The Peter Principle and learning: A safer way to promote workers

In 1969, the psychologist Laurence J. Peter made a observation about how organizations promote its members: “The members of an organization climb the hierarchy until the level of maximum incompetence”. The first computational study on this principle suggests that promoting members randomly is the sa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physica A 2021-08, Vol.576, p.126023, Article 126023
Main Authors: Farias, B., Rapôso, O., Penna, T.J.P., Girardi, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agent-based models
Hierarchical systems
Peter Principle
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Summary:In 1969, the psychologist Laurence J. Peter made a observation about how organizations promote its members: “The members of an organization climb the hierarchy until the level of maximum incompetence”. The first computational study on this principle suggests that promoting members randomly is the safest strategy. Here, we modify the original model adding the diversity of competences and learning. Our results suggest that, even though the Peter principle negatively affects the efficiency of a business, this effect is less drastic than the one suggested in the previous work when adding the new ingredients. The strategy of promoting the individual with the best performance in a level really seems to be the best strategy, recovering the common sense hypothesis.
ISSN:0378-4371
1873-2119
DOI:10.1016/j.physa.2021.126023