Peter principle

The Peter principle is the observation that people in hierarchical organizations tend to be promoted until they reach positions where they are no longer competent.

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Hierarchical organization: An organization structured into ranked levels of authority and responsibility. The principle describes how promotion operates within ranked organizational structures.
Laurence J. Peter: A Canadian educator and author who formulated the Peter principle with Raymond Hull. Peter developed the observation from examples of promotion and workplace incompetence.
Up-or-out policy: An employment system in which workers must advance within a set period or leave the organization. Its promotion pressure can move employees upward even when advancement is a poor fit.
The Peter principle in reverse: A proposal to promote employees based on demonstrated competence in the role they would enter, rather than their current role. It reverses the usual promotion logic that produces the competence mismatch.
Promotion: The advancement of a person to a higher position, often with greater responsibility or authority. Advancement repeatedly moves employees into roles with different demands.
Raymond Hull: A Canadian writer and educator who collaborated with Laurence J. Peter on the book introducing the Peter principle. Hull co-wrote the book that carried Peter’s formulation to a broad audience.
Competency-based management: A management approach that defines roles through required competencies and assesses people against them. It offers a way to test role fit rather than assuming past performance predicts readiness.
Performance appraisal: A formal assessment of an employee’s work performance against organizational expectations. Appraisals can confuse success in a current job with potential in a higher one.
Competence: The ability to perform a task or role effectively using relevant knowledge and skills. The principle turns on a mismatch between demonstrated ability and a role’s demands.
Management theory: The study of principles and practices used to organize and direct institutions and businesses. The principle became a widely cited critique of how organizations select managers.