职场晋升有玄机，老板红人最得意

    你工作非常卖力，业绩十分出色，各项条件也完全符合要求，可是到头来，你一直期待有加到的晋升机会却落到别人手里，这个人可能是老板的高尔夫球友、大学室友，甚至是老板的妹夫等。

    其实，和你有相同遭遇的大有人在。虽然这种说法并不足以安慰你，但这的确是事实。最近，由咨询机构Penn Schoen Berland为乔治城大学麦克道诺商学院（Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business）进行的一项调查发现，高达92%的高管都表示，的确存在根据个人偏好（绩效之外的其他标准）决定晋升人选的情况，他们亲眼见过。

    在接受调查的高管中，尽管有84%的人声称他们亲眼见过公司内的徇私行为，但仅有23%的人承认，他们自己在决定提拔人选时，考虑的是朋友关系或其他姻亲关系，而不是候选者的功劳。

    而且，研究还发现，尽管经理人会走走过场，考察几位候选者，但大部分人心中早就定好了人选。

    约有三分之一（29%）的受访者称，他们只会考虑一个人；56%的受访者表示，即使有多人竞争（或者至少表面上是如此）也不会改变什么，他们一开始便已确定了提拔的人选。研究表示：“最终几乎所有人（96%）都提拔了预先确定的人选。”

    即便如此，在被问及最近做出提拔决定的原因时，大部分受访的高管都提到了一些客观的标准，比如“在当前的岗位上表现突出”，“具备相关的技能”，以及“拥有优秀的绩效评估记录”等。

    该项研究的负责人乔纳森•加德纳表示，这意味着，“虽然徇私现象普遍存在”，但如果员工希望获得提拔，还是应该“继续将自己可控的因素作为努力的方向”。

    有一点毋庸置疑，跟身居高位的人成为朋友，不会给自己带来什么损失。有人去打高尔夫吗？一起去吧！

    翻译：刘进龙/汪皓

    So you've worked hard, produced great results, and have all the right qualifications. Nevertheless, that bigger job you had your eye on went to your boss's golf buddy, or old college roommate, or brother-in-law instead.

    Scant consolation though it may be, but you've got plenty of company. A whopping 92% of senior executives say they have seen favoritism -- defined as the use of criteria other than performance -- determine who gets promoted, says a new study conducted by consultants Penn Schoen Berland on behalf of Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business.

    While 84% of the executives surveyed reported they had witnessed favoritism at their own companies, only 23% admitted that they themselves have ever relied on friendship or other personal affinity, rather than merit, in their promotion decisions.

    The research also notes how common it is for managers to know in advance who will be promoted, even when they go through the motions of considering several candidates.

    Almost one-third (29%) of those polled said they considered only one person and, when more than one was in the running (or at least appeared to be), 56% said they already knew at the outset whom they wanted to promote. "Of that group, nearly all -- 96% -- reported promoting the pre-selected individual," the study says.

    Even so, when the same survey asked executives to give their reasons for recent promotions, most mentioned objective criteria such as "has excelled in current position," "job-related skills," and "history of strong performance reviews."

    That means, says study author Jonathan Gardner, that "despite widespread favoritism," employees who want to move up should "continue to focus their efforts on these factors that are well within their control."

    What comes through loud and clear, however, is that cultivating friends in high places couldn't hurt either. Golf, anyone?