Peter Principle: When Promotions Lead To Inactivity

On many occasions, the fact that a worker deserves a promotion will not mean that they are ready for one. Nor does it mean that it is guaranteed to be beneficial to the person or company. This is what the Peter principle is all about. According to this theory, promotions can actually be something negative. Sometimes the worker has to deal with challenges they are not ready to face. Maybe because they lack the resources to deal with them. Or they may also have trouble managing their emotions in a good and healthy way.

The Peter principle has existed for over 60 years, and is still relevant to today’s society. In the late 1960s, Laurende J. Peter and Raymond Hull, researchers at the University of Washington, wrote a book entitled The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong .

The book had a great impact and also created great controversy. It addresses the issues that they, more often than not, saw in different companies, training centers or other work scenarios. In the book, they established how promoting an employee can actually be a problem, or simply a mistake.

Peter and Hull also emphasized the importance of placing well-trained people in leadership positions, or positions of power. Placing an untrained employee in a management position can in fact greatly create problems and harm a company.

When this happens, it is not uncommon for a company or organization to suffer setbacks and a general downturn. This in turn leads to constant discomfort, unhappiness, low productivity and a higher degree of incompetence. And as a result, it leads to poor decision making.

What does the Peter principle consist of?

The Peter principle can be nicely summed up in a basic idea: In the hierarchical structure of any company, employees will be promoted to a position they are not prepared for, and they will occupy this position for the rest of their careers. This in turn implies another important aspect: Managers who are unable to handle the responsibilities that the position entails.

This theory has received both criticism and support. Researchers at Harvard Business School conducted a study in which they believed the results indicated that the Peter principle did not exist in “all” companies or in as many scenarios as first assumed.

The challenge of having a position that comes with great responsibility

Many employees are very efficient in their tasks. Therefore, it is possible that their boss will give them a promotion at a given time. The manager can promote them to a position that will help the company move forward in different areas.

• Promoting an employee means that they need to expand their areas of expertise. Communication, leadership, conflict resolution, decision making, personnel management, creativity, risk assessment…
• Not everyone will be prepared to deal with this new responsibility. Not all people, no matter how competent they are in a particular field, can hold a position of power in a company.

That said, the Peter principle often causes leaders to suffer from high levels of anxiety and to slowly but surely become aware of their own incompetence. However, there are others who will ignore the impact their bad decisions can have.

Can it be avoided?

The Peter Principle has been in business for decades now, and as we know, this world is based on competition between companies and employees. This means that leaders often prefer to promote aggressive, authoritarian and charismatic people, rather than those who have more competence or are skilled.

According to the originators of this principle, the most striking aspect is that managers will rarely fire, or fire, these employees, no matter what damage they have done to the company or how unproductive and negative they may be. This is why every manager, officer or employee should take into account the following aspects.

What types of promotions lead to the Peter principle?

• Many managers promote employees because they feel they have to, perhaps out of loyalty. They tend to promote the employees who have worked the longest in the company or company.

• In many countries, it is common for promotions to be linked to management.
• It is also common to promote charismatic, outgoing and even psychopathic people, who because of their undeniable charisma are prominent leaders.

How to avoid the Peter principle?

Good leaders and entrepreneurs use the following strategies to avoid the Peter principle:

• Choose better promotions. Avoid automatic promotions at all costs. The leader really needs to think twice before making their decision.
• Provide better training. It is necessary for the promoted person to receive thorough training, preferably constant. One of the most important aspects is to ensure that the employee has appropriate and appropriate leadership qualities.

• Degradations. In this case, any organization or company must establish adequate audit guidelines so that any person who is not productive will be demoted.

It is important to use these points to avoid making decisions that could lead to a negative work environment.