The article contains a hypothesis about the operational properties of an employee based on an analysis of a number of empirical objects and the results of a study of the organizational behaviour of service company employees in the aerospace industry. A model of the impact on the operating performance of a separate structural unit of a company depending on a priori personnel installations is presented. Two different categories of workers: career-oriented and non-career-oriented, are the basis for adopting a priori attitudes. The second key assumption of the model is the assumption of a limited period in time during which a career-oriented employee maintains a sufficient level of performance. To maintain the efficiency of the structural unit at the required level, the management is forced to make decisions about promoting career-oriented employees and dismissing non-career-oriented employees. Within the framework of the analytical model, a region of parameter values is established corresponding to the adoption of effective personnel decisions. The range of applicability of the model has been determined: the features of the organizational structure and operating activities characteristic of service companies make it possible to consider the assumptions of the model realistic in relation to such business structures. © 2020 IOP Publishing Ltd.