Centre for Case Studies HEC Montreal
Case 9 30 2011 004, prepared by Abderrahman HASSI (Algonquin College, Ottawa, Canada)

The benefit of promotion
Jeff was recently promoted to supervisor of the quality control division within the production unit of a large agribusiness company in his native rural region. Before his promotion, he had worked as a quality controller with the same team and unit for over 15 years, during which time he had maintained amicable relationships with all his colleagues. The team often organized social activities and on occasion even celebrated holidays together with their families. Jeff lived for his work, sacrificing long hours and endless days on his projects. Despite the fact that he always made some time for his colleagues, they often described him as the most dedicated workaholic in the group!
However, since his promotion, Jeff has been feeling that he lacks influence within his present working environment. His new position, which most employees consider a major springboard for his career, looks more to him like a dead-end road right now. It is clear to him that his new position within the corporate hierarchy is not very important at all. In fact, he may just as well have been placed at the bottom of a totem pole. Jeff feels that his unit manager tend to focus only on his corporate faults, as opposed to shedding positive light on his achievements and what he has brought to the company over the years.
Moreover, his employees do not adequately support him when working on major projects for their clients, even though he often plays the role of team facilitator by assisting and coaching them on different aspects of their jobs. He does not exert any influence on his employees’ wages and compensation, and as a result, he can neither reward nor punish any of his subordinates. In addition, he cannot develop or request training for his team without the budget approval of both the Human Resource department and his unit manager, making his attempts to get his employees to improve their work performance a tremendously challenging managerial task. In short, Jeff finds himself in an awkward situation, stuck between the various echelons of the company’s corporate hierarchy.
It is important to note that the description of the tasks and responsibilities of his new position is very limited. In fact, Jeff can only make decisions related to his area of expertise. Moreover, he is overburdened by a great deal of detail due to the high number of requests originating from both his employees and management. As a result, Jeff cannot establish solid, long-term planning and does not have the latitude to take initiatives and be more innovative in his work. He is not involved in any strategically important files. Jeff no longer has opportunities to actively network among colleagues in order to build stronger ties. Although promoted to a higher rank on the company’s organizational chart, he is cut off from the flow of corporate information. From time to time, he