Parkinson's law

Parkinson's Law

n. Any of several satirical observations propounded as economic laws, especially "Work expands to fill the time available for its completion."

[After Cyril Northcote Parkinson (1909-1993), British historian.]

Parkinson's law

n (Economics) the notion, expressed facetiously as a law of economics, that work expands to fill the time available for its completion [C20: named after C. N. Parkinson (1909–93), British historian and writer, who formulated it]

Par′kinson's law′

(or Law′),

n. any of various statements about business and office management expressed facetiously as if a law of physics, as the statement that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion. [1950–55; after C. Northcote Parkinson (born 1909), English historian, who proposed them]

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	Parkinson's law - C. Northcote Parkinson's cynical observation that work will expand so as to fill the time available for its completion
	2.	Parkinson's law - C. Northcote Parkinson's cynical observation that the number of subordinates in an organization will increase linearly regardless of the amount of work to be done

Translations

Parkinson's law

The facetious notion that a person will find ways to fill the amount of time they are given to do something, even if they could complete the task sooner. Don't tell him he has until the end of the month to finish it, because he'll find a way to spend that whole time doing it. Instead, tell him he just has two weeks, and he'll finish it in that time. It's Parkinson's law.See also: law

ˈParkinson’s law

(humorous) the idea that work will always take as long as the time you have to do it: I don’t know why this report is taking me so long. Parkinson’s law, I suppose.This is the title of a book by C. Northcote Parkinson about inefficient administration.See also: law

Parkinson's law

Parkinson's Law

A somewhat tongue-in-cheek adage stating: "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." This is used in project management and in other situations to describe why projects are often completed so close to deadline.

Parkinson's law

an observation by English management writer C Northcote Parkinson (1909-93) that ‘work expands to fill the time available for its completion’. As a result employees generally feel overworked whatever their actual workload. A solution favoured by managers and officials alike is the appointment of more subordinates to relieve them of some of their workload.

However, the greater the number of staff the more difficult the task of COORDINATION. Hence there is a tendency for certain coordinative mechanisms, such as committees, to proliferate. This in turn generates additional work which is reflected in pressure to increase employee numbers even further. Hence organizations have a tendency to grow in staff numbers even though the base workload may be unchanging. Parkinson's writings are generally viewed as humorous and perceptive asides on organizational life rather than propositions to be empirically tested.

Parkinson's law

an observation by Professor C. Northcote Parkinson suggesting that work expands according to the time available in which to do it. If this observation holds, then the inefficiency it creates poses a serious organizational problem for businesses of any significant size. See ORGANIZATION THEORY, X-INEFFICIENCY.