What principle describes promoting an individual beyond their level of competency?

The principle that describes promoting an individual beyond their level of competency is known as the Peter principle. This concept was formulated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and is often expressed as "in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence." This means that as employees are promoted based on their performance in their current roles, they may eventually be placed in positions where they do not have the necessary skills or competencies to succeed.

The Peter principle highlights the potential pitfalls of promotions within organizational structures, emphasizing the importance of aligning an employee’s skills and abilities with their job responsibilities. This could lead to inefficiency and decreased productivity in the workplace.

On the other hand, the Hawthorne effect refers to changes in behavior when individuals know they are being observed, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs outlines the progression of human needs from basic to advanced, and the Pareto principle (or the 80/20 rule) relates to the distribution of outcomes in relation to efforts, suggesting that a majority of effects come from a minority of causes. None of these directly address the notion of incompetent promotion as the Peter principle does.