Back in 1969, just two years after I finished school and started working, I
came across the book "The Peter Principle". Alas, the Peter in this title
has nothing to do with the author of this little article. Peter was a
professor at USC on business practice of corporate America including our
federal and local governments and our education systems. Overnight, it
became an instant classic. Even I had acquired a copy, which I could not
locate these days. After 35 years, this classic is still in print. In fact,
it was published in paperback form in the early 90's. For this paper, I went
to AMAZON and checked it out. Naturally, they have it in stock, new as well
as used. For people not familiar with Peter's insight into our corporate
culture, here is a quote from one reviewer in AMAZON.
More succinctly, the Peter Principle says that
Professor Peter maintained that in a corporation, if an employee were doing
a good job, he or she would be promoted. If he or she continued to do well,
he or she would be promoted again. This trend would continue until he or she
reached his or her level of incompetence and only at that point, the
promotion would cease.
For the last 36 years, I've always held on to the Peter Principle and had
observed on many occasions how the principle was proven repeatedly in real
life situations. Here is a real example. Some years ago, the company I was
working for had a wonderful receptionist, J. Despite her title, the company
had few visitors. J's job was to answer phone calls. J's was friendly and
had a wonderful personality on the phone. She was always aware where
everyone was and was always helpful to our clients. One day, the company
told her that she had reached the highest salary that the company would pay
a receptionist. If she wanted to be paid more, she must take another job in
the company with 'more' responsibility. So, they made her our office manager
and brought in someone else as receptionist. J was OK as office manager but
the replacement receptionists following her were far from perfect. The
employees pointed this out to the management but company rule was company
rule. Any change was inconceivable until our customers started to complain.
In this particular instance, the story actually had a happy ending. The
company changed its rule for J. They put her back at the reception desk and
let her keep her higher pay.
My faith in the Peter Principle continued year after year until I became
involved with another organization. Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed what I was
doing for that organization. While working there, I became aware that the
Peter Principle might not be 100% correct*. I did not think the principle
was wrong but I thought it needed a little refinement or clarification. Here
is my version of the Peter Principle:
How could this be? An organization that is incompetent at all level could
not survive long. By the Darwinian rule of survival of the fitness, an
incompetent organization must sooner or later be eliminated from the market
place. Perhaps, this is true of businesses like IBM or ATT or WCOM. Still,
even for this group it took years for a large organization like ATT to fall.
For schools, education systems, or governments, (perhaps I should include
airlines), the Darwinian rule does not seem to apply at all. They do not
answer to anyone. In these organizations owned by the public, every citizen
is an owner and as we all know, no one is actually in charge. It is in these
organizations where I think the modified Peter Principle is most likely to
apply.
For conclusion, perhaps, you think I should offer some sort of cure for this
universal malady. Peter did just that in his book. If you feel that way, you
are missing my purpose of writing this paper. Indeed, I don't know any cure.
It is beyond my ability to offer any. My purpose is to remind you what is at
work in your institution or your local government or your local school
system and you must be prepared to take advantage of it. Happy hunting in
the New Year.
*Since I finished this paper, I had purchased another copy of "The Peter
Principle" from Amazon and read it again. Peter did mention the case of
incompetent management in a hierarchy. Based on my experience, he could have
emphasized it more. (Prefacer Peter died in the middle 80's.)
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