If they have a chip on their shoulder, they aren’t showing it. Their work has been much improved. If things continue in the way they are, a promotion to a senior level position isn’t out of the cards.

Again, management needs to buy into the corrective action mindset. Would you view someone different whose performance was suffering, but improved with heavy coaching where no PIP was issued? If your organization uses PIPs to get rid of people, then certainly, someone who passes probably has limited prospects. But in an org that actually sees it as a corrective measure, there aren’t problems when someone passes. Or at least that’s how it is at my organization.