LETTER: Let’s have Peter Principle at SOEs

In the opinion piece on state-owned enterprises (Why fixing governance at SOEs is not enough to stop their death spiral, January 30), William Gumede’s analysis reminded me  of a famous satirical observation from 1969 called the Peter Principle (after its author Laurence J Peter).

It states that in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.

Wikipedia explains the concept as follows: An employee is promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another. He is then stuck in this position as he is never promoted out of it or given a demotion.

Although initially satirical, the Peter Principle became accepted as a serious reflection of how large companies operate, especially state-run enterprises, which are also monopolies with no danger of failure due to competitive forces from outside.

If we are to save Eskom and SA Airways, the dragon which is the Peter Principle will first need to be slayed. Is there anyone out there with a sharp enough lance?

Robin Ducret 
Via e-mail