Thanks to ASD for his posting of the peter principle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Principle
Peter principle
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The Peter Principle is a theory originated by Dr. Laurence J. Peter. It states that successful members of a hierarchical organization are eventually promoted to their highest level of competence, after which further promotion raises them to a level just beyond their highest level of competence. The term is a pun on Sigmund Freud’s theory of the pleasure principle.
The theory was set out in a humorous style in the book The Peter Principle, first published in 1969. Peter describes the theme of his book as hierarchiology. The central principle is stated in the book as follows:
In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His Level of Incompetence.
Although written in a lighthearted manner, the book contains many real-world examples and thought-provoking explanations of human behaviour. Similar observations on incompetence can be found in the Dilbert cartoon series (such as The Dilbert Principle). In 1981 Avalon Hill made a board game on the topic. [1]
The employee’s incompetence is not necessarily exposed as a result of the higher-ranking position being “more difficult” — it may be simply that the position is different from the position in which the employee previously excelled, and thus requires different skills, which the employee may not possess. An example used by Peter involves a factory worker whose excellence at his work results in him being promoted into a management position, in which the skills that got him promoted in the first place are no longer of any use.
One way that organizations attempt to avoid this effect is to refrain from promoting a person until that person already shows the skills or habits necessary to succeed at the next higher position. Thus, a person is not promoted to manage others if he or she does not already display leadership qualities. The corollary of this is that employees who are dedicated to their current jobs will not be promoted for their efforts.]
Gee who’s bright idea was it to make Brown the head of FEMA? A lawyer in charge of federal emergencies, does that make any sense? Even outspoken FEMA experts said that they did not like Brown for the head position! This expert also shed light on the fact that only 30% of the FEMA people were actually trained to handle the emergency in terms of actually going down there to help people. Contrastingly, 70% of Fema people were trained to remain behind the desk.
My favorite quote this month again is by good old GW,
“Bush: Oh anda Browny, your doing a heck of a job!” Once again here comes the Cowboy to his friend’s rescue, wait a minute, more like an outlaw that can get away with anything he says and does. It must be nice to be a politician bc you can just screw people over and not face any penalities. I’m not saying Brown is a bad person even if he is a lawyer but he should be shunned for taking a position he had no right in taking in the first place.
I guess the difference in this federal disaster is that since there is no terrorists to bomb then good old GW took a lesson from Arnold’s campaign for governer when Arnold admitted his woman harassment, GW said that he was to blame for the federal government’s slow response.
One things for sure, SNL is gonna have material that will last them them all of the fall!