The Peter Principle

The Peter Principle - Introduction
According to the Peter principle, a management concept created by Laurence J. Peter, that claims that individuals in a hierarchy are inclined to "advance to "a level of respective incompetence".
Since abilities acquired in one job may not always transfer to another, based on the employee’s performance in prior positions, employees are promoted. Therefore, they are no longer competent after they reach a certain level.
The Peter Principle, the book written by Raymond Hull and Laurence Peter in 1969 and published by William Morrow & Company, explains the idea.
With a satirical intention, the book was written by Peter and Hull, however, it quickly gained popularity because it was perceived as proving a thoughtful fact about the flaws in how people get promoted inside corporations with a chain of command.
The person who was pulled up the ladder will not get another advancement if they do not have the abilities needed for the new position.
If the person does well in the new position, the promotions will happen to continue till they eventually reach a point where they finally become inept.
The person’s promotion will not happen again because of them being inept, therefore they will not be able to break through this position. This place is commonly referred to as Peter's plateau.
The Paula Principle - Women
There is still sexism in society.
It is believed that women lack the "old boy's network" that male coworkers use to advance in their careers with professional connections.
Such cases are witnessed very often where women would acknowledge that they are in dearth of certain job-related skills.
The majority of childcare responsibilities fall on women.
Women sometimes consciously choose not to advance as far as they could as a “positive choice.”
Motivating factors for the Peter Principle
The majority of entry-level positions demand some type of specialized skill or technical knowledge.
The application of the Peter Principle is seen very often in technical fields where employees who are skilled are inevitably elevated to managing positions.
It occurs even though such employees' capability is determined more by their technical skill than by their ability of management or leadership.
Employees are frequently rewarded with internal promotions.
Many employees in search of a job are drawn to particular organizations because of the potential promotion they might receive and not because of the working environment.
Majority of corporates base promotions on an employee's performance in their present role rather than the abilities required for the next position.
How to avoid the issue of Peter Principle?
1. Demotion
Dr. Peter went beyond simply outlining his theory. In his book, he offered a few suggestions for fixing the issue.
He suggested implementing a policy of demotion that does not have a negative connotation of failure as one tactic.
Consider an employee who has been promoted to a position for which his skills are not enough to fill.
The management can reinstate the employee to their original position in such a circumstance. The individual who chose poorly by elevating the employee, however, must own up to his/her error.
2. No Promotion but increased salary
Offering employees an increment in their pay without giving a promotion to them is another way to address the Peter Principle.
Employees are more excited about the prospect of promotion because of the financial advantages, but not because of the authority or status involved in it.
Due to their exceptional performance in their individual positions, employees should be entitled to increased pay by the company in order to avoid a violation of the principle.
An employee can therefore make enough money this way and remain in a position where he is qualified.
3. Lateral Arabesque
Managing inept personnel without terminating them was another piece of advice from Dr. Peter.
Meaning, a CEO has the option of moving the inept employee to a position with a longer title but fewer duties.
The method was referred to as "lateral arabesque" by the Canadian educator.
In this approach, the promoted employee will be unaware that he/she has been demoted from the position to which he/she had been elevated.
4. Employing Vigilant People
The Peter Principle - Conclusion
Despite the fact that the book's writing style is playful, it is a thorough study of one of the primary problems with hierarchical organizations containing a whole reality.
This video is on The Peter Principle and it has the following sub-topics.
Timestamps
0:15 - The Peter Principle - Introduction
1:51 - The Paula Principle - Women
2:27 - Motivating factors for the Peter Principle
3:22 - How to avoid the issue of Peter Principle?
5:25 - The Peter Principle - Conclusion