4 Pitfalls that could lead to Mediocre Management

4 Pitfalls that could lead to Mediocre Management – by Arnie Wohlgemut

Ever heard of the Peter Principle?

It comes from a business book parody written by author and educator Laurence J. Peter. It takes aim at an “ever-present, pestiferous nuisance” found in businesses and governments everywhere i.e. managerial incompetence.

He contends, “that any employee in a hierarchy will rise to the level of his or her own incompetence.” (“This Means You!” the book noted cheerily in a subhead.)

 “Promotion is not just the upward or forward reassignment of an employee of your workplace but is a properly structured process that must remain within the bounds of the organization’s hierarchy.”  Anastasia @ cleverism.com

Here are the four typical reasons used to promote someone to the managerial ranks that could lead to disaster:

  1. Reward – The employer feels compelled to promote a person because of his/her continued good performance. The underlying assumption is that this is proof future of good performance.
  2. Tenure or seniority – The employer feels compelled to promote a person based solely on years of service. They assume that these years of service qualify him/her for the added responsibilities to an existing set of responsibilities.
  3. Educational/technical qualifications – The employer believes this to be the only measure or decision-making tool as far as the promotion is concerned. The underlying assumption is that the candidate has learned all the needed skills while attaining his/her degree, to successfully perform the new and additional responsibilities.
  4. Training – The amount of training an employee has been given or the level to which he/she has also been groomed acts as the deciding factor. They assume that successfully competing the training is sufficient proof of abilities to perform the duties and responsibilities being added.

A promotion is an important decision since it doesn’t only involve change in rank, more duties and responsibilities, it recognizes performance and ambition, increases loyalty, encourages retention and reduces employee discontent. Hence a promotion decision must be taken after careful assessment and evaluation of a candidate’s skills, performance and several other factors.

I encourage caution to not use the four reasons listed in isolation, as they could undermine the benefits of upward or forward reassignment of an employee.