidates that have those abilities. To accomplish this, the company could implement assessments or dry-run scenarios that mirror the tasks and challenges for the new role, which will allow candidates to demonstrate their skillsets and abilities.
           Sameer and Priyadarshi (2022) discuss how a “person-job fit†involves two different key concepts. The first is a demands-abilities fit, which refers to aligning the job requirements with the individual’s capabilities, and secondly is the needs-supplies fit, which is the compatibility between a person’s needs and the job’s attributes. The correct fit is crucial for positive job performance. Bioglass can focus on integrating the “person-job fit†to ensure future organizational success.
           Additionally, Bioglass can also consider developing alternative career paths for those high-performing workers who may not necessarily be fit for a management role. This could entail establishing advanced specialist roles that recognize and reward their performance without setting the path forward into management.
           Performance appraisals and evaluations also play a vital role in internal selection decisions because they provide valuable information about employees’ performance in their current positions. However, it should not be the sole factor in a promotion decision. They may be especially relevant in cases where the promotion involves similar tasks and responsibilities to the current role, and the relevance can decrease when the new role needs a different set of skills or abilities.
           For Tom’s situation, performance appraisals would have shown his proficiency in sales but would not predict his ability to manage a team. In these situations, other tools like competency assessments, like 360 feedback or situation judgment tests, could have helped the company in the promotion decision.
           In conclusion, the problems the CSD faced seemed to arise from heavy reliance on past performance as its only predictor. To improve future performance decisions, Bioglass should use a more competency-based approach for internal promotion decisions and recognize that not all high-performers are suited for leadership roles.
Â
References
Sameer, S. K., & Priyadarshi, P. (2022). Regulatory-focused job crafting, person-job fit and internal employability–examining interrelationship and underlying mechanism. Evidence-Based HRM: A Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship, 11(2), 125–142. https://doi.org/10.1108/ebhrm-08-2021-0163