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17/06/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Parkinson's Law Revisited

Matthew Sweet re-examines Parkinson's Law. Does work expand to fill the time allocated?

The work of Cyril Northcote Parkinson has been reduced to one line, 'Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion'. Matthew Sweet discovers more.

Does work expand to fill the time available for its completion? Do bureaucracies bloat of their own accord? These are some of the insights offered by Cyril Northcote Parkinson whose essay "Parkinson's Law" made him a famous commentator on organisational structures in the 1950s. But Parkinson's Law might have more to offer us in a world where bureaucracies are being slimmed down, as Matthew Sweet discovers.

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