How do you maintain the motivation of employees who do not get promoted?

One of the key challenges for managers is to determine what will motivate employees and then to apply appropriate policies. Motivation is concerned with how behavior gets started, is energized, is sustained, is directed, is stopped and what kind of subjective reaction is present in the organism while all this is going on (Jones, 1955). Work Motivation can be defined as a set of energetic forces that originate both within as well as beyond an individual’s being to initiate work-related behavior and to determine its form, direction, intensity and duration (Pinder, 2008)

There is a wide range of theory about what motivates people at work. While theories like Maslow’s & Herzberg’s have been successful in attracting the interest of managers, academics have generally preferred to work with cognitive theories such as the Goal-Setting and Expectancy theories, placing the emphasis on the conditions under which motivation occurs and how motivational decisions are made.

What do HR practitioners do in practice to motivate the employees who did not get promoted? Bonuses are often used when managers retrospectively decide to recognize an employee’s extra efforts, aiming at increasing employee motivation, enhancing engagement and improving performance. Bonuses have an ongoing motivation effect as bonuses have to be re-earned. Employee recognition schemes work also retrospectively, rather than aiming to directly incentivize future efforts. There are different versions such as day-to-day, public and formal/informal schemes. According to the 2009 CIPD reward survey, 31% of all employers use recognition schemes that are more popular among private sector organizations & large employers.

Other remarkable methods to motivate employees are the Horizontal Move (i.e. Australia, Greece, Cyprus), meaning to support the employee to identify other opportunities within the organization, but outside of their department or get people to work on special projects that they would have a particular interest in. Another alternative is the Relationship/Networking (i.e. U.S.) that provides exposure to senior executives & other key people to facilitate learning from others and promoting versatility. Furthermore, there is Detailed Career Mapping (i.e. U.S.) that helps employees to match their long-term professional goals with opportunities within the organization. Specific action steps can be set to properly develop and engage employees to achieve multiple career paths. Finally yet importantly, is the alternative of High Potentials Development Programs (HI-PO) (i.e. Switzerland, U.S.) that includes individual training customized to employees in order to broaden their areas of competencies to be in line with their future career growth.

There are certain key aspects of the motivation process when promotion is not attained. First, effective communication is of essential importance. Unfortunately, 1/10 employees feels fully informed by their supervisor about what is happening at work (CIPD 2009). In fact, a manager who fails to provide explanations for the delivery of the enactment of bad news is likely to lose authority & respect in the eyes of subordinates (Baron, 1993). Managers should try to reduce unpleasant feelings such as job dissatisfaction, frustration, and discomfort. Employees demand information pertaining to the details/rationale for not getting a promotion. Promoting their self-awareness makes them adapt more effectively, since cognitive elements such as perception & anticipation invariably intrude in any serious attempt to understand the situation.

In general, effective communication is interrelated to a healthy psychological contract both having an impact on job satisfaction. By the term “psychological contract”, we refer to an employee’s subjective understanding of promissory-based reciprocal exchanges between him/her and the organization. The crucial point is the interpretation process where the employee attaches meaning to the breach; perceived or actual breach makes no difference. The finding that a fair promotion system is one of the few determinants of motivation in the current HR systems suggests that employers expect equity in decisions related to promotion in order to maintain high motivation levels & career expectations. Cropanzano et al. (2001) concluded that justice matters to people to the extent it serves one out of four interrelated psychological needs i.e. control, belongingness, self-esteem, & meaningful existence.

The main question remains open: are people need-driven, goal-seeking creatures? In work settings, pay, promotion, recognition from one’s superior and a chance to show one’s skill are examples of goals that people may seek to satisfy their existence, relatedness & growth needs. A distinction shall be made here between intrinsic rewards (those provided by the individual – pay, promotion, job security) & extrinsic rewards (those provided by the organization – sense of achievement, a feeling of responsibility, job satisfaction); these two aspects are not mutually exclusive. Promotion acts as an incentive mechanism provided employees value the higher position. When promotion is not attained, it is necessary to establish new career paths in which employees are encouraged to acquire professional knowledge & skills and completely utilize their expertise other than simply pursue advancement in the organization ladder.

There are specific career management interventions that can be applied to support the “not promoted employees.” Firstly, the High Potentials (HI-PO) programming combined with key position analysis, succession planning analysis, labor market analysis. In addition, Assessment & Development Centres, Developmental work assignments and Personal Development Planning (PDP) can be applied. Furthermore, Career – Planning workshops and Career Counseling & Coaching can be utilized together with Mentoring Schemes. All these fall under a career guidance umbrella synonymous with a systematic programme of coordinated information & experiences designed to anticipate & facilitate selected knowledge & skills important to employees’ career management. Unfortunately, when it comes to career management interventions, often individual elements are introduced in isolation from each other; the issue of compatibility is crucial here and evaluation of the intervention shall be addressed.

Apart from the various interventions, we shall emphasize the role of intensive feedback, meaning to provide both formal and informal assessment & feedback to accelerate development. As former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said: “a coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.”  The hallmark of good coaching is performance feedback and the ultimate aim is performance not motivation. Unfortunately, increased motivation does not necessary lead to increased performance. Feedback comes under the umbrella of performance management, especially performance appraisal; still evidence is scarce, supporting association of such systems to organization’s productivity.

In conclusion, a framework of motivation that takes into account human cognition, human emotion, individual differences and adjusts career management interventions to these three factors can maintain motivation for those who did not get promoted but potentially will do in the future. We are lacking firm rules of thumb as to where in the cycles of experience related to the motivation to work emotionality resides. However, not getting a promotion very often results in job dissatisfaction; analyzing it in black & white offers a limited means of portraying what it can mean for those who experience it. Therefore, the major psychic challenge for working individuals will be to adjust their expectations about continuous upward mobility & career progress; managers have to support their employees and promote a coaching culture.

From an academic perspective, the recent resurgence of interest in need theories in an attempt to explore motivation on a global scale and the promising concept of goals and its link to emotion & personality provide potential for further research  on our topic question.  From a practical perspective, managers need to find solutions even if they seem to run ahead of theory & research evidence; since they are aware of the detrimental effects on motivation & performance of effort-reward imbalance, their only option is to improve equity in rewards, create flexible accommodated & promised career paths and support employees to gain specific work skills and experiences that are necessary to their career progress.

When it comes to motivation, the road of inquiry is open and it leads beyond the horizon…
(2nd Award - CyHRMA Competition 2010 Elena Maniatopoulou Hadjipanayi)