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Show DESERET NEWS Peter s Law: How Incompetence Multiplies f rritof-- ' (Eaitor S Nctfr A ne c- burst upon The tcene oast neo .or has to its pace pnaps. alcngsioe Parkinson s .aw an3 the Games Pechie Ptav it a spocf or is it a parceptie v ew of The Way Thmss Today Reao the following Ae m Ame-'.cresearch report and decide fcr yourself The nor if an assistant professor of eotcaion at ve University of Southern California Hi ,s aoaptd permission from Think vaga z ne, puo sned oy Business a. cr nfS Corp i tae Is it a spoof American or a today ? V trri b; . 4 nuJ i!of n lie I It lb Cf a ..j:s u euro, it . : pnron, W it aUq.ta'e appi.n-ho- ii J dot.t Uifei i ,jrLe! ae eh:pii,tJ 'ire ct r e Uijr;h (.ieorge lor any healthy business firm, is not a major problem. Tbeie is. hov ever, a place where incompetenee is lampant. It is a never-neve- r land the hierarchy, an organization ( ailed vTose members are arranged in ranks ci grades; eacn rank except the lowest is J ilea by promotion from the rank below . iueom-p.-rnc- Having made an extensive shirty of Lei archies, I tounded a new science, hiciarchiology, and enunciated die first The Peter theorem, hierarchiological Principle of Economics (naming it, modestly, after myself): In a hierarchy, each emplove tends rBe lo his level of incompetence. Vveiv post tends to be occupied by an to execute its emplove incompetent duties. This explains Washingtons observation. As soon as two or more people are employed on a task, they form a hiprar-(hand sooner or later some of them reach a level of incompetence. To show how the hierarchy fosters incompetence. I will cite a firm named Paper Processors, Inc. (I often use fictitious names, in order to protect tiit guilty.) HPP occupies a tall building, with most employes of the lowest rank laboring on the ground floor, somewhat fewer of higher rank on the second, fewer still on the third, and so on up to t tne penthouse, where the works alone. Messrs. A batch ol new employes, One to Ten. is just starting vvitli HPP. Tach has a diploma, certifying that he has been a competent college student; he is thus qualified for promotion to the urn Id of commerce and eligible for the Junior Paper imik of Deputy-AssistaProcessor at HPP. The 10 recruits are shown to their desks and given documents to process. A year passes. It is promotion time. Put Messrs. One to Five have proved incompetent. Mr. Five often applied his rubber stamp upside down. Mr. Four forgets to ink his stamp pad and makes impressions. Mr. Three is persist-cntl- y unpunctual. Mr. Twos handwriting is indecipherable. Mr. One is inipertine.it to his superiors. These five are not eligible for promotions. They will stay in the positions they are incompetent to fill. They have reached what I call their level of incompetence. to y. pe-il- one-wa- y recruited better-behave- to incompetence begins the day five workers (lower left) launch their careers in Deputy Assist- - Rise Messrs. Nine and Ten, having shown themselves competent at this time, ate promoted to the rank of Junior Paper Processor. Three years later, under the strain of his heavy work load, Mr. Nine's social drinking has escalated to alcoholism. His frequent absences and slowed mental processes mark him as unfit for promotion. He has reached his level of incompetence. Mr. Ten is promoted to Paper Piocessor, works competently there and, four years later, rises to Senior Paper Processor. But in that position he suffers two heart attacks; his doctor says, Take it easy. Slow down. Don't work so hard. Mr. Ten docs take it easy, he siovvs down. Now he cannot get through all his work, and so he is disqualified for further promotion. When they promotions cease. ant Junior Paper Processing find level of incompetence, All 10 employees have now of incompetence. l cached their levels This situation is not the result of any particularly inept personnel policy at HPP. The same thing happens in every hierarchy. It must happen. It is inevitable. The weakness reveals itself wherever hierarchies exist. Chinese Premier Chou i complained last year that incompetents in the ministries of foreign affairs, defense, finance and industry bad undermined their countrys reputation and set back its foreign policy. Chou is helpless before the entrenched incompetence of his own hierarchies. Some critics call my principle dangerit gives subordinates an unfair ous mpans of belittling their superiors. That En-la- Dept. is not so. The principle applies at all levels, even the lowest. Messrs. One to Five, as we saw, reached their level of incompetence in the lowest rank. In all hierarchies you will find people who muddle through their working lives without winning a single promotion. I find that the main effect of aptitude tasting apart from providing a livelihood for test compilers and administrators is lo ensure the employe's competence on initial placement; theiefore, promotion is hastened, but necessarily to .u area of less competence! In the end, the employe arrives at his level of incompetence in less time than he would have done without the testing! Even machines are subject to the Peter Principle. If a machine does good Reds Use Bomb Pause To Gear For More War SPECIAL REPORT By L. EDGAR PRINA Military Affairs Editor Copley News Service The North Vietnam WASHINGTON Communists are making the most of the free ride the United States is giving them with the prohibition against air attacks on targets in the s of the country. northern d three-quarter- The enemy population is not only enjoying the respite from the bombs, it is working round the clock to press its war effort. from the north since his March 31 speech in which he bid for the preliminary truce talks now underway in Paris. U.S. reconBut intelligence photos naissance flights have not been restricted show that North Vietby the President nam is preparing for more war. This is the story that is being told by U.S. reconnaissance photographs of North Vietnam. Thousands of men are working round the night shift under flood the clock at the big port of Haiphong, lights facilities and improving its the increased number of discharging ships calling there with war supplies. It is a story which deals a severe blow tc President Johnsons oft expressed hope that Hanoi would respond to the U.S. bombing limitation with a step of its own. For the first time in many months, dredges have been sighted pumping out the silt which gathers on the bottom of the Red River approaches to the inner Haiphong area. The President, of course, has several times noted the increased infiltration of men and materials into South Vietnam Vietnamese are taking every possible advantage of the bombing lull, a U.S. general said in an interview. Ine North Not only is lie improving Haiphong and increasing his coastal shipping traffic, he has been repairing rail lines and bridges which link the port and Hanoi to South China, the other main entry point for his imports of arms and war materi- als. The general pointed out that because the workers are free from air attacks and the fear of them, they are able to do precision jobs on their bridge, rail lines and new sidings. They are building new bypasses to many of their bridges, too, he said, to be prepared for future bombings if the truce talks collapse." The enemy has now been able to move some of his Mig jet fighters to fields as far south as the vicinity of the 19th parallel. The U.S. in practice has not been bombing above that line even though the Pentagon lias placed the limit at the 20th. Tlius, the general said, the Mig bases around Hanoi and Haiphong aie being used as sanctuaries, just as the North Vietnamese had been using bases in South China to protect their iets from U.S. air strikes. With the air v.ar shut off in the northof the country, the ern enemy has shifted many of his antiaircraft guns to the south. The flak, accordingly, has been much heavier in the area from the Demilitarized Zone north to the 19th parallel. at the PenMany U.S. militarymen are wontagon and in South Vietnam dering how much longer the President will allow the of the war to go on. The enemy infiltration pipeline has expanded widely, all agree. His preparations for more war also are clear. And so, too, it would appear, is his attitude toward concessions namely, that they are a sign of weakness. Just when vacation is ON POINTE beginning for many performing artists, the vacations for the members of the I 'tah Civic Ballet now come to an end not that they have had very long ones, since they returned front their tour in which they gave 56 concerts and lecture demonstrations in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. four-wee- k Wednesday (5) at 1 p.m. the company 50 vvill hold its lirst class in preparation for the Zion Ballot Festival in the Janies Wardle Festival Bowl in Springdale. The festival of alternating programs begins July b and ends July 20, with no performance on Mr. Chnsteiiseii Sundays (July 7 and 14). of artistic directhe Utah Civic ballets for the by Fantasy II from TchaiTheme and Swan Lake, kovsky's Variations Tanner, by Richard "Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony by Kenneth Lew Christensens Mitchell, Coppelia "Filling Station," and the Wiliam F. Christensen, tor and choreographer of Ballet, has selected six two programs: Irish Jacques d'Ambrosie, Act Suite by Delibes. Zicn Festival Bowl is located ui the center of Springdale on property owned ov Julius R. Madsen and his son. J. R. Professor Christensen vvill be OUR MUSICAL WHIRL Springdale with his dancers directing the arprograms. Business and rangements are under the direction of Steven Horton, assistant manager. Mrs. John M. Wallace, president of the Utah Civic Ballet, and Mrs. Charles Boynton, president of the Ballet Guild, will direct special activities and social events before and during the festival. - PPOGGIATURAS From Odessa, USSR, Gary and Naomi Graffman write; Having a fine time here. Beautiful weather, great food. The only tiling not so hot (so far) are the orchestras and the pianos! Looking forward to our concerts with the Utah Symphony next January And from Beloit, Wisconsin, Crawford Gatos writes: I have been invited to be the guest conductor of the Quincy Symphony Orchestra (Illinois) next season. We are still juggling dates to fit with my Beloit Symphony season. I'll commute by air for rehearsals and performances. Quincy Symphony was founded in 1948 From Zurich, Switzerland, Glade Peterson writes: It is hard to believe we've been back six weeks already, and my season (with the Zurich Opera Company) is almost over. This summer we vvill remain in Switzerland, resting mainly, though I vvill sing in a few European festivals Convocation for the University of Utah College of Fine Arts will be held Saturday (8) in the Music Hall at 10 a.m. . . . Dr. Elizabeth R. Hayes, director of the A ... ... ... ... ... ... one-side- d Such In for avoiding the (Reprinted bv permission from THINK MagaBusiness Mazine, Copyright 1968 by International chines Corporation.) Old Apple Flats Bv HARRY JONES Giandp.i J.e kson was a pioneer in automation, ami used it m Strawberry Flats to come to the aid of the Widow Nelson. NcNon was hard woik-i- ' e tanner who 1'ved on the edge ot the valley where the land s u d d eiily rises upward to 'lie hill Jake round v. Jake grew the last strawberries the vallev on Mr. Junes the flaiiand in front ot the Nelson farm-- . bouse. On the sleep foothills m back, just across Skunk Cheek, Jake had ail apple ' oti haul. But due to t! e steepness, it was dillicult to irrigate, and the apple crop was never bounteous. It was the steepness of the orchard-lanthat put Mr. Nelson in an early 4 grave. His tractor tipjied over. the bereaved widow, Agnes Nelson, couldn't possibly work the farm, and decided to sell. She went to the c ounty seat and placed an ad in the Weekly, Bugle. The paper hadn't been on the streets moved ati hour, before the buzzards in in. And as you could expect, the sink c'ty real estate man had bought the', i hoice part ot the farm. The price would have been right, only he sold her some slock which he said,, e would be for her own protection and for the future." And as you could expect, the stock was a lot more watered than any crop. When she informed Grandpa what site' had done, he went Into immediate action. n The next day, he had the widow pre-vis- ' to the Bugle office and place an ad; rmnouneing the auction of the orchard property to the highest bidder. The auction was to lie a week from !, the following Saturday. Grandpa also had his brother, Geoige, cone down to the flats, and filled him in on a plan. All week, jieoule would cutue to the Widow's farm to look over the property.. And they all saw George busy vvitli , surveying tools and water measuring de-vices. And guess who hit the bait first? the widows stole The guy who cnoice property. he asked, after What von doing? witching for about 10 minutes. George took him into bis confidence. I shouldnt tell, but I'm investigating for a big eastern concern. They plan to open the only automated apple cider mill in the entire world, said George. They have a machine that shakes the apples out of the tree. The fruit rolls down into the creek. By the time it reaches the waterfall," said George,, they are com pointing downstream, plmely washed." He went on. "A screen w ill guide the : apples into a mill operated by the water-tal- l a George operation, concluded. You can probably guess the rest. The; city slicker outbid everyone, and paid 10 j I times what the ground was worth. I fooled almost George. Grandpa think you had a good idea, he said to one-ma- n Grandpa. He changed his mind when Grandpa' pointed out that even if the apples were-- ' good for making cider, which they werent, by the time the apples were '! ripe, the creek was dry! Wit's End: different subscription series for its coming season, September 13 through December 1, the longest in the company's history . . . Would-b- e music critics (if anyone could be so foolhardy!) are advised that applications are now available at the University of Southern California (USC) for the 1968-6training program, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation. The project involves a year of study in Los Angeles, followed by a year of apprenticeship with a major publication . . . Dont forget the annual 9 Spring .Concert by the Allegro Ladies Chorus, directed by A. Burt Keddington. Thursday (6) in the Bonneville Junior High Auditorium at 8 p.m. . . . The Min-OConcert Association of Japan has invited the Los Angeles Philharmonic to tour its country vvitli a three-wee- k concert schedule in 1969 . . . And live Associated Press quotes Harold L. Gregory, manager of the Utah Symphony Orchestra, that the Utah Symphony anticipates touring Japan and the Orient either in A specially priced 1970 or 1971 set inaugurates RCA Victor's Beethoven string quartet project tins month. The collection of the five middle quartets performed by the Guainrri Quartet (that appeared for the Salt Lake Chamber Music Association two months ago) will list for $1139, half the regular price for four Red Seal LPs , . . n ... four-recor- d n School days are the happiest das of a!!, a fact we discovered just one day. after the kids were out for the summer Cliches To Avoid v You'll never be a writer if you refer to a player who sparked a rally, to a politician who spearheaded a drive, to a committee that slated a candidate. Youll never be a writer if you refer to optimizing enthusan opportunity, a over or ing" campaign, finalizing a contract. You'll never be a writer if you refer Paris as Gay Paree, to Ireland as the Emerald Isle, to a lion as the King of beasts," to a nose as a proboscis," to death as passing away. to Youll never be a writer if vou to "cherished' refer blissful beliefs, aching voids, implicit confidence, the long arm" of coincidence, the acid gains, the powers that be, a tower" ot strength, a blunt instrument. igno-laiv- te.-rt- You'll never lie a writer if you tefer battle royal," a forgone" conclusion, a miscarriage" of justice, a helping hand, a diamond in the rough, an of doubt, a eagle eye. a shadow sight for sore eyes. to a Youll never be a writer to an actor as a a bard, to a if you refer to a poet as thespian, tavern-keepe- r You'll never lie to a ,lar riy, a as a socialite, boiii-fac- to a social leader as a to a fireman as a smoke-eater- . a w liter lap it vou "swank" apartment a supreme of esteem. a illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllINMIl sacri- BIG TALK fice, a "token Youll never be a writer if you refer to time as immemorial, to climate as to truth as to naked, halcyon, hearts of gold or stone," to feet of clay, to a penny as pretty, to a dollar as almighty, to opinions as considered, to plots that thicken." Youll never be a writer if you refer peace offerings as "olive branches, to delicate situations as "hanging by a thread," to any movement out as an exodus," to the latest possible time as to the eleventh hour, to born in prosperous circumstances as a silver spuon. to an irrevocable stop as "crossing the Rubicon." Voull never be a writer if you reter a burdensome possession as a white elephant, to dancing as the light fantastic, to a mountain as coming to Mahomet," to anything selling like "hot cakes (except hot cakes), to leaps that go with bounds and fits that go with starts and hooks that go with ctooks and bags that go with baggages and tooth that goes with nail and "rack" that goes with ruin and that goes with loose and "high" that goes with dry and "wear" that goes with tear lo fa-- t" icier of luxiiiy, of history, a square peg in a round hole, a sumptuous meal, a pageant end . . 1 J 1 techniques unwanted ultimate promotion I classify as Creative Incompetence. My files bulge with hundreds of strategems that have achieved the desired stability for their practitioners. Creative Incompetence will give best results if you choose an area of incompetence that does not directly handicap you in doing your present work. Creative Incompetence can keep you productive, preserve your peace of mind and prolong your life. Surely, it offers as great a challenge as the traditional drive for higher rank! J . HARRIS SYDNEY Modern Dance Department, was selected Woman of Distinction by the U. Faculty Womens Club. Professor Hayes was cited for her outstanding public and professional service and world-wid- e achieveand it ments in the field of dance couldnt happen to a nicer person! . . . The San Francisco Opera is offering nine mxidOWUMiM Pseudo-Substitutio- n) such as salvaging paper clips and rubber bands from wastepaper baskets. three-quarte- On Pointe For Zion Ballef Festival By HAROLD LUNDSTROM Deseret News Music Editor d le founder-presiden- 5 Shakedown -- e 1 OUR MAN JONES 1 business organization LAWRENCE J. PETER "piomoted" more and more difiuuit vvoik until eventually it reaches lt.s level ot liicom I elence. have di.seoveiel a number of signs w' vh, to the discerning observer, suggest that ail employe has achieved I..I..1 placement. 1. Phonophilia is an abnormal craving intercom devices and lor telephones, voice recorders. The employe rationalizes that, if he tan sufficiently impiove lus communications arsenal, he may lx able to get some work done. 2. Papyomanin, the accumulation of !: i uless masses of papers and books, nows, to a motal certainly, that the employe is at his level of incompetence. 3. A nonphysical sign of final place mem is the Auld Lang Syne Complex, ersistont complaining aliout the present, and a romantic idealization of halcyon days when the employe was at Ins level of competence. Substitution is a technique that will tine the Final Placement Syndrome or, if tried in time, prevent its occurrence, tn Substitution the patient neglects '.sually succeed;, in fot getting, in fact the duties of ms (xisition, which he is incompetent to carry out, and busies hiniM'lt instead with something that he an do. Tlie.se substitute duties lie carries cut to pci fection. Heie is a ease history. 1. Walker had i (Melted lus level of incompetence as a prison warden. Instead of vainly strug-eiin- g to carry out the duties of his post, no devoted himself to organizing the ttian traffic about the halls and stairways ot the prison. With colored lines and at rows, corridors, and rush-hou- r from monitors convicts, he among the contrived that no prisoner need ever je.-tanother. Walker spent little time in his office. 11 continually prowled the building and grounds, trying to catch someone crossing a line or defy ing an arrow; he escorted parties of visiting penologists around the prison; lie traveled extensively, lecturing on his system. He was always He had busy, happy and healthy. achieved a perfect Substitution. But few employes have the initiative or the opportunity to work out such elaborate Substitutions. Life at the level of incompetence is usually a long series of frustrations and illnesses. A better course is to avoid the ultimate promotion: to rise as fast as you can to a position one rank below your level of incompetence, and stay there. the I do not recommend refusing unwanted promotion. In our society such a refusal arf jses the suspicion of ones employer and the scorn ot ones family and friends. The best way is to arrange never to be ottered the promotion that would lead to filial placement. In other words, create the impression that you have ah'eady reached your level Invent an ulcer and of incompetence. keep taking pills lor it. Occasionally, pause halfway up a flight of stairs, cock y our head as if listening and remark to a Hear it? The heart pounding colleague, like a sledgehammer! I oughtnt to climb stairs, you know, but . . ., and you smile bravely and plod on. Or show some nonmedical sign of incompetence: Leave desk drawers open at tiie end of the workday, keep your documents in an apparent muddle; or assume a petty, niggling concern with something that is not your job at all (a t perceptive look at tf Bv - o' k at one level it will he A Tuesday, June 4, 1963 . "5ince the phone workers got that big raise, my telephone sounds just like a cash register." from pnotos taken Deseret , By 1 10141 V. McNeely tor In News' popular daily Baby Birtbday leatutt- - J |
