So, like, "Yes, we approve that there needs to be someone at that spot" kind of thing?
It goes like this. Every year, each district has a certain number of supervisor, manager and division manager "head count" put into it's business plan. The total management jobs are then broken down by division and department. If a division manager wants to move a supervisor job from center "A" to center "B", all he/she needs to do is get permission from the district manager. But if a district decides that they want to move a supervisor from the Airport to a package division, then the district manager has to approve, along with the region function manager for those operations (in this example, the region air manager and the region package operations manager, both of whom will mention it to the region manager). The actual name of the supervisor to move will be the division and district managers decision, (with H.R. guidance, of course) because they know the individuals in the district. At this point, Corporate has no role in the process.
But now, let's say that there's a full time supervisor in the Air function that leaves the company for any reason (quits, discharged or retired). A different process starts. A requisition for a job replacement is filled out by H.R. The name of the person for the open job is put on the requisition at this time. It is reviewed at a monthly meeting by the district business planning team (district mgr., H.R. mgr., Controller, Business development mgr., I.E. mgr. and the division mgr. that needs the replacement supervisor.
After approval, it is forwarded to the region for the same review with the Region business planning team (same people, but at the region level). Once the region verifed that this was a valid replacement, meaning that the position being replaced was in the business plan for management headcount, then the requisition was signed. Until recently, that was it- the job was filled.
Now, Corporate is involved in the process. Corporate knows that when a requisition for a management person is forward to them, it has been verified that the position requested was budgeted and approved in that district's current business plan. So why does Corporate want to control these requisitions? I don't know, but I suspect that they want to see is a district can run "tight" and still make the cost and revenue targets. At some point, the requisition is approved and the job replaced.
A long answer to your question, but your name being put on a job requisition is going to be done by the Air division manager with guidance from the H.R. manager. A lot of other people have opinions on your promotion (so don't burn any bridges with other functions), but those are the key people. Then the process takes over. It's a good process because, years ago, when the district's made the decision, sometimes supervisors were promoted that were not replacements, but were additional headcount. I hope you can see that with this approval process, it's not just your gateway or a center that must live within it's business plan but the districts and regions as well.....good luck!
