Conformity versus competence

7 thoughts on “Conformity versus competence”

1. I am puzzled to read that the super competent would be more subject to dismissal.

   That has not been my observation

   I am not familiar with the source.

   However my observation is that the super competent are generally sought to be retained. One challenge they may face is higher demands and expectations being placed upon them as their super competence manifests.

2. Laurence J. Peter & Raymond Hull

   The Peter Principle

   Buccaneer Books, Cutchogue, New York

3. “In Excelsior City every new schoolteacher is placed on one year’s probation. K. Buchman had been a brilliant English scholar at the university. In his probationary year of English teaching, he managed to infuse his students with his own enthusiasm for classical and modern literature. Some of them obtained Excelsior City Public Library cards; some began to haunt new- and used-book stores. They became so interested that they read many books that were not on the Excelsior Schools Approved Reading List.

   Before long, several irate parents and delegations from two austere religious sects visited the school superintendent to complain that their children were studying “undesirable” literature. Buchman was told that his services would not be required the following year.

   Probationer-teacher C. Cleary’s first teaching assignment was to a special class of retarded children. Although he had been warned that these children would not accomplish very much, he proceeded to teach them all he could. By the end of the year, many of Cleary’s retarded children scored better on standardized achievement tests of reading and arithmetic than did children in regular classes.

   When Cleary received his dismissal notice he was told that he had grossly neglected the bead stringing, sandbox and other busy-work which were the things that retarded children should do. He had failed to make adequate use of the modelling clay, pegboards and finger paints specially provided by the Excelsior City Special Education Department.

   Miss E. Beaver, a probationer primary teacher, was highly gifted intellectually. Being inexperienced, she put into practice what she had learned at college about making allowances for pupils’ individual differences. As a result, her brighter pupils finished two or three years’ work in one year.

   The principal was very courteous when he explained that Miss Beaver could not be recommended for permanent engagement. He knew she would understand that she had upset the system, had not stuck to the course of studies, and had created hardship for the children who would not fit into the next year’s program. She had disrupted the official marking system and textbook-issuing system, and had caused severe anxiety to the teacher who would next year have to handle the children who had already covered the work.

   The Paradox Explained

   These cases illustrate the fact that, in most hierarchies, super-competence is more objectionable than incompetence.

   Ordinary incompetence, as we have seen, is no cause for dismissal: it is simply a bar to promotion. Super-competence often leads to dismissal, because it disrupts the hierarchy, and thereby violates the first commandment of hierarchal life: the hierarchy must be preserved.

   …

   Employees in the two extreme classes—the super-competent and the super-incompetent—are alike subject to dismissal. They are usually fired soon after being hired, for the same reason: that they tend to disrupt the hierarchy. This sloughing off of extremes is called Hierarchal Exfoliation.”

   p. 45-6

4. Hot Fuzz (1/10) Movie CLIP – Good Luck Nicholas (2007) HD

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faMh6OYfuNE

   “Your arrest record is 400% higher than any other officer…”

5. “Now, I know what you’re going to say, but the fact is you’ve been making us all look bad… If we let you carry on running around town you’ll continue to be exceptional and we can’t have that. You’ll put us all out of a job.”

6. The Worst Mistake of All: Outshining the Master

   “Being defeated is hateful, and besting one’s boss is either foolish or fatal. Most people do not mind being surpassed in good fortune, character, or temperament, but no one, especially not a sovereign, likes to be surpassed in intelligence.”

   — Baltasar Gracián

   …

   Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

   …

   Everyone has insecurities. When you show yourself in the world and display your talents, you naturally stir up all kinds of resentment, envy, and other manifestations of insecurity. This is to be expected. You cannot spend your life worrying about the petty feelings of others. With those above you, however, you must take a different approach: When it comes to power, outshining the master is perhaps the worst mistake of all.

   …

   Those who attain high standing in life are like kings and queens: They want to feel secure in their positions, and superior to those around them in intelligence, wit, and charm. It is a deadly but common misperception to believe that by displaying and vaunting your gifts and talents, you are winning the master’s affection. He may feign appreciation, but at his first opportunity he will replace you with someone less intelligent, less attractive, less threatening.”

7. “Do not overstep your bounds. Do what you are assigned to do, to the best of your abilities, and never do more. To think that by doing more you are doing better is a common blunder. It is never good to seem to be trying too hard-it is as if you were covering up some deficiency. Fulfilling a task that has not been asked of you just makes people suspicious.”

   Greene, Robert. The 48 Laws of Power. Penguin Books, 2000. p. 186