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Peters Principleby Jordan Lee Valente / PA 205
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The concept was introduced by
Canadian sociologist Dr. Laurence
Johnston Peter in his humoristic book
of the same title. In his book, hedescribes the pitfalls of the
bureaucracy in organizations
witnessed during his extensive
research into business organization
and its management.
Peters Principle
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The Peter Principle book has attained such renown that
The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as "The
theory that employees within an organization will
advance to their highest level of competence and thenbe promoted to and remain at a level at which they
are incompetent." ... "In a hierarchically structured
administration, people tend to be promoted up to their
level of incompetence," or, as Dr. Peters
Principal explained more simply, "The cream rises until
it sours."
Peters Principle
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Peter Principle Management is the concept that in
bureaucratic organizations, new employees typically
start in the lower ranks, but when they prove to be
competent in the task to which they are assigned, theyget promoted to a higher rank, generally management.
This process of climbing up the hierarchical ladder can
go on indefinitely, until the employee reaches a position
where he or she is no longer competent.
Peters Principle
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At that moment the process typically stops, since the
established rules of bureaucracies make it very difficult
to "demote" someone to a lower rank, even if that
person would be a much better fit and happier in anon-management role. The net result of this principle is
that most of the management levels of a bureaucracy
will be filled by incompetent people, who got there
because they were quite good at doing different (and
usually, but not always, easier) work than the work they
are currently expected to perform.
Peters Principle
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Work is accomplished by those employees who have
not reached their level of incompetence. Thus we can
see why organizations still function even as Peter.
Peters Principle
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Parkinsons Lawby Jordan Lee Valente / PA 205
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Parkinsons Law
In 1958, English author and historian Cyril Northcote
Parkinson (1909-1993) wrote a satirical book
describing human behavior, Parkinson's Law: The
Pursuit of Progress. This was the source of the quote"Work expands to fill the time available."
Parkinsons Law (sometimes called Parkinson's
Principle) has been found startlingly accurate,
enough to merit its adoption into mainstream
thinking. Indeed Parkinson's Law is so widely quoted
that many do not realize its humorous intent.
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Parkinsons Law
Even if the law is only
partially valid, there are
major implications for the
efficiency of organizations,
management efficiency,
and motivation of the
workforce.
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Management's Role
It is definitely worthwhile to consider the possibility
that real world occurrences of Parkinson's Law and
the citing thereof by managers who wish to justify
their Theory X management style and "aggressivegoal setting" scheduling technique may simply be a
manifestation of the Rosenthal Effect, or "Self-
Fulfilling Prophecy".
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Management's Role
For example, say the manager was Peter
Principle'd into their current management role, and
is not particularly skilled at hiring, scheduling, or
communicating. One of the repercussions of theseinabilities might be work expanding to fill the time
available with these "substandard staff" (justifying
his role as their leader) and the only way to keep this
effect in check would beactive micromanagement (rather than self-
improvement).
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To be continued