Unit 12 promoting, transferring and terminating employees

Vocabulary

Match up each of the words and phrases in A to its synonym or an explanation for it in B. Use your dictionary if necessary.

A B

1. promotion	pair
2. transfer	mutual
3. concern	a husband or wife
advancement	special importance
essentially	involving the process of producing several things
previously
emphasis	care
couple	progress
joint	a move to a higher level in an organization
custody
multigenerational	the process of moving
spouse	earlier
	basically
	worry

Pre- reading task

Work in small groups.

You are going to read about promotions and transfers. Though these two things are connected with the movement of employees within the organization, there is a distinct difference between them. Express your thoughts on the purposes of promotions and transfers.

Reading

Skim through text 24. How much of the information did your group already know?

Text 24 promotions and transfers

A major HRM concern is the movement of employees after they have been selected and trained to perform their initial job with the organization. Promotion is the advancement of a current employee to a higher-level job within the organization. Generally, the new position is more complex, has more responsibility, and receives more compensation. A transfer is the reassignment of a current employee to another job at the same level as the original job. Although the individual may receive more compensation as a result of the transfer, usually the responsibility and complexity of the new job are roughly equal to that of the original one.

We can think of promotion and transfer as being essentially the same process we discussed previously as selection because the central focus of all three is to match an individual’s KSAs to the requirements of a job. There is one important difference, however; the nature of the data collected for transfers and promotions is different from that collected in selection because candidates for promotion or transfer already work for the organization. Consequently, managers can gather data from previous performance appraisals as well as opinions from current and former supervisors, with an emphasis on job activities that are similar to the activities of the new job,

Promotions and transfers that require geographical relocation are more difficult to arrange now than previously because social trends such as two-career couples, single parents with joint child-custody rights, and employees with multigenerational responsibilities present difficulties in physical relocation. As a result, companies are providing services such as career counselling for spouses, legal counselling for child- custody questions, and financial and family counselling in connection with making such a change.

Writing

Write the summary of text 24.

Pre- reading task

The departure of an employee from the organization is called termination. This process is used by firms when they close facilities, reduce their work force, or act in response to continued poor performance. There are two major types of termination: for cause and lay-offs. Before you read text 25, discuss in small groups your ideas about these two types of termination.

Reading

Work in two groups.

Group A Read about for-cause terminations.

Group B Read about lay-offs.

1. Read your extract using your dictionary to help with new words.