Peter’s principle says that often the fact that a worker deserves a promotion does not mean that he is ready to be promoted, or that this promotion is the most advantageous option for himself or the company. According to this theory, many promotions are, in fact, sometimes the worker faces challenges without sufficient resources to face them successfully or without much anxiety.
This principle is almost sixty years old and yet remains relevant today. It was in the late 1960s that Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull, professors at the University of Washington, wrote a book with touches of humor titled “Peter’s Principle. “
- Probably not even themselves imagined the impact their work would have.
- It was a very controversial.
- Acidic and critical work on the mistakes that were seen in any company.
- Educational center or work scenario.
- In which some promotions were a mistake.
However, the message Peter and Hull wanted to leave was more serious than the tone they used when they conveyed their ideas, we cannot forget what it means, for example, to put an in-experience person in a position of power, something like this implies, in the first place, “Failed?How the system works. “
Thus, when this happens, it is not uncommon for an organization to deteriorate, unease, sadness, low productivity and the spread of this incompetence to other scenarios that may also be affected by bad decisions.
“Over time, each position tends to be filled by an incompetent employee to perform their duties. Don’t be fooled by apparent exceptions?. ? Laurence J. Peter?
Peter’s principle can be summed up in a basic idea: in the hierarchical structure of every organization, workers will be promoted to a position for which they are not prepared. They will also maintain this increase for the rest of their careers.
This, in turn, implies another aspect that is no less relevant: managers also cannot successfully fulfill the responsibilities they have assumed.
As you can guess, this theory has as many detractors as it has defenders. For example, studies such as that conducted by Harvard Business School indicate that Peter’s principle does not exist in “everything” or in as many scenarios as we can imagine. , what we can do is implement measures to reduce how often this happens.
There are very effective employees in their work, so it is very possible that at some point the organization will decide to promote them, give them a position where the company can make greater and better use of its capacity and disposition. the motto says: every job has its responsibility.
Therefore, our effectiveness, our competence in a number of specific tasks and services often do not matter. Promotion may be a reward, but I didn’t know.
Thus, Peter’s principle often favors very stressed leaders, aware of their incompetence, but others, however, are placed at peace. They don’t care about the impact of their bad decisions.
Peter’s principle was established in our labor market decades ago, the business world, as we know, is based on strong competition between companies and employees, this usually means that the riser does not always have more skills, but is the one that seems the most aggressive, direct and even charismatic.
According to the authors of this theory, the most surprising thing is that these people rarely stay out, are rotten apples that are perpetuated in organizations and generate a negative and low productivity work environment, for this it is necessary for each manager, manager or employee to take into account these aspects.
Before we delve into strategies to avoid Peter’s principle, let’s understand why this happens.
Trained managers and executives know how to avoid Peter’s principle and do so through three strategies
As you can imagine, Peter’s principle is very common: perpetuating incompetence in any organization means not only reducing efficiency or productivity, but above all, implies?Inequality, making those who are truly competent invisible.
In this way, we create negative climates in the work environment that end up causing loss, stress and unhappiness. Let’s think about it.