Comparing hiring and promotions based on Afirmative Actioin against Term Paper

Comparing hiring and promotions based on Afirmative Actioin against senority system - Term Paper Example Guadalupe Alegria was working in a poultry farm since the past twelve years and was a valued employee who was promoted to a managerial position temporarily. Although this had to last for two weeks, it stretched over a year due to which she had to put in extra hours without pay which left her few hours to spend with her friends and family. Later she discovered that she will be given a permanent position and she will also have to train a new manager because of which she is looking for another job. Another example is of Porter Douglas, who was a long term farm mechanic and he expected that he will be promoted to the position of a supervisor. However, an outsider got that job which left him disappointed because of which her job performance was affected and eventually he stopped putting up efforts in his work. (Bailey, Netting & Perlmutter, 2000). The loss of morale and the negative impact on productivity cannot be anticipated by the farmers when such organizational actions take place. Ho wever, an employee feels rejected which leads to dissatisfaction and they feel resentful because of the treatment they receive from the company and various questions come in their minds. In the case of Guadalupe Alegria, she wanted to know the reason why she was made a manager for so long and why was she told that she has been doing a good job when she wasn’t and why is she being replaced by someone else. After Porter was passed over for his promotion, he felt that his boss used an affirmative action trick when he hired a woman for the position of a supervisor. However, even the employees who are promoted and those who are hired from outside the organization come across various challenges that they need to deal with and morale is less likely to drop in cases when the employees know the reason why the management has taken a decision. In cases when the employees are not consulted, difficulties arise. For instance, if an employee is promoted and is made to work with another empl oyee, she might feel punished than being rewarded and same is the case when an employee is promoted to a more difficult job. When making promotion decisions, some companies also focus on seniority and merit considerations while some select the outside applicants for a job without discussing it with the present personnel. (Barker, 2008). Seniority vs. Merit in Promotions The length of service of an employee in a particular position marks seniority and an individual who has worked with an organization for four years is senior than an individual who has worked for two or three years. However, merit refers to worth or excellence and since it is intangible, it is difficult to measure when compared to seniority. For promotion purposes, merit is measured by looking at the relevant qualifications and the past performance of an employee. Promotion by seniority An organization that follows a seniority system, the promotions are given on the basis of the length of service. Japanese companies m ostly follow this system in which an employee joins the organization at a low level after which he is promoted to higher levels. In this system, length of service is the main criteria of moving upwards. However, it counts only within specific work groups and job classifications differ from one group to another. In a farm, all the pickers, tractor drivers and hoers fall in one group while the