Why do they always promote people whose position greatly exceeds their capacities? Rare are those who are promoted and really deserve it. Are they afraid of more competent people in higher positions or what? I get the impression that they are actually afraid of competent employees.
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It’s all about office politics. People in management get to hire whoever they want and most times it’s just someone they like not someone who is qualified for the job.
As the old saying goes "it's not what you know, it's who you know and who you b..."
To some extent, most people at Union Gas who had responsibility relied heavily on foolproof procedures because they weren't qualified for their positions.
For this reason they lagged behind in several areas. Enbridge has a lot of the same issues. Add in to the mix a heavy reliance on unskilled contractors and several other major problems, and you have a recipe for disaster.
It's called the Peter Principle. It's not about incompetents promoting incompetents.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
It's not a new phenomenon. It was described in print in 1969. And it doesn't involve promoting incompetent people. Basically, competent people are are promoted repeatedly, until they finally reach a job they can't do, and they fail.
Exactly.
Incompetent middle managers will promote incompetent people who will be their yes men/women. Union Gas comes to mind. Some of the managers are the most unsophisticated and crude rednecks I’ve ever met. They don’t have the capacity for intelligent progression planning.