Is the place where you work a meritocracy? Or does personality figure into it more?

[el_bryanto]

Just a thought experiment - do you believe that people get promotions and raises because they earn them? Or do they get promotions and raises because they mesh well with the management (or are, to put it bluntly, kiss-asses)?

Bryant

1 vote, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Strict Meritocracy
	0 (0%)
	Mostly a meritocracy
	0 (0%)
	About half and half; some rely on merit, others get by on personality
	0 (0%)
	More personality based
	0 (0%)
	Completely personality based
	1 (100%)
	Doesn't apply to me; self employed
	0 (0%)
	This bullshit poll has neither merit nor personality
	0 (0%)
	I like to vote!
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[whatthehey]

1. So you don't think personal interaction skills are meritorious?

Companies don't spend fortunes on things like group dynamic training, people management, communication skills and the like just for fun you know. Being able to work in crossfunctional groups using personal influence rather than authority is hardly unimportant.

[el_bryanto]

2. I think being able to kiss peoples ass is a good skill to have

I wish I had it. I have to get by at being good at my job.

Bryant

[RedCappedBandit]

3. In my grad program, extroverts who like to talk about themselves

definitely seem to excel simply by virtue of how good they are at being little narcissists.

I voted 50/50. Actually being skilled/talented does mean something as well.

[JaneyVee]

4. Mostly. 90% meritocracy, 10% personality.

[Codeine]

5. Personality plays into merit.

Personal interaction skills are an important aspect of most jobs. If I have two people with equal job skills striving for a position then I'm likely to choose the more personable and pleasant of the two, particularly because we're a customer service based business, but also because if I have to work with a person I want to work with someone with whom I get along.

[Xyzse]

6. I tend to think it is mostly personality.

Think about it, many who really work hard, and are considered high performers do not get the promotions and added compensation, unless they specifically ask for them or they get hired in to the company.

It actually really sucks, since many companies look outside, and they end up paying for more for people that they have to train, and in many times don't work out.

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. Since I'm the boss, demonstrably neither.

I figure my job is to get the smart people what they need and to lift the heavy things when necessary.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Where does emotional intelligence fit in?

I have seen Ivy league educated lawyers get their asses handed to them in court because their state school educated adversaries were more emotionally intelligent and better able to connect with the jurors.

[H2O Man]

9. Retired.

I suppose the places I was employed at were combinations of the two.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

11. I don't believe you can totally remove the subjective element from hiring

I don't believe you can totally remove the subjective element from hiring and sometimes who is the most qualified candidate isn't always clear... That being said I cut my teeth in sales and there was a rough consensus who the "stars" were. But what made them "stars" wasn't always readily apparent.

[H2O Man]

12. For a lot of years,

to be hired in the county I last worked for, you had to be a registered republican. That practice ended several years before I was hired at the mental health clinic.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. I had Democratic bosses and Republican bosses and the latter didn't care as long as I was...

I had Democratic bosses and Republican bosses and the latter didn't care as long as I was making them money.

[H2O Man]

14. I had a liberal supervisor,

who answered to a 100% republican board of town supervisors. At times, they tried to get her to fire me (the most serious incident was when I let a client use a MHC postage stamp to mail a letter to a government agency; my supervisor had other employees contribute a penny each, to re-pay the county!); other times, they tried to fire her.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

17. Maybe it's my bias showing but my Democratic boss was much more empathetic./NT

[Godhumor]

10. I think effectively managing people is an important skill to have for promotion into management

Not having interpersonal skills should be a huge detriment to managing people. In fact, any company that requires teamwork, I would hope that how people get along with others would factor into promotion decisions.

That is not about being a kiss ass, by the way, it is about being able to work together and fitting into the corporate culture.

Ideally, I would say promotions to more senior levels should be 50/50 between work and relationship skills. Individual performer jobs would be closer to 80/20 or 90/10 towards work, depending on the needs of the promoted position.

[Shrek]

15. It's all based on performance

At the beginning of the year we get 5 performance objectives (generally 3 are pretty much required and the other 2 are nice-to-have-if-possible).

Meet none? You're gone or on very thin ice.

Meet the 3 required ones? You get a raise.

Meet all of them? Raise plus a bonus.

[MineralMan]

16. I'm an independent contractor.

If my work lacks merit, I don't get work. My clients insist on high quality work that is completed on time, so that's what I deliver. If I stop doing that, my work won't be worth anything.

[Lurks Often]

18. Being good at your job doesn't always mean you should be promoted

Where I work is mostly a meritocracy and the ones who work hard and do a good job are recognized with raises and bonuses. I have a number of co-workers who are good at their job, but if they were promoted to a managerial position, would probably be unsuccessful. Mostly it is because they are either too nice to discipline or fire employees when needed or dislike confrontation so much that they would not be effective interacting with other departments to get the necessary resources for their own department.

And most of us have worked with a person who was good at their job, but was either too obnoxious or had such poor people skills to be a manager.