C. Northcote Parkinson
C. Northcote Parkinson
Cyril Northcote Parkinsonwas a British naval historian and author of some 60 books, the most famous of which was his best-seller Parkinson's Law, which led him to be also considered as an important scholar in public administration and management...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionHistorian
Date of Birth30 June 1909
eight body members
Deliberative bodies become decreasingly effective after they pass five to eight members.
issues body matter
The matters most debated in a deliberative body tend to be the minor ones where everybody understands the issues.
real body members
When any organizational entity expands beyond 21 members, the real power will be in some smaller body.
nice standards available
The nice thing about standards is, there are so many to choose from. Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
business successful development
In the foundation and development of a successful enterprise there must be a single-minded pursuit of financial profit.
education book mind
The mind reels at the multiplication of books intended to justify the author's promotion from assistant to associate professor.
spring shady grows
A committee grows organically, flourishes and blossoms, sunlit on top and shady beneath, until it dies, scattering the seeds from which other committees will spring.
weed law discovery
Parkinson's Law is a purely scientific discovery, inapplicable except in theory to the politics of the day. It is not the business of the botanist to eradicate the weeds. Enough for him if he can tell us just how fast they grow.
mean focus decay
Expansion means complexity and complexity decay.
life emotional dull
Where life is colorful and varied, religion can be austere or unimportant. Where life is appallingly monotonous, religion must be emotional, dramatic and intense. Without the curry, boiled rice can be very dull.
political
The onset of one religion can be resisted only by another.
flower roots plant
A committee is organic rather than mechanical in its nature: it is not a structure but a plant. It takes root and grows, it flowers, wilts, and dies, scattering the seed from which other committees will bloom in their turn.
blessing boredom society
The chief product of an automated society is a widespread and deepening sense of boredom.
men funny-marriage married
It is now well known, however, that men enter local politics solely as a result of being unhappily married.