Do promotions hinders the experience of work?
Like, from field work to desk work, Or, more elaborately, like a chef de partie. I think you might know, who more who less, what ranks there are among the kitchen-work, but for those who’d like to, here it is: https://jobs.morningadvertiser.co.uk/article/kitchen-hierarchy-different-chef-titles-explained/ (I think it reflects reality). Let’s say you are a chef de partie, (let‘s say, mind you), you cook personally. But soon, you become so good at it that you become promoted, to head chef (don’t count sous chef, they’re all the same rank, or whatever). So, (s)he doesn’t cook anymore, (s)he only retain the taste of the palate of the chefs. Then, (s)he heads his/her own restaurant, then a restaurant chain, then (s)he appears on TV…but when does (s)he have the time to cook (abundantly, I might add)? So, pulled the rabbit from the hat, now it’s your turn! What do you think of it all?
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7 Answers
When it comes to cooking, I’d like to be promoted right out of the kitchen.
When it comes to art, I would not want to be an art director.
You see this issue in the tech world a lot. People who are brilliant programmers sometimes don’t have skills that make them great managers. That said, people with great management backgrounds, often are terrible at translating those skills to managing tech projects since they don’t understand the work being done.
This question is almost a rephrasing of the Peter Principle. The idea that people rise to their level of incompetence. But I don’t see that actually occurring. And one does not improve without being challenged to a higher level of skills.
An executive chef needs to have an inherent understanding of how the meal is prepared in order to oversee it. That does not mean the chef needs to prepare it himself.
The question misses a crucial point. @zenvelo’s key observation of the question’s equivalence to the Peter principle compels the question: is the operation of a kitchen equivalent to that of an office or military unit? And the answer to that one from anyone passionate about food is an unequivocal no.
@stanleybmanly: In my experience, those who don’t work practically lose their abiliy to work in such way.
The difference in this case is that everyone in the chain is compelled to routinely sample and personally experience “the work”. And the idea of rising through the stations without an acceptable degree of competence becomes more than problematic. The urgency of any deficiency is perforce immediately apparent
Absolutely. I have been in IT management and was okay at it, but did not like the work at all.
Since then I vigorously avoided promotion to management and remained a developer for the last fifteen years and was much happier.
Also, recall the “Peter Principle” ... members of a hierarchy are promoted until they reach the level at which they are no longer competent. Having a job that is beyond you can make work way less satisfying.
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