5.0 out of 5 stars
Forget about Zun-Tsu - Best book ever written on administration, 24 Jun 2009
By Mario Suardi - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Parkinson--The Law (Hardcover)
To understand administrative organisations you need to read this book. Then you can dive deeper in more elaborated stuff, but this is the starting point. With a fine sense of humour Mr. Parkinson shows the main aspects you have to analyse in any administrative organisation. It is a great book.
4.0 out of 5 stars
As relevant today as it was fifty years ago, 7 Mar 2007
By Marshall Lord - Published on Amazon.com
It seems incredible that "Parkinson's Law" propounding the view that "Work expands to fill the time available for it's completion" was first published in 1957, fifty years ago this year. He later added a second law, "Expenditure rises to meet Income." This book, "The Law" was a revisit and update written in 1979.
Formally this book is a work of humour, and C Northcote Parkinson alternates between genuine and imaginary statistics and examples to back up his arguments. But as the saying goes, many a true word is spoken in jest. Anyone who aspires to a position where he or she will be trusted with responsibility for spending public money should read Parkinson's amusing accounts of how and why money can be wasted and bureacracy tend to increase.
Most of the examples given, though not all, are in a British context but the arguments would apply to the need to control the costs and size of bureaucracy and administration in any company or government in whichever part of the world the reader may be.