Peter principle

The Peter principle, named after Dr. Laurence Peter, is the MANAGEMENT theory that people tend to be promoted to one level beyond their competency. As stated in Peter’s book The Peter Principle—Why Things Always Go Wrong (coauthored with Raymund Hull), “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his own level of incompetence.” The Peter principle is a widely quoted concept. Even though it was written in 1969, today many Dilbert cartoons portray management incompetence, with executives often not knowing what they are doing. As frequently observed in business, great salespeople do not always make great sales managers, hard-working laborers may be poor foremen, and some great teachers have been lousy administrators. Peter and Hull developed most of their ideas from observations of academic bureaucracies. They also contributed 19 other theories about business behavior, including the idea that people in businesses dislike super-competent people who seem to know everything and do everything well as much as they dislike incompetent workers. Critics counter the Peter principle by questioning how anything gets done in organizations where people are incompetent. Peter and Hull respond that people rise to their level of incompetence, so at any given time, there are numerous employees who are still working within their level of ability. People at the top of an organization who have not reached their level of incompetence frequently leave the organization seeking new challenges, while “Petered” managers are often promoted out of the way.