The Peter Principle
Next year marks an important milestone in business publishing: it will be the fortieth anniversary of the publication of Laurence Peter & Raymond Hull’s The Peter Principle. Sadly this will also demonstrate how little impact writing has on the world of organization.
The most important part of the Peter Principle is that, in a hierarchical organization, an individual will rise to the level of his or her incompetence.
Apart from adding another phrase to the English lexicon, the book, though well written, has had very little impact on how people are organized, organize themselves and view the wider world. If anything things are even worse now than they were back in 1969; as we see there are no end of examples of people going far beyond the levels of their imcompetence, indeed often to the very top.
In spte of massive advances in technology and telecommunications we seem to have an unbreakable attachment to the model of the hierarchy. It’s comforting (especially to those at the top); it gives those lower down something to aim for, but it also keeps everyone in their place. Hierarchies are beloved of the public service in nearly every countrty (including Ireland). They dominate at the national level and are replicated clone-like at local government level.
Hierarchies usually give themselves away very easily, but one give-away clue is a proliferation of frankly silly titles, often ending in “officer”. It’s an open secret that most bureaucrats dream of becoming soldiers, but the discomfort of military life, plus the danger (real or imagines) of actually getting hurt, whether deliberately or accidentally), leaves most of them in a brown sweat.
The subtitle of Peter and Hull’s book is Why things always go wrong. Surely the fact that things keep going wrong show how little their impact has been. Yet in the Irish public sector things don’t go wrong: instead there is a systems failure. If you turn the ignition key in your car and it doesn’t respond this, it is true, may be due to a systems failure – especially if you haven’t put any petrol in the tank. Actually that’s not really a proper systems failure. There is nothing wrong with the system; simply the absence of an important and vital input – petrol. If however you’ve put petrol in it and maybe just had it servicee and it still won’t work, well then you are entitled to say: “This car is a heap o’ shite – I need a new one”. Imagine though how you’d feel if you were told that you could not get a new one, and that you’d have to make do with the old one which probably will creak back into action after a visit or two from some highly-paid consultants – most of whom are called Peter!
As a disabled person I often get frustrated, not least by the attitude of society which says (albeit not clearly): “You are imperfect. There is soimething wrong with you. You cannot have any important role in society but must rather sit back in the corner and let those who are able get on with it – and keep quiet as well.”" I hasten to assert that there may be some disabled people who would be incompetent, but would they not demonstrate possession of a quality they hold in common with so many people throughout the organization?
