Parkinson's law, and other studies in administration [Paperback]

C. Northcote Parkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1964

Parkinson's Law can be stated very simply:Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. The consequences of this law--which appears to be applicable to all organizations--are traced by C. Northcote Parkinson in a book which at first glance seems merely hilariously funny. At second glance,the reader feels a kind of chilling sense of recognition: What if Parkinson's Law is true?

Product Details

• Paperback: 140 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; First Edition (stated) edition (1964)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0007EKK7M
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 3.8 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,192,245 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars dated but timeless, June 11, 2009

By 

Harold Hill (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

Parkinson's Law is a classic work concerning the dynamics of large administrative organizations. The vernacular of the book often felt dated to this reader, based it is on the inner workings of the British Empire, but that in no way took away from its overall impact and timeless message. This is a marvelously honest and insightful, also delightfully sardonic, look at how human nature and institutional politics really work on a grand scale.

The book starts with the most well-known of Parkinson's laws, which is, "work expands to fill the time allotted to it." But there are several other chapters in this very short book with other wonderful information as well. There's a whole chapter devoted to how to phrase a help wanted ad in order to get only one perfect candidate for the job. One chapter explains why bureaucracies grow at a standard rate of 5% a year regardless of workload. There are also wonderfully complex formulas concerning how to calculate the correct age of retirement, which has a lot to do with the age of the person who is hoping to edge you out and take your place as soon as possible. The mathematical analysis of at what time the truly powerful people arrive and leave a cocktail party was also a lot of fun.

While most books about management talk in highly idealistic utopian terms, this is one of those rare books that tells it like it is and makes you laugh at the same time. Its closest relatives are Machiavelli's Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius, Bertrand Russell's Unpopular Essays, and Justin Locke's Principles of Applied Stupidity (How to Get and Do More by Thinking and Knowing Less).

While this is a fairly short book, my version was only 101 pages, I found I could not read it straight through because each chapter was so enlightening, I had to take a break in between. But that is hardly a complaint.

It's not so much the specific information that makes this book what it is. What makes the book is its honest appraisal of human nature. A wonderful thing to be reminded of as you go to that next meeting. A now somewhat forgotten classic, highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Witty and sharply observed, December 21, 2010

By 

Ben WK (Dublin, Ireland) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Parkinson's law, and other studies in administration (Paperback)

Here's a gem of a book which I came upon while researching the "Bike shed syndrome" (See [...] - reload the page a couple of times if the initial colour scheme hurts your eyes).

Expanded from a 1955 article in the Economist magazine, Parkinson's Law states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." I've know about this book for years and the article on the bikeshed syndrome finally prompted me to buy a second-hand copy. I was expecting a serious business book, but what I got is a witty, sharply observed series of ten essays on why bureaucracies function the way they do. It may be satire, but there's a grain of truth in the observations nonetheless. Parkinson's law is as relevant today as it was half a century ago. The spiky pen and ink illustrations by Osbert Lancaster are an added delight.

5.0 out of 5 stars Parkinson still rules, May 14, 2010

By 

George F. Mcdonough (Huntsville, AL) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought tis book to explain to my MD son how organizations function, regardless of their purpose. Parkinson used the British Navy and a maiden lady as examples; I found from experience that his laws were equally applicable to American industry and civil service as well as to our universities. I believe my son will find them equally applicable to the medical clinic. I was fortunate to have the experience of hearing Parkinson speak to our department when he was visiting professor at our university fifty years ago. His thoughts on the birth, maturing and eventual withering of organizations was scary in that we were just achieving his pinnacle indicator, a new building. His idea of how to tell the important people at parties has fit every major event I've ever attended and has given me pleasurable evenings of observation which might have been dreary times. Hats off to you, C. Northcote Parkinson, and to your tongue-in-cheek laws. I feel honored to have an autographed copy of your book and will cherish it together with your memory.