New York Magazine presents their annual fascinating list of various new theories and ideas presented in 2009. This theory of "random promotions" was particularly intriguing.
In 1969, the Canadian psychologist Laurence J. Peter posited the "Peter Principle": people in a workplace are promoted until they reach their "level of incompetence." This happens, Peter argued, because we wrongly assume that people who are good at their jobs will also be good at jobs that are one rung up on the corporate ladder — so we promote them. But often the new job is so different from the previous job that the employee can't handle it. Now performing incompetently, the employee stays in place, dragging the efficiency of the firm downward. Eventually the entire economy becomes like the paper company Dunder Mifflin in "The Office" — clogged with incompetence.Is there any way to avoid this trap? Yes, by promoting people at random. That's what a trio of Italian scientists discovered this year.
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