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In his theory of evolution, Charles Darwin introduced the law of natural selection, and the phrase “survival of the fittest” became popular: those who adapt best to their environment move on to the next round.
Mankind has managed to add an extra phase: once the fittest survive, they are raised to a level for which they are unfit.
At least that’s what the “Peter Principle”, also known as the “Peter Incompetence Principle”, tells us.
“In a hierarchy, each employee tends to reach their level of incompetence“he dictates.
“In any organization where expertise is eligibility for promotion and incompetence an obstacle, these rules apply,” said its author, Canadian psychologist and educator Laurence J. Peter, who, along with playwright Raymond Hull, launched his book “The Peter Principle” in 1969.
“Even though it was a book written for entertainment, it contained a lot of ideas that were at least anecdotal like reality,” says Kelly Shue, economist at Yale Business School. It is a principle that can be developed in almost any context where it exists. . Perhaps you have witnessed the process …
… Someone is doing a job for which they are perfectly prepared; Rather than letting yourself shine and increasing your salary every now and then, the organization rewards you with a promotion to a job you don’t do as well.
If he survives, he levels up, and so on, navigating deeper and deeper waters and paddling more and more frantically.
In the end, he’s so far from shore and the position he was so brilliantly suited to, he’s drowning … but with a bigger desk and a better car and enough responsibility to make catastrophes.
As Laurence Peter said, “It’s not so much that the cream always rises, but it rises until it turns sour.”
Warmly
Peter’s now famous principle identified a real problem and moved the theory forward: “Over time, each position tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to perform his duties”.
The book struck a chord with the general public, remaining on the list of bestsellers The New York Times for over a year (and is still in print 45 years later). it’s a satire– makes fun of management and makes fun of management books. But like all good satire, people got to see the truth through it.
The book presents dozens of “specialized terms” such as …
- hypersymophobia complex (the fear felt by superiors when an inferior shows strong managerial potential);
- laughing inertia (the habit of telling jokes instead of working);
- swing syndrome (inability to make decisions) or
- gigantism tabatorio (the obsession with having an office bigger than the colleagues).
Recent evidence
Proving that Peter’s Principle is real is complicated, because company data is not easy to find and if the person who should be collecting it has reached his level of incompetence, he likely would not commission reports that would formalize his. situation.
However, economists Alan Benson, Danielle Li and Kelly Shue recently published what could be the first detailed empirical investigation of Peter’s principle using US data from the performance management of teams involved in sales.
“The good thing about sales data is, first of all, it’s an extremely important environment: about 9% of the US workforce works on something sales-related.
“In addition, we can see each person’s turnover, in order to detect people with higher sales, who would be more likely to be promoted, and then measure their performance as managers, looking at their added value.” , he explained. at BBC Shue.
“A good manager, for example, would make his team more efficient.”
Economists have relied on information more than 200 companies, more than 53,000 workers and more than 1,500 promotions.
This data set was ideal for identifying highly effective salespeople and what happened to a team once a star salesperson was promoted to the role of team leader.
They confirmed that sales assistants were indeed more likely to be promoted. But that was not all.
“We found that those who became managers after being twice as good at sales as others were about 6% worse than bosses, that is, they reduced the performance of all their subordinates more or less 6%, “he revealed.
A result dramatic and even somewhat surprising.
“You would think that being good at a sales implies that the person is good at interpersonal skills, but many of the best salespeople are lone wolves and don’t have much experience in collaboration or teamwork.
“We found that on average they are particularly negative managers who have a negative impact on their subordinates.
“They were promoted to their level of incompetence.
“And in doing so, companies have not only lost an employee with a high sales performance, but they also acquired a bad manager. “
And if people today can be trained and more competent as a manager than as a line clerk, Peter’s Principle continues to thrive widely in the field of technological innovation.
In Silicon Valley
Over the past 30 years, business consultant Nitin Borwankar has followed the rise of Silicon Valley to become the technological and economic powerhouse of the world, repeatedly seeing startups or start-ups who emerge, innovate, “lose their soul” and stagnate.
“I have seen people come to innovate and naturally seek a source of income. This is when admins decide what their business model is, everything else is put aside and they focus on what it generates. Money”.
“But in the Start what pays is risk and they become incompetent at taking risks, leaving the way open for others Start innovate in the same space and leave them behind. It happens all the time. ”
It is a modern equivalent of a rise to the level of incompetence.
Inevitable?
Is there a way to escape the logic of Peter’s Principle and avoid climbing the heights of incompetence?
It is not easy, but there are radical approaches.
“There is evidence that if you name the managers randomly on average, they tend to be better”Says Bob Sutton, professor at Stanford University and author of“ Good Boss Bad Boss: How to be the best and learn from the worst ”.
“It’s a fun solution, but there is some evidence to back it up.”
Another option comes from Peter’s book himself: Creative incompetence.
In short, if you find a job that you really enjoy and do very well, be sure to give your boss a reason to think you’re not that good on occasion.
Peter’s principle has enlightened the bureaucracy but has not changed it: incompetence continues to abound.
But according to Sutton, there are reasons to be optimistic.
“To me, there is little hope in his notion that all reasonable work is being done by people who have not reached their level of incompetence because what I have learned while studying management for nearly 40 years is that very often organizations do the right thing. despite -Y not because of– the leaders they have.
“People are smart; most of us know how to deal with poor hierarchies, incompetent or lazy bosses.”
Peter has shown us that ambition for the biggest and the best is a recipe for mediocrity, so wherever you are in your job, ask yourself if it’s time to stop climbing – maybe you are. already where you really should be.
And if you’ve ever climbed where you shouldn’t be, take comfort in thinking that your boss is probably an impostor too.
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