Promotion according to who or what you know: Managers’ and workers’ perception of factors influencing promotion

This paper presents partial findings of research examining the perceptions of managers and workers regarding promotions in the Israeli high-tech industry. A questionnaire containing a series of factors related to promotion was conducted with 95 workers and 36 managers in an international high-tech corporation's subsidiary located in Israel. The initial findings indicated a high degree of consent between workers and managers that the most important factor influencing promotion was success in projects. While workers and managers gave similar rankings for the most and least important factors influencing promotions, there were substantial differences in the ranking of the other factors. Among managers, education and multidisciplinary knowledge were ranked second and third, whereas among workers, politics and pressure on the supervisor were ranked second and third. The findings are discussed in terms of HRD in the organization.