Cyril Northcote Parkinson

Cyril Northcote Parkinson (30 July 1909 – 9 March 1993) was a British naval historian, the author of some sixty books, including historical fiction, often based on the Napoleonic period. He is also known for his satire of bureaucratic institutions Parkinson's Law and other studies ( Parkinson's Law and other studies ), a collection of short studies on the inevitability of bureaucratic expansion.

Parkinson's Law first appeared in November 1955 as a satirical article in The Economist, being expanded and published two years later in two best-selling books.

Biography

Educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge University and King's College London, during World War II he taught at various military academies in the United Kingdom. From 1946 to 1949 he taught history at the University of Liverpool and in 1950, he held the chair of history at the newly created University of Malaya in Singapore (now the National University of Singapore). With the success of his books, he decided to resign from the professorship in 1958 to devote himself to writing.

Parkinson's Laws

Parkinson's three fundamental laws show the ironic and scathing character of their author, although they reflect situations that tend to occur in some highly bureaucratized and established institutions:

1. "The work expands to fill the time available for its realization."
2. "Expenditures increase to cover all incomes."
3. "Time dedicated to any agenda item is inversely proportional to its importance" (Parkinson called the law of triviality).

In general, they serve to denounce the lack of efficiency of administrative work.