Posted by
peripheral on Saturday, January 03, 2009 5:57:52 AM
From My Perspective - - -
As events unfold in ones
life, sooner or later reference will be made to “The Peter Principle”! The
general interpretation is that a person has a level of ability/competency and
to go beyond that level invokes The Peter Principle. What is The Peter
Principle? The Peter Principle
states that in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his/her level of
incompetence. It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J.
Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1968 book THE PETER PRINCIPLE, a humorous
treatise which also introduced the salutary science of Hierarchiology,
inadvertently founded by Peter, the principle has real validity. It holds that
in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as
they work competently. Sooner or later they are promoted to a position at which
they are no longer competent (their level of incompetence), and there they
remain. Peter's corollary states that in time, every post tends to be occupied
by an employee who is incompetent to carry out his duties and adds that work is
accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of
incompetence.
The Author, Gary North, in his Thesis: “Computers Versus The
Peter Principle” writes: “The Peter Principle vies with Parkinson’s Law as one
of the two most fundamental laws of bureaucracy. Parkinson’s Law was first
articulated in public in 1955: Work expands so as to fill the time available
for its completion. C. Northcote Parkinson was a professional historian with
the famous dry wit that was once common to the British upper class. He turned
an article in The Economist into
a book, Parkinson’s Law,
in 1957. He later offered a corollary: "Expenditure rises to meet income. The
Peter Principle was first made public in Jan. 1967, in an article in Esquire. This principle announces: In
a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. Professor
Peter was a specialist in the area of hierarchical incompetence. He was a
professor of education. Here is his thesis. People get promoted in a hierarchy
for as long as they display competence on the job. At some point, however,
everyone hits his ceiling of competence. But neither he nor his employer
recognizes that this is his top. So, he is given one additional promotion. At
that point, he has risen to his level of incompetence. He will cease receiving
any further promotions.”
While there are many
applications that can be made in this regard, rather than drift toward
denigrating any group, the point of focus is on motivation, skills development,
ability that matches expectation, and maximized performance. A reason why
Seminars and In-Service Training has been developed is to hone the skills of an
individual so there can be increased motivation, skill development,
productivity and realization of fulfillment in ones task. Regardless of ones
experience and task involvement, there is considerable development in all skill
areas. It would be short-sighted and unwise to ignore or be detached from the
opportunities to increase knowledge and to learn better ways to accomplish a
task. It is possible to invent a better mouse trap, or a better broom, etc. The
learning curve is always a continuum and maximum potential is always the
pursuit. None of this can occur through osmosis! It requires discipline and
study and effort.
Consider these things with me
- - - The Peter Principle is shattered when the Spiritual Dynamic enters. God,
The Creator, spoke – “Let Us Make” – and the Universe and Man came into being.
Two thoughts: In Matthew 4:18, as Jesus began to summon men/disciples, He said:
“Come, follow me…and I will make you…”
It would be instilling extra-ordinary skills and abilities into ordinary men.
In like manner, in II Corinthians 5:17, we read: “…if anyone is in Christ, he/she
is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” The operative phrase is
“new creation”! The overall point is that God has always been The Creator and
His Work is now particularized in terms of the one who is In Christ. There is a
new horizon, a new hope, a new potential, a new “You” as this new creation
takes place, and the words of Jesus echo to you – “I Will Make You…” into what
I want you to be. The only way this proposition can be proven and tested is for
one to be In Christ where this new creation process will take place. To read
about this “new creation” possibility further, one can consult Psalm 1;
Ephesians 2 and 4; II Corinthians 5; etc. The difference between The Peter Principle
and The Jesus Principle is that Jesus guarantees the new creation result in and
for you!