Pipelines and Sprinkler Systems: Documenting the Speed–Flexibility Tradeoff in How Jobs Shape Promotion

Abstract

We draw on theories of internal labor markets and human capital pipelines to examine promotion patterns within large organizations. We introduce the idea of pipeline orientation to describe the way different jobs shape advancement. Specifically, we compare “pipeline” jobs that foster advancement into a highly circumscribed set of jobs with “sprinkler” jobs from which people are promoted into many different higher-level jobs. We first explain the factors shaping a job’s pipeline orientation, then examine its implications for career advancement within internal labor markets. We argue that whether employees occupy pipeline or sprinkler jobs plays an important role in determining whether people make typical versus atypical moves as they are promoted. We further suggest that pipeline and sprinkler jobs engender a speed–flexibility tradeoff, as workers within pipeline jobs have less flexibility in where they could move next but are promoted more rapidly. We test these ideas with internal personnel data from a large corporation.