Competency based career ladders for project managers in a large research & development organisation

Implementation of a fair compensation policy for employees in a large organisation necessitates the categorisation of all employees into pay bands or levels. The authors conducted a qualitative multiple-case study of various operating units within the same organisation employing multiple sources of evidence to determine an optimal way of recognising and rewarding the career growth of project managers. Employee loyalty and career decisions are influenced by motivational theory, the need for career growth, career growth assessments, organisational culture, and organisational structure within the context of a knowledge worker R&D environment. A key research finding was that the organisation should resist generalisation or standardisation of career ladder instruments across various fields and that specialisation is required to adequately differentiate between pay-grade levels of employees. Career ladder instruments for project managers, scientist and engineers require different competency metrics and different scales are required to determine market related salaries across various application areas.