THERE are several reasons why a company would not give 'automatic' promotion or pay increment to an employee who has earned an MBA degree, said human resource practitioners.

One of them is that such rapid rise up the corporate ladder may, instead, shorten the employee's career prematurely.

Mr Mark Sapsford, vice-president of human resource at Johnson & Johnson Medicals (Asia-Pacific), told Human Resources Online that his company does not want people taking up senior roles when they are not ready.

'What they leave behind is a personal mess. They need not be necessarily skilled in the next role and they make it difficult for those working with them,' he said.

Mr Sapsford believed that speedy growth does not always bring out the best in a leader. 'We want to give people the opportunity to show their skills as quickly as they can. We also want to make sure they get to work through what we call a cycle of success,' he said, adding that those who went through the cycle will be a much better leader.

This also ensures that the employees who make it to senior roles will be successful, rather than fail at their new positions and eventually leave the company, said Human Resources.

HR practitioners said that an employee's qualification does tell the company about his or her potential to be exposed to greater responsibilities, but it is by no means a guarantee for instant promotion or salary rise.

At the most, qualification opens up the worker's chances of being promoted, said Ms Tay Bee Sin, director of human capital and administration services at PhillipCapital Group.

She added that the motivation for taking an MBA course should be learning - it would be wrong on the employee's part to enrol in one just to earn more.

To be fair, the business skills learned in an MBA course do help in one's career, especially when an executive is managing an entire division or a regional office. But ultimately, that has to be paired with experience, saidMs Regina To, HR business partner (Asia) of communications specialist Waggener Edstrom Worldwide.

Explaining why an MBA does not guarantee immediate elevation at work, Ms To said: 'In the communications industry, it is often the experience and the connections as well as recommendation from one's clients that drive advancement more.'

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