The Law (1980)

by C. Northcote Parkinson

Book Overview

Parkinson's Law states that 'work expands to fill the time available'. While strenuously denied by management consultants, bureaucrats and efficiency experts, the law is borne out by disinterested... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395291313
• ISBN13: 9780395291313
• Release Date: January 1980
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 207 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.

Customer Reviews

The sine qua non of rules that organizations live by!

This is one of more seminal books ever written. Once you read it you will NEVER again look at time management, the British Admiralty, a Board Meeting or a cocktail party in the same way. "Work expands to fill the time allotted to its completion" is the first and most famous rule, but the others (and the stories that illustrate them) are just as hilarious and dead on. Run, don't walk, to get this book, and you will be quoting and remembering it for the rest of your life.While you're at it (and if you have a really dry, British and warped sense of humor), don't forget to check out "Gamesmanship" and "Lifemanship" by Stephen Potter.

Great wisdom in a small package

Parkinson's Law briefly stated is that 'work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.' If it doesn't seem that an entire book could be written about this thesis then you haven't encountered the imaginative genius and the stinging comic wit of C. Northcote Parkinson. He is able to use this little insight as an analytic tool to expose much of what is wrong with organizations and why much in both business and government seems at odds with common sense. For example, why the British Colonial Office has grown in number of employees as the actual number of colonies declined - so that it employed more people when the number of colonies had been reduced to zero than when they were at their highest number. Witty, brilliant and always right on the money, Parkinson can make what should be deadly dull - a description of bureaucracy - into a delightful excursion through the halls of pompus human folly. Really great stuff. This book is a classic and can be read and reread with great pleasure.

An indispensible and humorous guide to business behavior.

Parkinson's Law gives, in synopsis form, an extremely practical guide to the rationales, realtime actions and quirks of human behavior that all too often manifest themselves only among the inhabitants of the business world. Parkinson's examples of boardroom behavior and decision making, or lack thereof, are extraordinarily and frighteningly accurate. I found it amazingly funny, easy to read and retain, though a bit dated given the time which has elapsed since it was originally published. On a personal note, this was one of the first books that my father gave me to read in preparation for life. Also included in my father's reading list for life were The Peter Principle, Yes, Minister, and Aristotelian Ethics. I would recommend this book, despite the time that has passed since it was originally published, to those who wish a quick primer as to what awaits them as they climb the business ladder and a few hints on how not to miss a rung.

Quite simply, the best business book ever written.

As Peter Drucker was beginning his interminable series of texts on the details of business strategy, Parkinson wrote a book that describes how it really works in most big organizations, whether they be in business or the public sector.His basic premises that work expands to fill the time available, that the important decisions fall victim to the easily understood, and that bureaucratic organizations that grow too large no longer need any outside contact have been demonstrated to me over and over during a 30 year career in business. The decade of downsizing we are witnessing demonstrates just how much fat there is in most organizations. Parkinson had it right over 30 years ago

A "must read" for managers and industrial engineers.

This is timeless wisdom regarding the use of time, the wasting of time, empire building, and the misuse of ego. The book is fun to read. I have read this book several times since circa 1965; and the examples that Parkinson uses seem just as pertinent today as they did when he wrote them. If a young manager can grasp the significance of Parkinson's famous law regarding time available to complete a job and his Law describing a budget meeting, the young person will have a pithy tool for analyzing day to day work activities.