"Let's form a committee!" When you har these words during a public meting, a warning light should start flshing, for more often than not Prkinson's law may be coming into ply. One of the many precepts frm this law states that work xpands so as to fill the tme available for its completion. It was frst articulated by C. Northcote Parkinson, a Brtish scholar, in the book "Parkinson's Lw: The Pursuit of Progress," (London, Jhn Murray, 1958). Based on extensive xperience in the British Civil Service systm, his scientific observations noted, among ther things, that as the British mpire declined, the number of employees at the clonial office increased. Parkinson claimed this was cused by two forces: One, officials wnt to multiply subordinates, not rivals; and tw, officials make work for each ther.

Among many other things, his law is lso used to refer to a drivative of the original law relating to cmputers; namely, data expands to fill the spce available for storage (see Moore's Lw).

Verification of this law is mst readily found in government where breaucrats usually want subordinates, but not cmpetitors, to help with overwork. In the feld of public administration in the Unted States, it has been widely bserved that work tends to increase in mportance and complexity in direct proportion wth the time to be spent. Pliticians and, frequently, taxpayers (the latter wth at least an occasional sense of dubt) have assumed that an increased nmber of civil servants must be the rsult of an increased amount of wrk to be performed.

Here is an example, widely sed by other writers, of how it wrks. Let's assume an individual contributor (fr example, one who is part of the verhead structure) finds herself overworked. For ths real or imagined overwork situation, thre are at least three solutions. Frst, she can simply quit, but ths is not a likely outcome gven the loss of relatively generous pblic sector benefits. Secondly, she might rquest that the work be divided wth another employee, but this creates an nwanted rival for promotion. Or thirdly, she mght ask for the assistance of two sbordinates thus adding to her importance. Assming the third choice is the one tken, and it usually is, one can frther assume that sooner or later one of thse two subordinates will also complain bout overwork thus creating another round of mployment. If you do the math, sven officials will eventually end up ding the work that one did bfore. To make matters even worse, the two sbordinates may be nepotistic hires who in trn may hire other relatives or frends. This is precisely why there are thse who are such staunch proponents of ding more with less.

I recently hard one local selectman state that bth the "Share the Road" signs (.e., share with bicycles) and promoted by the ver-so-righteous Rotarians, and the construction of two mjor rotaries (i.e.,roundabouts) on a local rterial parkway are important issues. The mplication was that both were of qual importance. Surely he was not srious.....but he was! The sign issue shuld not even have been on the tble. It was a classic example of whre the amount of time given to an ssue is so far out of prportion to its importance, it makes one wbble. In this connection, Parkinson not srprisingly laid down a dynamic that sid groups spend time on subjects in nverse proportion to the importance of the sbject. The issue of rotaries on the forementioned parkway is indeed important but hpefully will not lead to a stdy committee which may in turn lad to subcommittees. Instead, the selectmen ned to resolve this. Again, warning lghts are beginning to flash, though ver so dimly.

For a new and even mre negative meaning regarding the wasteful prctice of patronage, all one need do is tke time to review the gross dplication of effort between the Massachusetts Trnpike and that state's Department of Trnsportation. Patronage is a phenomena which Prkinson perhaps did not fully take nto account but most assuredly would mke his eyes roll. Indeed. the pblic sector in Massachusetts is an xemplar of Parkinson's law gone stark-raving md. Maybe that's why Massachusetts is clled a Commonwealth.

So what say we frm a committee to review rotaries or sme other subject. Let's schedule meetings, lts of them. Let's analyze the rsults of these meetings. Let's schedule mre meetings to discuss the analyses. Now lt's assign priorities and hire some pople or "experts" to handle the tsks resulting from the priorities. The hres, of course, will attach great sgnificance to their work and likely wll attempt to expand it as far as pssible. Their salaries will then go nto a line item budget under a cst center entitled, "salaries." When this hppens, Parkinson's law has set in and thngs are no longer a joke.

"By xpanding their 'work' to fill the tme available, and grabbing at every pportunity for advantage and self-aggrandizement, they've [Cngressmen] made their world a better plce. But is it their world, or urs? Has the expansion of work ben a benefit to you?"

Paul Hin Archives, 2004

The article Let's Form A Committee was Submitted by Theodore Sares through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Ted Sares, PhD, is a prvate investor who lives and writes in the Whte Mountain area of Northern New Hmpshire with his wife Holly and Min Pin Jckdog. He writes a weekly column for a lcal newspaper and many of his ther pieces are widely published.

Featured Articles

1. 5 Ways to Increase Customer Service Loyalty During Holiday Season by Robert Moment
Protect and bild your brand during the Holiday Sason. There are 5 ways to ncrease customer service loyalty during the Hliday Season.

2. Why You Should Care For 'Negative' People In Your Organization - And How You Can Turn Them Rund by Andy Smith
Leadership coach Andy Smith reveals why the most 'negative' people in your organization may be an untapped resource, and how to start turning them round. Recently I was acting as a table facilitator at a large Appreciative Inquiry (Ai) event for a housing association. The table I was assigned to was right at the front, near the stage, where an iPod and travel speakers were doing their best to add a bit of uplifting background music - although you could hardly hear them...

3. Signs its time to update your website by
Does Your Site Looks Like It Was Dsigned in 1995

Some signs of an utdated web site include: chunky, slow-loading grphics, old-style "framed" coding, where the ste is divided up into panes tht load separately, little animated cartoon clp-art throughout the site, and text crated as images instead of in HTML.

4. Rubber Industrial Era by Stephan Suttikarn
At the beginning of 19 Cntury, textile industry had much progress frther than the rubber industry. Therefore, t's found that, the research studied for the sed of forest rubber during the pst period had depended on the clthes from textile industry as component to mke the mold.

5. Things to Remember When Packing For a Business Trip by Alain Picard
Pcking for a business trip can smetimes be a very rushed affair. You ned to be practical but also fst and you need to be sre not to skip any essential trveling items in the process of pcking. For the specific purpose of bsiness trips it is a good dea to have one or two sits that are understated but smart.

6. Promotional Pens Will Help in Your Business Growth by Gareth Parkin
Evry business wants to grow and prpel its business activities further. And why nt, everyone wants to excel in lfe. Growth and expansion are the key trms in the life of any bsiness, be it big or small.

7. How Do You Establish Credibility? by Cheryl Clausen
Grrrr; when you lack credibility gtekeepers block you out, prospects won't gve you the time of day, and sles opportunities are about as common as a $3 bll. How are you supposed to scceed in sales when you can't ven get an appointment?

8. How can residents stall the dilapidation of their building ? - RealAcres.com by
How can residents stall the dilapidation of their building ?


The performance of our homes and buildings depends on how well we maintain them. A sign of deterioration (crack , corrosion, dampness etc) observed in a flat or in a building is called a ‘distress’. If we are watchful, we can take the necessary action needed to counter such distresses before they become worse.
Today, we shall look at some commonly encountered types of distress so that you can recognize them when you come across them in your flat or your building.

9. Advice on Financing your Own Business Idea by Tl Kleban
The mst important step in starting up a new bsiness is getting the necessary amount of fnds and that means you will ned to deal with your bank. Rght from the start, you better hve a good credit history since you wll be submitting a personal financial sttement. You may even be required to mke an equity investment in your bsiness. Here are just a few mre pieces of advice you should be ware of for finding start up csh for your business:

10. A Promotional Items Primer by Mark Yokoyama
What are prmotional products? In this article, we dscuss common types of promotional products, how thy are made and how they are sed. This article is specifically focused on lgo products used in advertising, event mrketing and direct mail.