Case

As a consequence of policy change, a professor was reverted as lecturer and his immediate subordinate was elevated to professor and head of department cadre. A tremendous change in his approach and attitude towards colleagues as well as students was observed. How would you account for such change? Give your arguments.

Solution:

Sometimes there is internal movement within an organization when due to policy change, employees are promoted, transferred or demoted. In the case in question, as a result of policy change a professor has been reverted as lecturer and his immediate subordinate has been elevated to professor and head of department cadre. One can confidently say that this is a clear case of demotion. A demotion can be defined as a compulsory reduction in an employee’s rank or job title within the organizational hierarchy of a company, public service department or other body (Wikepedia, 2012). It is also the reassignment of a lower job to an employee with delegation of responsibilities and authority required to perform that lower job and normally a lower level pay. It is the direct opposite of promotion. A demotion may be done for a variety of reasons such as disciplinary purposes, reorganization of work, inability to perform at a higher rank, poor attendance, and poor attitude; therefore, it is in this light that most people view it as a punishment. When somebody is demoted he/she may be demoted within a department as in the case of the professor according to the company’s’ assessment of the role to which he had been assigned (WiseGeek.com, 2012). Since the opposite of demotion is promotion, his immediate subordinate was elevated to take his place and required to perform the role which the professor was performing before.
Since the change in the role of the professor was one that required him to handle a job that was previously being occupied by