Parkinson’s Law
Northcote Parkinson was a bureaucrat in the British Civil Service and over his long career had the opportunity to observe several truisms which later became known as Parkinson’s Laws.
He was studying the British navy during and after war and found the office staff remained the same size regardless of how many ships were at sea. His 1958 book titled “Parkinson’s Law: the Pursuit of Progress” has a collection of his essays.
When he noticed that the number of employees increase at the same time that Great Britian’s overseas involvement was decreasing, he came up with:
“An official wants to multiply subordinates, not rivals”,
and “Officials make work for each other”.
Swelling bureaucracies show that Parkinston’s Laws work everywhere.
Use this information as awareness about your own organization.
Do you see your organization here?
Here are other Parkinson’s gems:
• Parkinson’s First Law: Work expands to fill the time available. (Use complement control, zero base when you have staffing vacancy.)
• Parkinson’s Second Law: Expenditures rise to meet income. (Review your cost controls, zero base)
• Parkinson’s Third Law: Expansion means complexity; and complexity decay.
• Parkinson’s Fourth Law: The number of people in any working group tends to increase regardless of the amount of work to be done.
• Parkinson’s Law of Delay: Delay is the deadliest form of denial.
• Parkinson’s Law of Data: Data expands to fill the space available.
• Parkinson’s Law of Meetings: The time spent in a meeting on an item is inversely proportional to its value (up to a limit).
• Parkinson’s Law of 1000: An enterprise employing more than 1000 people becomes a self-perpetuating empire, creating so much internal work that it no longer needs any contact with the outside world.
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Here are pages on how bureaucracies can grow out of control:
Go to the Management Process Page