Kleptonis
28-09-2004, 01:54
Has anybody else heard of the Peter Principal?
For those of you who haven't heard of it:
To make it extremely concise, it states that everyone rises to their highest level of incompetence.
Laurence J. Peter believed that since everyone is promoted for doing well in a job, then logically someone would be promoted before they can actually do any kind of good work. Eventually, they reach a point where they can't get good at a job, and thats their "level of incompetence". So, by the way the modern day hierarchy works, nothing truly gets done. This includes anything, government, social groups, business, etc.
Although, his book never fully explained a remedy to this other than what individuals could do. He explains that at a certain point, someone realises that they are incompetent, but refuse to admit it to everyone, and the psychological stress becomes a hazard to one's health. Therefore, you should feign incompetence simply to avoid promotion, without affecting your work, and without getting fired. (For example, ask out the boss' daughter, or keep a notoriously messy desk).
The strangest thing I found about this was that he never made a formal position on this. The biggest points he made were that the hierarchy was something that would always arise out of human nature, and that it's terribly innefitient, unless taken steps against. I orginially specualted that he was an anarchist because he seemed against hierarchies, but then he also had said that hierarchies were something that would never fade due to human nature. He remains fairly ambiguous, perhaps because he addresses an issue I rarely see.
Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone else has read it, and what you thought about it. I personally think he was a bit too cynical of human nature, but he did make a strong case against our dealings with hierarchies.
For those curious, it's a quick read, only 150-175 pages.
For those of you who haven't heard of it:
To make it extremely concise, it states that everyone rises to their highest level of incompetence.
Laurence J. Peter believed that since everyone is promoted for doing well in a job, then logically someone would be promoted before they can actually do any kind of good work. Eventually, they reach a point where they can't get good at a job, and thats their "level of incompetence". So, by the way the modern day hierarchy works, nothing truly gets done. This includes anything, government, social groups, business, etc.
Although, his book never fully explained a remedy to this other than what individuals could do. He explains that at a certain point, someone realises that they are incompetent, but refuse to admit it to everyone, and the psychological stress becomes a hazard to one's health. Therefore, you should feign incompetence simply to avoid promotion, without affecting your work, and without getting fired. (For example, ask out the boss' daughter, or keep a notoriously messy desk).
The strangest thing I found about this was that he never made a formal position on this. The biggest points he made were that the hierarchy was something that would always arise out of human nature, and that it's terribly innefitient, unless taken steps against. I orginially specualted that he was an anarchist because he seemed against hierarchies, but then he also had said that hierarchies were something that would never fade due to human nature. He remains fairly ambiguous, perhaps because he addresses an issue I rarely see.
Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone else has read it, and what you thought about it. I personally think he was a bit too cynical of human nature, but he did make a strong case against our dealings with hierarchies.
For those curious, it's a quick read, only 150-175 pages.