MIT Sloan Management Review Article on The Invisible Barriers Holding Top Talent Back

A senior manager at a call center in a large bank must promote one of two customer associates to shift manager. Both Martin and Seth have similar tenures and training. The major difference is in their productivity levels, determined by the index of calls made and customer satisfaction ratings. While both associates perform well above average, Martin’s productivity level is higher than Seth’s. Given Martin’s higher numbers, promoting him might seem clearly fairer.

If this is your intuition, it is based on the ideal of equity — that is, the idea that fairness is achieved when desirable outcomes such as pay, promotions, work assignments, and awards are aligned with meritorious contributions: Martin should get the promotion because he is more productive.

About the Author

Alyssa Tedder-King is a doctoral candidate in organizational behavior at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Elad N. Sherf is an associate professor of organizational behavior and the Sarah Graham Kenan Scholar at the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Learn more about MIT SMR.