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09.09

You've been offered a promotion.  Should you accept it or turn it down?  Acceptance might mean a bump in salary as well as enhanced status.  Turning it down might mean that that your future with the organization will be limited or perhaps even terminated. What should you do?  First of all, take some time to think about your decision before communicating it to your boss. This gives you time to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of the promotion, and also shows your boss that you are taking the offer seriously. If you decide that the promotion is in your best interest, by all means, go for it. 

However, if you conclude that the promotion isn't in your best interest, how do you go about declining the offer without damaging your future prospects with the organization? Always express gratitude for being considered for the position. Do not in any way give the impression that you are not ready or cannot handle the added responsibility.  Doing so might give your boss the feeling that he or she misjudged your competency and potential. Build a well-thought-out case for turning down the promotion. This strategy involves proactively selling the idea of continuing in your current position.  Look at the situation from your boss's point of view, and communicate why continuing in the same position is the best choice for you and the company.  Provide specific examples that illustrate how you can continue to contribute as a valued employee in your current position. Divulge your long-term career plans,  and signal your openness to promotion in the future — but not right now.

Turning down a promotion can be stressful. There are many legitimate reasons for not accepting a promotion. It's easy to say “yes”; knowing the right way to say “no” can be just as important to your career.

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Here are some of the things going on in and around the engineering community:

• The global recession has caused many organizations to examine their business and chart new directions. In “How to Rethink your Business During Uncertainty” (MIT Sloan Management Review, 50(3): 25-30, Spring 2009.  www.sloanreview.mit.edu ), Rita McGrath and Ian MacMillan discuss the importance of re-assessing your core business and making the changes necessary to orient the organization toward a sustainable and compelling future. The author provides three practices that will help you keep your core business relevant.  On the same topic General Electric’s Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt discusses his belief in “the reset world” where business realities are now different and the rules of the game have changed, (Canadian Business, 82:(12/13):10-11, 17 August 2009).

• Basic and applied research both hold an important role in the advancement of society. Academic scientists play an important role in developing innovative technologies and their work of applying scientific knowledge to industry does can be congruent with basic research. Chiara Franzoni, in “Do Scientists Get Fundamental Research Ideas by Solving Practical Problems?”  (Industrial and Corporate Change,  18(4): 671-699, 2009, http://icc.oxfordjournals.org/) discusses the problem-solving nature of scientific activity. The author concludes that “improving research technologies always boosts the productivity of scientists, whereas developing industrial technologies is beneficial only when the technology stems from a research instrument.”

• Innovation should not become a victim of the economic downturn is the focus of an article by Josh Cable in IndustryWeek (“Holding the Line,”258(8):30-34., August 2009, www.industryweek.com). The author provides strong evidence supporting the benefit of the importance of investing in R&D to survival during recession and growth in the future. In the same issue of IndustryWeek, Jonathan Katz discusses how radical reform is needed in education to keep the United States competitive in product-development (“Educating Next Generation Innovators,” pg 16). The global recession and how it has caused consumers to change their buying behavior is discussed by Paul Flatters and Michael Willmott in “Understanding the Post-Recession Consumer” (Harvard Business Review,  87(7/8): 106-112, July-August  2009, www.hbr.com).  The authors believe that thriftiness and desire for simplicity will shape buying behavior.

• A series of articles on the topic of retirement financial security is provided in Canadian Business (82(12/13):60-78, 17 August 2009, www.canadianbusiness.com). Issues from the Canadian perspective as well as strategies that you might consider to secure your future are provided.

• Many of us have experienced a supervisor who treats employees with disrespect.  Teresa Daniel, in “Tough Boss or Workplace Bully?” (HR Magazine,  54(6):83-86, June 2009, www.shrm.org), discusses how to differentiate between a demanding boss and one who is a bully. Interesting statistics are presented that confirm the seriousness of the problem in the workplace.

• Matthew Wood provides a discussion to enhance the readers understanding of organizational design that will facilitate innovation commercialization success increasing the success of university and industry partnerships (“Does One Size Fit All? The Multiple Organizational Forms Leading to Successful Academic Entrepreneurship,”  Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 33(4):929-947, July 2009, www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=1042-2587).

Terrance Malkinson is a communications specialist, business analyst and futurist. He is Vice-Chair of the IEEE-USA Communications Committee, an international correspondent for IEEE-USA Today's Engineer Online, editor-in-chief of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer Digest, and associate editor for IEEE Canadian Review. He was an elected Senator of the University of Calgary and an elected Governor of the IEEE Engineering Management Society as well as an elected Administrative Committee member of the IEEE Professional Communication Society. He has been the editor of several IEEE conference proceedings, and past editor of IEEE Engineering Management. He is the author of more than 360 publications, and is an accomplished triathlete. His career path includes being an accomplished technical supervisor and medical researcher at the University of Calgary a business proposal manager for the General Electric Company, and an associate for Sears Canada Inc. Currently, he is with the School of Health and Public Safety/Applied Research and Innovation Services at SAIT Polytechnic in Calgary Canada.

The author is grateful to the professional support of the Haskayne School of Business Library at the University of Calgary. He can be reached at todaysengineer@ieee.org.