This refers to the observation that employees in an organisation tend to rise up the management hierarchy only until they reach the position in which they cannot perform well. It is based on the fact that promotion decisions in organisations are based on the performance of employees in their current positions, rather than on how well they can perform in their new positions. So employees often stop being promoted further only when they reach positions in which they cannot perform well. The Peter principle was proposed by Canadian educator Laurence J. Peter in his 1968 book “The Peter Principle, Why Things Always Go Wrong”.
