The Peter Principle is that "In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence" While formulated by Dr. Lawrence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1968 book The Peter Principle, a humorous treatise, which also introduced "the salutary science of 'Hierarchiology', inadvertently founded by Dr. Peter, the principle has real validity. It holds that in a hierarchy members are promoted so long as they work competently. Sooner or later they are promoted to a position at which they are not competent, "the level of their incompetence", and there they remain. Dr. Peter's Corollary states that "in time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee, who is incompetent to carry out his duties" and adds that "work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence".
The employee's incompetence is not necessarily exposed as a result of the higher-ranking position being more difficult, - simply that the job is different from the previous job in which the employee had previously excelled, and thus requires different skills, which the employee usually does not possess.
Where exceptions to this exist, the scenario switches to the "Septic Tank Principle", which is broadly similar but is usually described as "excrement rising to the top"
Along with the Peter Principle, Dr. Peter also coined the word, "Hierarchiology"as the social science concerned with the basic principles of hierarchially organized systems in human society
4 comments:
This is interesting stuff. I doubt if it applies to the I.A.S. These officers are jacks of many trades and masters of none, except a few exceptional officers. One day an I.A.S. officer is Deputy Commissioner, the next day he is deputy secretary in the Secretariat, after a few weeks, he is Deputy Commissioner for Commercial Taxes and then he becomes a District Magistrate. It is not known how much he learns from each position he has previously occupied, but he is supposed to have mastered the position. Ultimately, he may become Secretary in the Central Government and he may be appointed Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Are these officers such great administrators, or is this all an eyewash? Have you ever heard of an officer evaluated as incompetent, though there are many?
The Peter Principle is operating well. Just see what has happened to G.M. Chrysler, Ford, Citigroup, Lehmann Brothers, etc. These were and some of them are still managed by incompetent top level people. But I know one person who was not at all affected by T.P.P. She was my friend and mentor, Anupama Anand, who rose to meteoric heights only to be snatched away at her prime. The P.P. is for old fossils, I believe.
The Peter Principle has been proven beyond doubt by the disaster of Satyam Computers. Raju should have stuck to his agricultural and real estate businesses. He was a misfit in the I.T. sector. By his incompetence, he has vitiated the whole I.T. sector.
I wonder if the Peter Principle applies only to bureaucracy and other allied services. Does it apply to professionals like doctors, scientists, or engineers? Ranking systems are also prevalent in these organizations. I think that nepotism and cronyism are the factors that promotes incompetent performers to higher ranks. The children of the chairman and other directors are appointed to posts which they cannot manage properly.
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