Originally found at Phys.org

Colleagues who leave an organization vacate not only their jobs, but also their collaborative relationships with other employees—relationships that are an increasingly prominent feature of modern workplaces. The exit of a colleague is already known to open vacancy-driven promotion opportunities for employees who remain.

In a study recently published in the Academy of Management Journal, Tracy Anderson (Bocconi Department of Management and Technology) argued that the vacated collaborative relationships left by an exit can also enhance the promotion of employees who remain, in particular those who used to collaborate with the colleagues who have left.

These employees are ideally placed to start new collaborations with others who also formerly worked with departing colleagues, and these new collaborations provide employees with opportunities for learning. This in turn can lead to competency-driven promotions, that recognize improvements in employees' knowledge and skills but are not dependent on the existence of a job vacancy.

Continue reading the original article at  Phys.org.

Read the original research in Academy of Management Journal.

Learn more about the AOM Scholar and explore their work:

• Tracy Anderson, Bocconi University