While not everyone has heard of the so-called “Peter Principle,” virtually everyone has experienced it as either a member of a hierarchical organization or as a customer or other observer of one. The Principle goes like this, “In a hierarchy, everyone rises to their level of incompetence.” The diligent administrative assistant moves up to supervisor but fails. The assembly line worker is promoted to foreman but cannot do the job. A teacher earns a deputy principal position in a school but falls flat on their face. Why is that? Why does this seem to happen over and over, across organizations?

In The Peter Principle, Lawrence J. Peter not only provides answers to these questions, he delves into all the possible implications. The 1969 book, co-authored with Raymond Hull, explains in a satirical way that this is a predestined result of hierarchy: the competent people who perform their job well are promoted until a new position exceeds their capacities or requires new skills heretofore not acquired. The result is someone who is stuck as a misfit in the wrong job, and there they will stay for the rest of their working lives. Peter explores the source and consequences of the principle as well as the ways people navigate hierarchy and try to get ahead. He posits that the simple desire to stay at a level of maximum competence is heartily punished – people must drive for higher status or risk being seen as complacent or without ambition. So, in what appears as one of the key messages in the book, he provides some tips for people to avoid falling trap of advancement for advancement sake – which may land them into an position they lack skills to do.

The book is satirical in form and substance but convincingly written using hundreds of vignettes based (whether faithfully or loosely is the left to the reader) on real life examples that Peter encountered as a consultant. Not only does he lampoon organizational life, he also targets academia with its penchant for its occasional tortuous vocabulary—the book contains an annex with the hundred or so terms invented in the text. It also speaks of a “new science” called hierarchiology, poking fun at how scholars create whole new fields that are not really new but declared as such for personal gain. Peter occasionally pokes at himself in the process of presenting this “science” by declaring that some chapters are completely without empirical support but true because he said so.

The satire works. The “peter principle” not only entered into the popular debate but scholars have also examined his assertions. It can also be considered a source of a lot of popular business literature and media—among them the comic strip series Dilbert, television series The Office (UK and US versions), and the movie Office Space. They all attack organization life in different ways but with one thing in common: the incompetent manager whose stupidity or lack of skills leads to never-ending strings of crises and disasters.

You may also download the audio files here: Part 1 | Part 2 | Supplement

Read with us:

Peter, L. J. & Hull, R. (1969). The Peter Principle. Cutchogue, NY: Buccaneer Books.

To Learn More:

Benson, A., Li, D., & Shue, K. (2018). Research: Do people really get promoted to their level of incompetence? Harvard Business Review, March 8, 2018, https://hbr.org/2018/03/research-do-people-really-get-promoted-to-their-level-of-incompetence

Benson, A., Li, D., & Shue, K. (2019). Promotions and the peter principle. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 134(4), 2085-2134.

Ferguson, A. J., Cohen, L. E., Burton, M. D., & Beckman, C. M. (2016). Misfit and milestones: Structural elaboration and capability reinforcement in the evolution of entrepreneurial top management teams. Academy of Management Journal, 59(4), 1430-1450.

Garfinkel, H. (1967). “Good” organizational reasons for “bad” clinic records. In Studies in ethnomethodology (pp. 189-207). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Related episodes from the Talking About Organizations Network:

Episode 108. Presentation of Self in Everyday Life — Goffman

Episode 32. Organizational Stupidity — Mats Alvesson

Episode 6. Bureaucracy — Max Weber

Related episodes from other podcasts (no endorsement implied):

Will getting rid of bosses improve the workplace? (2024, March 26).The Journal. https://gimletmedia.com/shows/the-journal/76h5zk4x/will-getting-rid-of-bosses-fix-the

How to get ahead without managing people, with Martin Wolf. (2024, March 26). Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/ff520173-fe56-493d-a608-2cf774bfbbfd