cover image The Peter Pyramid, Or, Will We Ever Get the Point?

The Peter Pyramid, Or, Will We Ever Get the Point?

Laurence J. Peter. William Morrow & Company, $1.98 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-688-05380-2

The author of the highly popular The Peter Principle, which asserted that individuals tend to rise to their ""levels of incompetence,'' now applies the same idea to organizations. With an appealing combination of wit and common sense, using often humorous examples, he demonstrates that each of us in our daily lives occupies a position in numerous inverted (base-up) pyramidsgovernmental, commercial, religiouswith many strata intervening between product or service and user or member. The larger and more complex a pyramid grows, the more unstable and subject to malfunction it becomesa concept familiar from current management theory. While conceding that pyramids are an inevitable outcome of economic progress, Peter suggests how simpler systems with clear objectives and a large volume ratio can be devised. Illustrations. 75,000 first printing; $75,000 ad/promo; author tour. Foreign rights: Morrow. January 21