Rank And File - Definition & Meaning

Published in Human Resources Terms by MBA Skool Team

What is Rank And File?

Rank And File are the employees in organization who are not in any leadership or managerial positions. Rank and file employees form the majority of the workforce in the organization as opposed to the leaders i.e. the department heads, general managers, presidents' etc. As employees who are in Rank And File, do not have decision making power with them, there understanding about organizational priorities is different from the managerial cadre person.


Addressing the needs of these people in terms of motivation, compensation etc. differ in following ways as compared to that of managerial cadre.

1. Motivation aspect:

In order to motivate employee irrespective of cadre, he/she must understand what he has to do to meet desired level of performance. The more clearly this understanding, the better he/she will perform.

For rank and file employee, they might know what will give desired performance. But they are always sceptical about management that management will put some automation for this and my performance bonus will go for that. Addressing these inside factors which hinder organizational performance of Rank and File employee will give improved results to organizations.


2. Compensation to Rank and File Employee:

Profit sharing and gain sharing are common tools that used to motivate employee for excellence in performance. But again profit sharing will not be effective for Rank and File employees.

Though Rank and File employees can see benefit out of good performance, they do not have complete power over what they can do to give excellent performance. In such case rank and employee will give up to try for excellence in performs as many things are out of their control. Employees in decision making cadre are able to understand how things happen in organization and take necessary control of situations. Through this they are able to decipher what action will lead to profits.

Though rank and file people do not decision making power, keeping them motivated is important as they are the front line of organizations.

Hence, this concludes the definition of Rank And File along with its overview.

This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.

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