Job title inflation
{{short description|Phenomenon of increasingly grandiose job titles in organisations}}
File:The story of The Mikado (1921) (14779242401).jpg (right), in the comic opera The Mikado, holds many grand titles including First Lord of the Treasury, Master of the Buckhounds, Groom of the Backstairs and Lord High Everything Else.]]
Job title inflation is the increasing number and size of grandiose job titles in corporations and organisations, without a corresponding increase in pay or an increased importance of the job.
Purpose
Job title inflation is most often used to attract innovation and talent in a workplace or by start-up companies to legitimize their organisation.{{Cite web |title=Inflated Job Titles: Helpful or Hot Air? What HR Pros Should Know |url=https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/business/blog/inflated-job-titles/ |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=Rasmussen University |language=en}} Job title inflation may be also caused by employers who want to flatter their workers in a way that does not involve an increase in work responsibility or pay. The phenomenon is often used as a form of exploitation of the social value and common associations of a title to artificially increase the importance of a role or position,{{Cite journal |last1=Martinez |first1=Arthur D. |last2=Laird |first2=Mary Dana |last3=Martin |first3=John A. |last4=Ferris |first4=Gerald R. |date=2008-03-01 |title=Job title inflation |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053482207000691 |journal=Human Resource Management Review |language=en |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=19–27 |doi=10.1016/j.hrmr.2007.12.002 |issn=1053-4822}} typically in relation to improving the optics of a company for a prospective client.{{Cite web |title=Job Titles – The Impact of Inflated Job Titles |url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/job-titles-impact-inflated-james-j-clark |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=www.linkedin.com |language=en}}
Possible problems
Job title inflation is theorized to be detrimental to the performance of an employee. An inflated job title without added responsibility and a pay rise may impact the employee's ability to find employment: similar, uninflated roles at other companies may require qualifications that the employee does not possess.{{Cite web |title=Job Title Inflation: What's in a Name? |url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/job-title-inflation-whats-name-chelsea-verstegen |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=www.linkedin.com |language=en}} Employees with inflated titles may also be simply unable to perform the task of their counterpart, uninflated role at another company.{{Cite web |last=York |first=Alexandra |title=Title inflation is hurting employee career growth and company morale |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/how-title-inflation-hurt-employees-careers-companies-morale-2022-12 |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}} Research suggests that employers are using job title inflation to cut cost in finding talent; job title inflation is shown to have cut employees of $4 billion in overtime pay.{{Cite web |last1=Cohen |first1=Lauren |last2=Gurun |first2=Umit |last3=Ozel |first3=N. Bugra |date=January 2023 |title=TOO MANY MANAGERS: THE STRATEGIC USE OF TITLES TO AVOID OVERTIME PAYMENTS |url=https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w30826/w30826.pdf}}
Companies are believed to be additionally affected by job title inflation—once the inflated title of an employee is vacated, hiring for that same inflated position may be considerably more difficult competing with genuinely compensated market titles.
See also
- Parkinson's law
- Credential inflation of job requirements
- Grade inflation in education
References
{{reflist|refs=
}}
Further reading
{{refbegin}}
- {{citation |title=The Proliferation of Job Titles in Organizations |first1=James |last1=Baron |first2=William |last2=Bielby |journal=Administrative Science Quarterly |volume=31 |number=4 |year=1986 |pages=561–586 |doi=10.2307/2392964 |jstor=2392964}}
- {{citation |title=Everyone's a Winner: Life in Our Congratulatory Culture |first=Joel |last=Best |publisher=University of California Press |year=2011 |isbn=9780520948488}}
- {{citation |last1=Greenberg |last2=Ornstein |year=1983 |title=High status job title compensation for underpayment |journal=Journal of Applied Psychology |volume=68 |number=2 |pages=285–297|doi=10.1037/0021-9010.68.2.285}}
- {{citation |last=Kortekaas |first=F.P.C. |date=28 September 2012 |title=The effects of job title inflation on job performance |publisher=Erasmus University|hdl=2105/22127 }}
- {{citation |journal=Human Resource Management Review |volume=18 |number=1 |year=2008 |pages=19–27 |title=Job title inflation |first1=Arthur |last1=Martinez |first2=Mary Dana |last2=Laird |first3=John |last3=Martin |first4=Gerald |last4=Ferris |doi=10.1016/j.hrmr.2007.12.002}}
- {{citation |last1=Smith |last2=Hornsby |last3=Benson |last4=Wesolowski |year=1989 |title=What Is in a Name: The Impact of Job Titles on Job Evaluation Results |journal=Journal of Business and Psychology |volume=3 |number=3 |pages=341–351|doi=10.1007/BF01023051 |s2cid=144718505 }}
- {{citation |last1=Strang |last2=Baron |year=1990 |title=Categorical Imperatives: The Structure of Job Titles in California State Agencies |journal=American Sociological Review |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=479–495|doi=10.2307/2095802|jstor=2095802 }}
- {{citation |last1=Tadelis |year=1999 |title=What's in a Name? Reputation as a Tradeable Asset |journal=American Economic Review |volume=89 |number=89 |pages=548–563|doi=10.1257/aer.89.3.548 }}
{{refend}}