Principle of Lawrence J. Peter's Incompetence
Recently, a dispute arose: why in some cases it is necessary to shake the system and dismiss some of its representatives. And to dismiss regardless of the experience.
In the topic of this conversation, I recently read about the principle of Lawrence J. Peter or the principle of incompetence. It sounds like this: " In the hierarchy, each individual has a tendency to rise to his level of incompetence ." So, according to Peter’s principle, an employee working in any system is promoted as long as he is not able to cope with his duties. In other words, in a long period of time, any vertical growth results in human incompetence. Also according to Peter, the employee in this position will “get stuck” and stay until he logs out (quit, die, retire).
Modern socio-economic foundations aim a person at success, understood primarily as growth in career and wages. If you are able to do your job efficiently and without tension, you will be told: “This job does not allow you to express yourself. You have to go higher. ”The problem is that when you finally get something that you can’t really cope with, it is this kind of activity that becomes your permanent occupation. Covering up your work. You despair of colleagues and undermine the effectiveness of the entire organization. Thus, each individual worker will end up at the level of his incompetence. According to statistics, managers who are most firmly seated in their positions are distinguished by a pathological inability to competently perform official duties.
On the other hand, a person reaching a certain official level begins to play politics. Since the competence in the new position is not enough, the employee has to do a hoax of his own need for this position. The set of features of this behavior is called the “End-Stop Syndrome” - the substitution of effective work by some other, active, seemingly easily visible activity. Symptoms of the terminating syndrome:
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Once the hierarchy is established, the goal for it becomes its own existence. At best, this will manifest itself as local self-indulgence, at worst, it is a strategy aimed at self-destruction of the system as a whole. And this situation will be facilitated by the fact that the manager who promoted the employee will not admit the mistake and will continue to support the incompetent employee. In addition, at the time of incompetence, the previous position of the employee is already occupied.
The impossibility of abandoning the desire for incompetence. A person, even realizing that he will not cope with the proposed position, usually cannot refuse it. If he tries to refuse, he will be subjected to the harsh pressure of his family, friends, colleagues and management. Peter gives an example: “My immediate superior was transferred to another place, and I was offered to head the department. Since I believed that the post I held allowed the old dream to become a reality, I rejected this proposal. Followed by persistent advice not to rush and think carefully. In the weeks that followed, the authorities persuaded me, colleagues pushed me from all sides, urging me to agree to a promotion. This pressure hurt me so much that I decided to use creative incompetence. This is a trick to knowingly show yourself to be incompetent in anything that has nothing to do with your recognized achievements. You do this with the aim of convincing the superior person that, with all the competence that you show in your present place, you do not deserve any further progress. It may seem difficult to do, but in practice, as I discovered, it is achieved quite easily and gives a lot of pleasure. It cost me several times to put my car in the place reserved for the dean's car, as the proposals for a higher post have stopped. ”
An example of the principle . The school principal, Ostou Lop, had such an ability not to understand other people that I had never met. He was a competent researcher and an excellent teacher. The students listened to his every word, and he did not know the problems with maintaining discipline. Becoming a director, he did not show the slightest understanding or sympathy for what cared for the ordinary teacher. He was struck by the discovery that, being able to get along so well with children, he faced only troubles in relations with his own staff ... He is not suitable for further advancement, and most of his current life is spent on memories of a good old time spent in the classroom . The competent mentor of children has risen to an incompetent leader of adults.
Some corollaries of the Lawrence J. Peter principle :
The universality of the principle of Peter. Peter's principle applies to any hierarchical system in which an employee, originally at the lowest levels of the hierarchy, over time, in office. Since the majority of organizations (private firms, government agencies, the army, the church) are hierarchical structures, the scope of applicability of the Peter principle is very broad. Even things, technologies and weapons are also subject to the tendency to achieve a level of incompetence. The historical chronicle reported to us that in 1628 the largest naval vessel of its time, the Swedish warship Vasa, was launched. The largest he was not only in size but also in the number of guns: sixty-four guns on two decks. He sank immediately - the upper part outweighed the lower.
Peter's principle in wikipedia
Peter principle on zarabotu.ru
In the topic of this conversation, I recently read about the principle of Lawrence J. Peter or the principle of incompetence. It sounds like this: " In the hierarchy, each individual has a tendency to rise to his level of incompetence ." So, according to Peter’s principle, an employee working in any system is promoted as long as he is not able to cope with his duties. In other words, in a long period of time, any vertical growth results in human incompetence. Also according to Peter, the employee in this position will “get stuck” and stay until he logs out (quit, die, retire).
Modern socio-economic foundations aim a person at success, understood primarily as growth in career and wages. If you are able to do your job efficiently and without tension, you will be told: “This job does not allow you to express yourself. You have to go higher. ”The problem is that when you finally get something that you can’t really cope with, it is this kind of activity that becomes your permanent occupation. Covering up your work. You despair of colleagues and undermine the effectiveness of the entire organization. Thus, each individual worker will end up at the level of his incompetence. According to statistics, managers who are most firmly seated in their positions are distinguished by a pathological inability to competently perform official duties.
On the other hand, a person reaching a certain official level begins to play politics. Since the competence in the new position is not enough, the employee has to do a hoax of his own need for this position. The set of features of this behavior is called the “End-Stop Syndrome” - the substitution of effective work by some other, active, seemingly easily visible activity. Symptoms of the terminating syndrome:
- Tendency to formalize the work;
- Constant invention of bureaucratic rules;
- The requirement from subordinates of their most exacting observance, even contrary to objective expediency.
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Once the hierarchy is established, the goal for it becomes its own existence. At best, this will manifest itself as local self-indulgence, at worst, it is a strategy aimed at self-destruction of the system as a whole. And this situation will be facilitated by the fact that the manager who promoted the employee will not admit the mistake and will continue to support the incompetent employee. In addition, at the time of incompetence, the previous position of the employee is already occupied.
The impossibility of abandoning the desire for incompetence. A person, even realizing that he will not cope with the proposed position, usually cannot refuse it. If he tries to refuse, he will be subjected to the harsh pressure of his family, friends, colleagues and management. Peter gives an example: “My immediate superior was transferred to another place, and I was offered to head the department. Since I believed that the post I held allowed the old dream to become a reality, I rejected this proposal. Followed by persistent advice not to rush and think carefully. In the weeks that followed, the authorities persuaded me, colleagues pushed me from all sides, urging me to agree to a promotion. This pressure hurt me so much that I decided to use creative incompetence. This is a trick to knowingly show yourself to be incompetent in anything that has nothing to do with your recognized achievements. You do this with the aim of convincing the superior person that, with all the competence that you show in your present place, you do not deserve any further progress. It may seem difficult to do, but in practice, as I discovered, it is achieved quite easily and gives a lot of pleasure. It cost me several times to put my car in the place reserved for the dean's car, as the proposals for a higher post have stopped. ”
An example of the principle . The school principal, Ostou Lop, had such an ability not to understand other people that I had never met. He was a competent researcher and an excellent teacher. The students listened to his every word, and he did not know the problems with maintaining discipline. Becoming a director, he did not show the slightest understanding or sympathy for what cared for the ordinary teacher. He was struck by the discovery that, being able to get along so well with children, he faced only troubles in relations with his own staff ... He is not suitable for further advancement, and most of his current life is spent on memories of a good old time spent in the classroom . The competent mentor of children has risen to an incompetent leader of adults.
Some corollaries of the Lawrence J. Peter principle :
- The cream rises to the top until sour.
- For every existing position in the world, there is somewhere a person who is unable to comply with it. With a sufficient number of promotions, this position will be occupied by him.
- All useful work is done by those who have not yet reached their level of incompetence.
- In the hierarchy, individual accomplishments are inversely proportional to the height of the post held. In other words, the greater the vertical growth, the smaller the horizontal.
- Equal opportunity means that everyone is equally given a chance to become incompetent. Even a housewife can manage the state.
- Getting a job is harder than holding it.
The universality of the principle of Peter. Peter's principle applies to any hierarchical system in which an employee, originally at the lowest levels of the hierarchy, over time, in office. Since the majority of organizations (private firms, government agencies, the army, the church) are hierarchical structures, the scope of applicability of the Peter principle is very broad. Even things, technologies and weapons are also subject to the tendency to achieve a level of incompetence. The historical chronicle reported to us that in 1628 the largest naval vessel of its time, the Swedish warship Vasa, was launched. The largest he was not only in size but also in the number of guns: sixty-four guns on two decks. He sank immediately - the upper part outweighed the lower.
Peter's principle in wikipedia
Peter principle on zarabotu.ru
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/21752/
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