Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to examine and discuss the changes at Southern California Edison over time in relationships between the ascribed statuses of age, sex, and race and the achieved statuses of performance, years of service and level of education. The relationships between these variables were measured to determine their effect on frequency of promotion as defined by salary. Further, career development data were analyzed against promotion trends to determine what effect participation in Career Development Programs has had on promotion at Edison. Methodology. The sample consisted of the entire population of management employees salary grades 1 through 15 drawn from the Employee Information Systems Database. Career development data were pulled from the Corporate Training Records System for the last five years of the study. Descriptive statistics with an emphasis on multiple regression analysis were used to analyze the data. The variables of age, sex, race, years of service, performance, and level of education were regressed against the dependent variable salary. Career development data were analyzed to determine if there was a link to salary. Findings and conclusions. This study found that men spend on the average longer mean times in salary grades than do women. The most recent data reveal the trend of white females moving faster through salary grades than minority females. Historically, the data revealed women did not hold jobs in the middle or upper salary grades. Since 1985, salary trend statistics show Asian, Hispanic, and Black females experiencing the largest gains with white females experiencing gains in salary grade. Males have experienced continuous representation across all salary grades during the survey period, with white males dominating the upper salary grades. Achievements in education and performance have been beneficial to minorities in terms of salary gain; however, minorities not possessing education or increasing their level of education along with demonstrated above average performance, are falling behind in terms of salary. If current trends continue, Edison will meet the pledge goal. Although the data showed consistency of groups utilizing career development programs with groups experiencing salary or salary grade gains, there is not sufficient data to draw a positive relationship between participation and promotion. Recommendations. Overlap in salary ranges across grades should be eliminated. Once the pledge is met, efforts to uniformly assess and compensate all employees must be maintained. Promotion should be contingent upon performance and personal achievement.