International Journal of Manpower

Effects of concepts of career plateaus on performance, work satisfaction and

commitment
Andreas G.M. Nachbagauer Gabriela Riedl

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International
Journal of
Manpower
23,8
716

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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Effects of concepts of career

plateaus on performance,
work satisfaction and
commitment
Andreas G.M. Nachbagauer and Gabriela Riedl

Department of Personnel Management, University of Economics and

Business Administration, Vienna, Austria
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Keywords Career development, Performance, Job satisfaction, Commitment, Career planning

Abstract The discussion on career plateaus is marked by a diversity of operationalizations. This
paper focuses on the independence of three dimensions of career plateaus and the impact they have
on outcome measures in three areas: performance, work satisfaction and commitment. Data from
165 university staff and 77 school teachers confirmed the independence of the concepts of career
plateaus. Contrary to the general assumption that an extended period working at the same position
has detrimental effects, outcome variables were not connected to position immobility. Results for
most of the outcome measures showed the work-content dimension to account for significantly more
variance than the subjective structural dimension. Advances in work content can even moderate
negative effects emanating from low expectations of hierarchical promotion. Specifically, the
negative effects were most pronounced where the two subjective dimensions of career plateau
coincided. These have implications for individual and organizational career management processes.

Introduction
Though the issue of career plateaus and their detrimental effects on
performance and satisfaction is more than 20 years old (Ference et al., 1977),
it remains a very relevant topic. Moreover, due to organizational and
environmental changes, an increasing number of employees are affected by the
problem of career immobility (Trembley and Roger, 1993; Chay et al., 1995). In
addition, organizational performance may very well be related to this issue.
Both theory and practice show the increasing significance of human resources
as a key factor of international competitiveness (Sparrow and Hiltrop, 1994;
Sparrow and Cooper, 1998; Brewster and Harris, 1999).
In the common pyramid-shaped organization virtually everyone's career at
one time or another reaches a point where further hierarchical advancement is
unlikely. As organizations tend to reduce their staff in lean times, through
techniques such as business re-engineering, downsizing and spin-off activities,
further advancement within the organization becomes more unlikely, and
employees have to face the fact that they have to stay in the same position
longer than expected without any reduction in performance level. Beyond the
problems faced by workers in large organizations, employees in small-toInternational Journal of Manpower,
Vol. 23 No. 8, 2002, pp. 716-733.
# MCB UP Limited, 0143-7720
DOI 10.1108/01437720210453920

This article is based on data collected for an original research project conceived and conducted
by Wolfgang Elsik and the first author. See Eckardstein et al., 1997; Elsik and Nachbagauer,
1997.

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medium business units, whose economic impact is still high in European

countries (OECD, 1999), also confront a difficult situation. In these firms,
vertical career movement is limited and position immobility is a normal event.
On the other hand, mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances among
firms together with the plea for a flexible workforce limit the time in one
organization, even more so in one position. The commonly accepted perspective
that vocational education and training precedes career advancement is no
longer true. Today, careers become a ``patchwork'' of jobs and continuing
upward opportunities are restricted. This set of circumstances is, in most cases,
neither planned nor expected by the individual. He or she can only react to
these outside pressures.
In addition to the reduction of vertical advancement possibilities and the fast
changes of staff, the striking image of diversity along gender, race, and ethnic
dimensions, as well as the rising numbers of dual career couples (Arthur, 1992)
has also contributed to making formalized career systems obsolete. Here the
human resource management has to navigate between the scylla that career
stagnation does not end in performance stagnation and the charybdis of
disappointing the career expectations by unplanned changes.
Both in the literature and in practice on career plateaus and career systems
we can observe a trend towards focusing on those with high performance
potential. But this view excludes the great mass of employees who produce by
far the most output and whose productivity and good performance, though
common, is neglected. Problems with the latter group, sometimes labelled with
discriminating labels like workhorse or deadwood (Ference et al., 1977), are
merely defined as threats, not as challenges (Leibowitz et al., 1990).
A key issue with the increase in flexibility of organizations and its effect
on working conditions is maintaining employee commitment. Commitment
of employees is expected to be enhanced by target-oriented designing of
organizational cultures and individualized incentive systems such as career
systems.
Much of the established career theory, especially the theory on career
plateaus, was developed before recent changes in the organization on work and
the workforce became well established. It is assumed that the current low
interest in career plateaus in the literature is connected with the reduction of the
employees' average tenure in a position. This makes objective career plateaus
less likely. Such a narrowing of the view on hierarchical promotion neglects the
work-content dimension and the possibility of a subjective plateau. Therefore it
is useful again to discuss career plateaus against this changed background,
in particular since previous reports on its relationship with performance,
satisfaction and commitment are inconsistent and typologies of career plateaus
lack empirical testing.
What does ``career'' mean?
In the literature, career lines and careers are either distinguished as
independent concepts (Mayerhofer, 1993) or used as synonyms (Mentzel, 1997).

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Gerpott (1988, p. 90) defines ``career lines as given, standardized sequences of

positions that are specified by organizations in a formalized way for particular
groups of employees and which are related to persons, but independent of the
individual . . . Such normative frameworks for sequences of positions are
preferably found in large organizations and bureaucracies.''
Career lines limit the organizational scope for individual careers. Gerpott
(1988) differentiates here between a position-oriented and a behaviour-oriented
understanding of career. He views a position-oriented career as any succession
of positions held by a person, in objective terms, in the course of their working
life within organizational structures up to the present. This definition covers
career movements within and between organizations, but not the times spent
outside the employment system, such as unemployment, training, further
training and CET, nor does it include sabbaticals. The behaviour-oriented
career concept, which is understood as changes of attitudes and behaviour
associated with work experiences and activities in the time continuum of a
person's life, is integrated into the concept of career development commonly
used in the career-related literature in so far as it attempts to explain
behavioural differences between employees by means of sequences of positions
(careers) as experienced by individuals.
Motives for movement arise, in general, when positions become vacant or
new ones are created. According to Schein (1971) career movements within an
organization can be vertical, radial or circumferential. Vertical movement
can be either upward or downward. The success can be measured by the
attainment of particular hierarchical levels. Personal development may come
about also by a horizontal crossing of functional borders, viz. by changing the
content of the work and by acquiring qualifications. Schein describes the
assumption of influence and power as the third possibility of a successful
career, when someone approaches a power centre. This may but need not be
connected with a hierarchical advancement (Schein, 1971, 1994). We will follow
Schein's definition of career as movement within an organization, comprising
both hierarchical and task-oriented movements.
In traditional career research, the effects of career interruptions as well
as (hierarchical or work-related) downward movements on future career
opportunities are seldom the subject of research. Repeatedly, the literature
argues for employees viewing their own career primarily as a continual upward
movement process. This hierarchically oriented career concept is also the basis
of most definitions of career plateaus.
Concepts of career plateaus
Investigators in the field based their work on the classical definition of career
plateau by Ference et al., 1977 (see Carnazza et al., 1981; Chao, 1990; Clark, 1992;
Elsass and Ralston, 1989; Evans and Gilbert, 1984; Freimuth, 1991; Kelly, 1985;
Leibowitz et al., 1990; Near, 1985; Savery, 1990; Slocum et al., 1985; Stout et al.,
1988). They define a career plateau ``as the point in a career where the likelihood
of additional hierarchical promotion is very low'' (Ference et al., 1977, p. 602).

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Doubts about the validity of asking employees and supervisors about the
chance of further advancement (Orpen, 1986; Slocum et al., 1985; Stout
et al., 1988) have led to the definition of career plateaus ``as the point at which
future career mobility, including both upward and lateral moves, is in
reasonable doubt because the length of time in the present position has been
unduly prolonged'' (Veiga, 1981, p. 566). This operational definition stresses
long position tenure compared with the average workforce. Lateral moves
are excluded from the notion of career plateaus therefore we would rather
talk of career immobility, while plateau suggests the picture of the
impossibility of an upward move (Eckardstein et al., 1997; Gerpott, 1987;
Orpen, 1983).
Some researchers (Chao, 1990; Nicholson, 1993; Trembley and Roger, 1993)
have compared these two measurements of career plateau. Chay et al. (1995)
found that subjective measurement, the self-assessment of promotion
chances, explained more of the variance in work attitudes and behaviours
than did the objective measurement of job tenure or position immobility
(Eckardstein et al., 1997). Furthermore, the correlation between these two
measurements was not significant; in studies reporting a significant finding,
(Nicholson, 1993; Trembley and Roger, 1993) weak correlations were
observed.
It is therefore reasonable to suggest that the objective measurement of career
plateaus is more than an operationalization of Ference et al.'s notion of career
plateaus and has to be treated as an independent dimension. This is further
underpinned by reports of differing antecedents and consequences of both
dimensions.
There are two further suggestions worth considering here both of which
support the independence of the concepts. Chao (1990) argues that the way the
individual perceives, assesses and reacts to his present work depends more on
the subjective evaluation of career development than on the tenure alone. On
the other hand, feelings of being at a dead end may stem from a number of
influencing factors such as supervisor signals, personal commitment, general
advancement opportunities and practices, qualification and micro-politics and,
of course, long tenure. The objective aspect of career plateaus is determined
by past decisions whereas the subjective dimension is driven by further
expectations at work.
Both the subjective and the objective dimensions of the concept of career
plateau take as their starting point the immobility stemming from the common
structure of organizations, the pyramid. Here a career plateau is unavoidable,
given the scarcity of positions in higher layers (Ference et al., 1977; Bardwick,
1983, 1986). Hence we will refer to these two dimensions as structural career
plateaus.
But career itself, according to Schein's (1971) concept, is not necessarily
connected with hierarchical positions. Increasingly task and responsibility
have become critical variables for developmental opportunities beyond rank
and title. We will call the absence of new, challenging and varied tasks without

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possibilities of improvement or learning ``task stagnation'' or ``work-content

plateau'' (Bardwick, 1983, 1986). A structural plateau may result in a workcontent-specific plateau, yet, it is not a necessary consequence. Task stagnation
is, in principle, avoidable and reversible. The content-specific dimension has
rarely been used in empirical studies, with the exception of Orpen (1983), who
focused on tenure and changes in authority and responsibility.
Most of the studies especially in the early days of research have held the
opinion that employees will inevitably react to a career plateau with bad
performance and loss of motivation and commitment (Carnazza et al., 1981;
Evans and Gilbert, 1984; Hall, 1985; Near, 1983, 1984, 1985; Orpen, 1983, 1986;
Savery, 1990; Slocum et al., 1985; Stout et al., 1988).
Again, we can sum up the results of previous findings: plateaued performers
are older, less content with their supervisors, report a scarcity in advancement
opportunities, have a higher absenteeism rate and feel more ill. Regarding the
more interesting effects on performance, work satisfaction, motivation and
importance of advancement, the studies reported are few and produced
inconsistent results.
Proposed model
The basis of our research is the definition of career as movement within an
organization comprising both hierarchical and task-oriented movements. Thus
career plateau is the lack of such a movement. Our hypothesis is that some of
the contradictory outcomes can be explained by the usage of different concepts
and operationalizations of career plateaus. Thus, our study compares the
three definitions of career plateaus structural subjective career plateau
(Ference et al.), structural objective career plateau (Veiga, 1981) and the workcontent dimension with regard to the salient categories in previous studies
and outcomes including performance, satisfaction, and commitment.
In our empirical study we tested the independence of the objective and both
subjective career plateau concepts. In a second step we compared the effects of
each concept of career plateau on performance, satisfaction and commitment,
controlling for interaction effects. The research design is depicted in Figure 1.

Figure 1.
Theoretical framework

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Method
Subjects
The study was conducted at the Vienna University of Business Administration
and Economics (``Wirtschaftsuniversitaet'' WU) and at three secondary
colleges for business administration (``Handelsakademie'' HAK). The paperand-pencil questionnaire yielded a final sample of 165 faculty and 77 teachers,
representing a response rate of 69 percent and 28 percent, respectively.
The average age in the WU-sample was 39 years, 20 percent were female. A
total of 50 percent of the respondents had been with the university for seven
years or less, with a further 25 percent for more than 15 years. The average
tenure at the university was 10.3 years. The sample represents 45 percent of
tenured personnel and 50 percent of non-tenured personnel. The tenured part
consisted of full professors (27.9 percent with an internal hierarchy
comprising two stages), associate professors (5.5 percent assistant professors
with habilitation[1]), assistant professors (6.7 percent post-docs with tenure
but without habilitation) and (language) teachers at the university (4.9 percent).
The non-tenured part represents doctoral students (32.3 percent) and post-docs
(18.3 percent). A total of 4.9 percent were working on a contractual basis not
classified.
In contrast to the university 63 percent of the teachers in school were female.
The average age was 36 years with an average of ten years at school. About 45
percent of the teachers were appointed to permanent staff[2], also 37 percent
worked on a tenured contractual basis, while 18 percent had a non-tenured
contract. Finally, 91 percent were academics, and 9 percent non-academics.
Measures
Scales were developed after a comprehensive literature review of the area. All
scales were tested with factor analysis and alpha coefficients and resulted in
satisfactory discriminant validity and reliability. All items of scales are a fivepoint Likert-type (see Table I).
Beside demographic variables, the questionnaire comprised scales on
satisfaction with task, individual development and the organization as a whole
(following Neuberger and Allerbeck, 1978, with minor adaptations), affective
and continuance commitment (adapted and translated from Meyer and Allen,
1984). Performance measures included weekly working hours, self-assessment
of current performance (quality, quantity, and organizational utility) and recent
changes in performance level.
The structural subjective dimension of career plateau used a self-report to
assess the likelihood of further advancement, the structural objective
dimension of career plateau was computed as tenure above average of the
respective group in terms of layer, and task stagnation was measured by a
scale on work content and routine. All three variables were dichotomized.
Further items dealt with a possible enlargement of the scope of discretion and
responsibility, and the presence of niches or pet projects which the job might
offer.

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Table I.
Outcome variables
characteristics

Scale

Items

Mean

SD

Min

Max

Val n

-coef.

Performance current

3.99
3.81

0.61
0.59

2.67
2.33

5.00
5.00

165
77

0.76

Performance change

3.54
3.36

0.65
0.65

1.67
1.00

5.00
5.00

165
77

0.80

Working hours

48.40
34.03

15.75
16.43

3.00
4.00

95.00
60.00

164
76

Satisfaction task

3.91
3.82

0.66
0.58

1.33
1.89

5.00
4.78

165
75

0.86

Satisfaction development

3.61
3.68

0.81
0.83

1.00
1.50

5.00
4.83

162
66

0.87

Satisfaction WU/HAK

10

3.15
3.42

0.62
0.70

1.20
1.00

5.00
5.00

165
75

0.82

Affective commitment

3.33
3.56

0.94
0.83

1.00
1.00

5.00
5.00

165
77

0.80

Continuance commitment

2.51
2.45

1.01
1.18

1.00
1.00

5.00
5.00

165
77

0.81

Note: First line: WU; second line: HAK

Results
Demographic variables
Results for the university group showed no significant correlations between all
three types of plateaued performers on the one hand and tenure and age on the
other hand. This contrasts with results for formal employment status: while
some 30 percent of the assistant professors (doctoral students and post-docs)
without tenure report themselves as having plateaued in one way or another,
91 percent of the assistant professors (post-docs) with tenure but without
habilitation are non-plateaued performers. In contrast, 67 percent of the
associate professors (lecturers) with tenure and habilitation report themselves
on some kind of plateau (2 18 31:77; p < 0:05). Top full professors (with
tenure) are excluded from this analysis, because by definition they cannot
be promoted as they are already on the top of the pyramid. In every case either
of the structural dimensions is less important than task stagnation.
In contrast to faculty, within the group of the college teachers both age (mult.
R2 0:125; p < 0:05) and tenure (mult. R2 0:189; p < 0:05) have a strong
impact on the subjective structural dimension of career plateau. Of the teachers
without tenure 77 percent report no plateau, while some 72 percent of the
teachers with tenure report themselves as having plateaued (2 6 16:45;
p < 0:05). These findings are underscored by the fact that teachers without
tenure are about eight years younger than their fellow teachers with tenure.
Position immobility had no effect.

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Types of career plateaus

Results on the self-assessment question concerning the likelihood of further
promotion showed a clear distinction between structurally plateaued (0 and 10
percent) and non-plateaued performers (20 percent and above), especially in the
case of faculty. The expected independence of the subjective structural and the
work-content dimension, as proposed by Bardwick, was tested. No significant
correlations between the subjective structural and the work-content dimension
could be found in either sample (WU: 2 1 3:794; HAK: 2 1 1:853,
p > 0:05). The same applies to the objective structural measure and the workcontent plateau (WU: 2 1 2:524; HAK: 2 1 2:419, p > 0:05). Whereas a
significant but weak correlation between the subjective and objective structural
appeared at the WU (2 1 5:724, p < 0:05), the HAK-sample revealed no
correlation (2 1 1:938, p > 0:05). Frequencies for the 2 2 2 subgroups are
given in Table II.

Concepts of
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Outcome measures
Correlation data for the outcome measures are shown in Table III. The analysis
for the influence of different concepts of career plateaus on the outcome
measures was conducted using ANOVA including MCA, with additional
analyses where necessary. Results for the WU and the HAKs regarding
performance, satisfaction and commitment are summarized in Table IV. Note,
that for the ANOVA in the WU-sample, top full professors (with tenure) are
excluded from this analysis, because by definition they cannot be promoted
as they are already on the top of the pyramid (n 133).
We found no significant correlations between current performance and
change in performance level and any kind of plateau both in schools and the
university. Data showed a significant difference for faculty regarding
performance in terms of working hours. Faculty on a work-content plateau
reported that they worked six hours less per week than their colleagues.
Both the objective structural and, in particular, the work-content dimension
of career plateaus have a marked effect on (dis)satisfaction with the task, while
Subjective structural plateau
SSP
Non-SSP
Objective structural plateau Objective structural plateau
OSP Non-OSP Total
OSP
Non-OSP Total Total %
Work-content
plateau

Total

WCP

3.0
7.1

4.5
11.4

7.6
18.6

0.8
1.4

9.1
2.9

9.8
4.3

17.4
22.9

NonWCP

5.3
22.9

14.4
22.9

19.7
45.7

13.6
21.4

49.2
10.0

62.9
31.4

82.6
77.1

8.3
30.0

18.9
34.3

27.3
64.3

14.4
22.9

58.3
12.9

72.7
35.7

100.0
100.0

Note: First line: WU; second line: HAK

Table II.
Frequencies in each
plateau group

0.12
0.20*

Working hours

Notes: First line: WU; Second line: HAK

* p < 0:10; ** p < 0:05; ***p < 0:01

0.25***
0.20*

Performance change

0.24***
0.46***

Continuance commitment
0.26***
0.13

0.43***
0.51***

Affective commitment

Performance current

0.50***
0.47***

Satisfaction WU/HAK

Table III.
Correlation coefficients
of outcome measures
0.67***
0.38**

0.01
0.22*

0.16**
0.11

0.17**
0.21*

0.10
0.02

0.38***
0.19

0.61***
0.02

Satisfaction
development

0.02
0.08

0.08
0.27**

0.13*
0.17

0.12
0.23*

0.49***
0.39***

WU/HAK

0.05
0.04

0.16**
0.13

0.31***
0.11

0.12
0.31**

0.04
0.02

0.05
0.03

0.18**
0.31**

Commitment
Affective
Continuance

0.28**
0.36**

0.32***
0.20*
0.26**
0.03

Performance
Current
Change

724

Satisfaction development

Task

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Outcome measures

Total

Objective
structural P

Subjective
structural P

Work-content
plateau

Performance current

0.065
0.164

0.006
0.026

0.002
0.018

0.020
0.038

Performance change

0.043
0.117

0.000
0.000

0.007
0.000

0.002
0.010

Working hours

0.090
0.040

0.011
0.002

0.008
0.001

0.060*
0.001

Satisfaction task

0.302*
0.109

0.034*
0.031

0.001
0.007

0.232*
0.016

Satisfaction development

0.173*
0.044

0.002
0.006

0.036*
0.001

0.040*
0.000

Satisfaction WU/HAK

0.083
0.095

0.000
0.008

0.030*
0.017

0.012
0.004

Affective commitment

0.101
0.151

0.003
0.000

0.008
0.010

0.031*
0.064*

Continuance commitment

0.062
0.118

0.010
0.037

0.002
0.010

0.035*
0.065*

Notes: First line: WU; Second line: HAK

Total: mult. R2 , plateau dimensions: eta2; *p < 0:05

the subjective structural dimension showed no effect. Contrary to the common

understanding, both subjective plateau dimensions have an equally strong
effect on satisfaction with the individual development. The analysis reveals a
powerful interaction. Thus, considerable effects are only observable in the case
of a dual subjective plateau. The same major effects on satisfaction with the
individual development occur only on a dual subjective plateau. Dissatisfaction
with the university rises only on a subjective structural plateau, with a minor
intensification of the task-oriented dimension.
In schools, objective structural plateaued performers report more
dissatisfaction with their task than others, though not significant. No other
correlation was significant. However, we found a strong correlation of
subjective structural plateau with demographic variables. It is very likely that
the observed effects of the structural plateau are mere mediators for effects of
age and tenure. Thus, dissatisfaction with little likelihood of further promotion
is shifted to the task itself.
Non-plateaued performers achieved the highest score on the affective
commitment scale. Again it is the dual subjective plateau which lets emotional
devotion to the organization reach the bottom line. Figures for continuance
commitment show a curve opposite to that observed with the variables above,
with a stronger influence of task stagnation. In the university we have a major
negative effect of the work-content component on affective commitment and a

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Table IV.
Results of the
ANOVAs with MCA

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positive effect on an continuance commitment. Both objective structural

dimensions seemed to show no effect.
Because of strong interacting effects of all three dimensions in the university
we compared the effects of both subjective plateau forms on commitment
separately. Here we found a major negative effect of the subjective structural
component on affective commitment (eta2 0:058; p < 0:05) and no significant
effect on continuance commitment, while task stagnation improves
continuance commitment (eta2 0:029; p < 0:05) and has no emotional
consequence.
In general, the data for the schools show the same picture. However, for
teachers, the work-content dimension is more. The effect of task stagnation on
affective commitment and continuance commitment found in schools had been
expected. Again, no effect can be reported on both structural dimensions.
The only improvement connected with the possibility to draw on an
individual niche at the job can be reported with regard to affective commitment
in universities. Here, effects are even more intense in the case of task stagnation
(t 3:84; p < 0:05) than subjective structural stagnation (t 2:61;
p < 0:05). More satisfaction with task (t 4:06; p < 0:05) and individual
development (t 2:14; p < 0:05) and higher affective commitment
(t 3:51; p < 0:05), as reported by faculty affected by task stagnation, is
brought about by a recent enlargement in the scope of action and
responsibility. For university staff on a structural plateau, similar effects can
be stated regarding satisfaction with task (t = 3.57; p<0.05) and organization
(t 2:23; p < 0:05). No moderation effects can be seen at the schools.
Discussion
The most important result is the independence of each of the three dimensions of
career plateaus. Contrary to common assumptions, past tenure of a position in a
layer has no effect on either promotion expectations nor with feelings of routine
and scarcity of challenges. Even more so, the objective structural plateau or
position immobility has very few effects on outcome measures. These findings
put into question the idea of a secret career plan where everybody knows when a
promotion in a particular layer is due and, if a promotion does not happen,
feelings of being left over are common (``up or out''). At an individual level,
future expectations are influenced more by a realistic assessment of
opportunities than by mere past experience, i.e. learning is more than a simple
extrapolation of the past. These results also promote the idea of strict distinction
between measurement of past performance and future-oriented support of
employees. This interpretation is limited by the fact that universities in Austria
and, to a minor extent also schools, are organizations with rather clear-cut and
strict formal systems of promotion with respect to tenure position.
While the main effects of task stagnation on commitment in general were
expected, findings for the university regarding the negative effect of the work
content on affective commitment and the subjective structural component on
continuance commitment in the two-dimension-test are bewildering. We

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believe that these findings can be explained by taking into account previous job
expectations: it is plausible that the prospect of promotion is not the main
reason for working at the university, but rather the prospect of a varied and
interesting job. Thus, disappointed expectations may have different
consequences. A low likelihood of further promotion may influence the
emotional commitment to the university but does not affect the previous
decision to stay. If the main expectation and reason for working at the
university, the interesting job, is not met, another reason for staying within the
organization is needed. Here the side-bet-theory (Becker, 1960) suggests that
the search for rational reasons will improve the importance of previous
investments and the scarcity of alternatives.
Our findings regarding performance are in accordance with other studies. It
is not clear whether there is no difference or if the self-assessment of workrelated criteria hinders reliable ratings. On the other hand the difference in
working time for the work-content dimension but not the structural component
is plausible. When one fulfils an interesting task especially if one carries out
research work time is fleeting. With routine tasks, the reduction of working
time is a good means of obtaining a fair equilibrium of input and output. The
idea of equilibrium is underscored by the fact that there is no difference
regarding the self-assessment question, as there is no reason to suppose that
the social average differs between groups.
While the effect of task stagnation on satisfaction with the task is not really
surprising, it is interesting to see that major effects on satisfaction with
individual development occur only on a dual subjective plateau with no effect
of the objective dimension. Here, we assume the influence of compensating
effects of the two subjective dimensions. On the one hand, interesting tasks
may compensate for the scarcity of promotion opportunities, while routine
work can be understood as an unavoidable period until the next promotion
which provides the prospect of a more challenging task. If none of these seem
possible, further advancement is assessed to be low. As far as niches and the
improvement of scope are concerned, we can see that they can, albeit to a rather
small extent, have compensating effects for lacking task content and challenge.
It is again interesting that these effects are more common for universities than
for schools dominated by rather rigid structures.
A comparison of the samples of faculty and teachers reveals the importance
of task in the context of universities, while the effect of task and structure in
schools is more balanced. These findings, and the unexpected effects on
affective commitment and task satisfaction, support the assumption that the
faculty understand their university as a field of individual development in
terms of tasks, while schools give the impression of an organization where
personal development finds an end after a period of introduction. Schools are
typical examples of extremely flat organizations (i.e. teacher principal) where
most members reach their peak of development in the middle of the hierarchy.
Most surprisingly we found that one-third of the teachers believed in further
promotion in the context of an extremely flat formal hierarchy. Since it is not

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likely that each one of them will become a principal, we believe that the
meaning of (structural) promotion is very obscure. Supported by the fact that
the question concerning the likelihood of further promotion resulted in the
clear-cut differentiation of two groups, we believe that the concept of
hierarchical promotion needs reconsideration. A first hint is given by the result
that three-quarters of teachers without tenure believed in their promotion,
while the same amount of teachers with tenure did not. This is best explained
by the supposition of a trinomial concept of hierarchy though not formal at
the schools (no tenure tenure principal). Data underpin the importance of
age, which has close connections to tenure and legal status for the creation of a
structural career plateau.
In contrast to schools such clear relationships do not exist at universities.
Rather, we can distinguish between two classes of faculty with an internal
differentiation: in both classes, feelings of task stagnation are decreased, as
rank gets higher. Subsequent to passing the step to the next class, i.e. after the
habilitation, lecturers start at the bottom again and hence report high rates of
task stagnation.
Conclusions
As already mentioned in the beginning, advancement possibilities decrease due
to decentralization and lack of hierarchical strategies. This reduction in
organizational levels leads to orders being handled more frequently in projects
with a limited period, and it promotes job rotation, in general. Work content
and tasks are undergoing faster changes than ever before. This makes
permanent learning and unlearning of work-relevant content a matter of course
and does not automatically lead to a hierarchical promotion. These conditions
cannot be changed under the given market conditions.
Empirical results show however that these forms of flexibility are connected
with a negative effect on performance, satisfaction, and commitment if the
individual employees have the feeling they cannot plan or influence their
career. It seems obvious that employees should monitor their own opportunities
in the organization. Alas, in many cases, plateaued performers become aware of
their situation when it is too late for efficient action. Employees should, if
alternatives are available, consider changing the organization before
qualification and motivation are heavily affected. Here, new qualifications can
give them access to even more positions.
Some warning signals are clearly seen at an organizational level. These
include a policy of lean management, vacancies in target positions, and, at a
personal level, diminishing qualification opportunities, long tenure in a
position, a reduction of status symbols and of interaction with important
managers, and narrowing of responsibility. Proactive action is possible only if
problems can be identified. Searches for actions may include talks with
supervisors and the arrangement of an individual career and development plan.
Not only direct supervisors are important, but also strategic impression
management, an increase of visibility and reputation, and networking. Other

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actions include the redesigning of individual tasks and responsibility as well as

the creation of niches and pet projects. Here we can see the importance of
organizational preconditions: all these actions must be possible within an
organizational context which has to emphasize flexibility rather than rigidity.
In this case, even niches will not improve the individuals' situation, as the case
with schools so clearly demonstrated.
Therefore, company career management has to comprise not only ``the
planning, realization and control of all those personnel management activities
that are meant to achieve behavioural effects by systematically influencing the
position sequence of an employee over time'' (Gerpott, 1988, p. 92), but also has
to take into account the organizational context. Four main points have to be
stressed here:
(1) do not create any unfulfilled expectations;
(2) be flexible;
(3) consider compensation effects between promotion and work content;
and
(4) distinguish between past experiences and future expectations.
Most problems stem from not fulfilled expectations. Career counselling and
career agreements between employees and supervisors and transparency of
promotion standards, often in connection with qualification programs and
assessment procedures, help to avoid disillusions on the part of the employee.
Certainly this demand is easy to make, but hard to meet. Organizations are
faced with increasing insecurities in an environment that is becoming more and
more turbulent. For most companies, it is simply not reasonable to guarantee a
career plan many years ahead. This implies a trade-off between current
motivating effects brought about by career promises and later dissatisfaction
because of disillusions and unmet expectations.
As we have seen in schools, the lack of flexibility in terms of promotion and
task variety leads to poor results in terms of satisfaction and commitment. This
is even worse if the only perspective is to stay in the same job and task for the
rest of one's working life. Individualized, flexible career systems must be
preferred over standardized career systems. Flexibility can be reached not
only through vertical movement, but also through horizontal development like
periodical job rotation, work in projects, and task variety. Similarly, the
acquisition of influence and power and thus the approach of a power centre
may be experienced as a career. Again, life-long tenure is questionable.
For all these reasons it does not come as a surprise that, apart from vertical
promotion systems, horizontal hierarchies are being increasingly introduced in
the business reality (Domsch, 1994; Gerpott, 1987, 1994). The fundamental idea
of dual ladders is to create another hierarchy which comprises special ranks,
titles, tasks and rewards, but does not include management functions like
responsibility for personnel or resources. Typically, positions in the dual ladder
have professional or technical functions. The offer of additional promotion

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opportunities is only one goal. Dual ladders also aim at the stimulation of and
reward for specialized functions, offering possibilities for more freedom at
work, and diminishing fluctuation and brain drain. It is becoming even more
important to increase the commitment of these internal specialists to the
company as it is getting more and more difficult to recruit them from the labour
market (Ridder, 1999). Motivating effects arising from one career system may
be expected only if recognizable career chances can be fulfilled within a
reasonable period. Wherever possible, the principle of precedence of those in
the ranks should apply (Mentzel, 1997).
A further point to be remembered is the consideration of compensation
effects: thus, pronounced content-related flexibility makes formal stability and
predictability of promotion important for employees. In contrast, it seems to
have extremely detrimental effects on performance, work satisfaction and
commitment if both factors are kept unforeseeable. From an organizational
viewpoint, this could lead to undesired effects of actions conducted out of
insecurity, such as short-term, individual utility maximizations at the expense
of others or a far too rigid orientation towards formal guidelines.
And last but not least our results confirm the principle of separation of
performance appraisals oriented towards the past and a future-oriented
support for employees. Lueger (1992) as well as others advocate that appraisal
and advancement systems should, by no means, be made into one evaluation
since personnel, successor and career line planning tools are based on data and
experiences oriented towards past achievements. A far-sighted career policy,
however, has to take into account future expectations of the employees and the
organizational context. This can be achieved by means of traditional personnel
management tools such as career appraisals, appraisals of potentials or
proactive qualifications for different development possibilities.
If well understood, career plateaus, though not avoidable in principle, need
not have pernicious effects on organizations. We have to turn away from the
image that problems connected with lost opportunities are unsolvable, but have
to be aware of their causes, types and effects in order to take proactive actions.
This means that we have to realize that the career path does not need to go only
in one direction.
Notes
1. A habilitation is required for applying for a post as full or associate professor, i.e. to get a
tenure, and is connected to the awarding of the venia docendi.
2. Most teachers are after years in service appointed to the permanent staff according to
public law. They are not only tenured and bear near to no risk to be moved to other schools,
but also have a specialized salary and pension system. All other teachers have contracts on
the basis of private law. They may be tenured or employed on a year to year basis.
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Further reading
Becker, J. and Kurtz, H.-J. (1991), ``Karriere und Wertewandel. Downward-movement als
Instrument der Personalpolitik'', Zeitschrift Fuehrung und Organisation, Vol. 60 No. 1,
pp. 35-41.
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Betriebswirtschaft, Vol. 57 No. 2, pp. 218-34.
Lueger, G. (1992), Die Bedeutung der Wahrnehmung bei der Personalbeurteilung, Muenchen &
Mering, Hampp.

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Schanz, G. (1993), Personalwirtschaftslehre. Lebendige Arbeit in verhaltenswissenschaftlicher

Perspektive, Vahlen, Muenchen.

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