QUESTION: I want a transfer from my team, but my manager is blocking it.
REALTY: Your future boss should be applying pressure to rope you in, if you are critical to his project.
Even organization provides opportunities to its employees -.41b seek internal transfers. But the criteria for internal transfers –might be different in different companies. Usually, it is the job of the hiring manager to take. a decision on such a -transfer.
The one who wants a transfer ought to inform the manager well in advance, and the latter ‘ought to be supportive of the move in most circumstances. However, at times, a manager might be supportive initially, but then might change his mind because of new challenges in the project, the risk of attrition, or schedule constraints, In such cases, the employee who had sought the transfer would feel let down that the manager had gone back on his word. Actually, it might have been the manager’s superior who stopped the move, citing the fact that this would open the floodgates for people to seek transfers. Moreover, in some cases, when an employee gets transferred, it can have a demoralizing or demotivating effect on a team mate who had also sought a transfer. In the case of a transfer-request being turned down, the manager ought to come up with a dear explanation, otherwise ‘it could breed stress and mistrust.
Usually, that an internal-transfer process requires that an employee’s manager first give his consent before the hiring manager takes a decision. And once the decision has been taken to grant the transfer, it should be cancelled or delayed as that would offset the plans of the manager whose team the employee is supposed to join. In some cases, this manager might put his foot down and approach his boss in order to get his candidate who, he thinks, critical to the project. However, this manager might not take up the case with the senior management in order to avoid controversy, and he may well hire a person from the outside. In such situation, the employee who had sought a transfer should feel relieved that he didn’t have to join a team where he would not have played a critical role.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE EMPLOYEE? Follow the company internal-
transfer process. It is better that you do not jump the gun. Working through your manager is best. You cannot do much other than assure your present manager that you can hand over the project in a well-defined fashion to the designated team members. And also reassure him that if there is any issue, you would be available to provide assistance.
WHAT CAN YOU DO AS THE MANAGER? No manager wants to lose a good employee, but great managers care for an individual’s career growth, and if that means a transfer to a new role or to a new department, so be it. And in many cases, if you block such a move, you might lose the employee to another company as he might have been on the lookout for a change. And that, in the end, would be a losing proposition.
