Tenure is the measure of the length of time that is stipulated to the employee by the employer. Employers most often consider job tenures as a criterion to hire employees to work in their firms. It can either be a short or long period. Some of the justifications of tenure are related to the quality of the employee and overall development. Tenure is linked to the quality of the employee. Employees who are stable and are empowering are most likely to have long tenures as opposed to employees who unstable thus have shorter tenure. The type of tenure helps the employees to acquire expertise in their field of specialization. This enables an employee to work in various roles and capacities in a given domain.
Tenure helps in general development. Short job tenures do not mean that the employee is not an expert in a particular field. It may mean that the employee has a skill which is high in demand making many companies hire them, thus making them have shorter tenures in other firms. Tenures are essential when giving insights to employees on the type of job they should do. At the University of Toronto, the appointments to the tenure streams are made by following five ranks. The ranks include Conditional Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor without tenure, Associate Professor with tenure, and a Full Professor. The tenure clock of the conditional assistant professors does not count until they are appointed to the tenure stream as an Assistant Professor. At the University of Toronto, the tenure clock of Assistant Professors is five years, and their contracts are reviewed and notified to the PresidentPresident. An associate without tenures receives a commitment of three years while the tenure of Associate Professor with tenure is determined with the Committee of tenure subject to the final report of the Universities’ President. Lastly, the appointment to be a full professor is approved by all departments from Division Head to the President of the university.
The current system of tenure at the University of Toronto has advantages and disadvantages. The current system of tenure at the University of Toronto gives a gradual development of a Professor at all the departments in the university. The professor is acquitted with all the necessary knowledge about the institution’s operations. The current tenure gives stability of employment. Once a professor is tenured, they become intellectual leaders of the university. This enables them to provide expertise and directions to the academic programs of the university. The stability of employment expectations by the professors demonstrates competence among the professors thus allows the university to produce best and bright graduates.
On the other hand, the current system of tenure has got some cons. The current system may result in job security for professors who may be incompetent. Once a professor gains tenure, they will be lazy and stop being productive to the university. Also, the tenure system may make the termination of the professor difficult. The professors may hold to their jobs till the expiry of the tenure even if they are not teaching. Moreover, the system limits the development of young faculties in the university since it is rigid.
In my opinion, the system worked against the researcher. The system did not achieve the right goals by not promoting the researcher based on the objectionable nature of the tweets of his colleagues and the loss of positions by his colleagues. It is likely that the researcher did not have the intention of causing harm to the firm but suffered because of his colleagues. Promotion of an individual should be based on achievements of an individual but not the downfalls of his colleagues.by denying him the promotion, his loyalty and morale will be reduced thus perform dismally.