The battle of inefficiency at work, May 12,
2006, 2D.
If you
are familiar with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, you
undoubtedly remember that the ring “wants to return to its
master.” That is the ring’s nature and, in part, what it
exists to do.
Organizations also have several “natures” that drive and
influence their functioning. As identified by C. Northcote
Parkinson, an English political analyst, “work
expands so as to fill the time available for its
completion.” Parkinson observed that people and groups tend
to complete their work just before deadlines. If a deadline
for a task is set for two weeks into the future, the task
will be completed in two weeks—even though it could actually
be completed in a shorter amount of time.
Time
wasted correcting and approving work, passing work to and
waiting for responses from others, and wasted time that
arises from interpersonal conflicts and disagreements
lengthens the time required to complete tasks. Wasteful
processes and procedures turn uncomplicated tasks into
lengthy, drawn out, and inefficient ordeals. Tasks seem to
seek out the longest amount of time available for their
completion.
In his
writing, Parkinson also noted a nasty side effect that comes
about from the time expansion principle. His research
showed that as tasks become longer, they also seek to
include more people in their completion. The busy work that
accompanies lengthened organizational tasks requires hiring
additional workers. And to justify hiring additional
workers, more busy work is created to fill the workers’
time, which in turn lengthens the time to accomplish work,
which then requires more workers. It is a vicious cycle.
The hope
for organizational leaders and managers is that unlike the
ring from the Lord of the Rings, the unproductive
natures of organizations can be controlled—but only if they
are recognized and understood. To battle the forces of
inefficiency, wasted time, and overstaffed organizations,
managers should continually assess organizational work
processes to identify and correct wasteful processes and
activities. These concepts are described in quality control
circles as kaizen—a Japanese production principle. The goal
of kaizen is to produce lean, efficient, and healthy
organizations.
Although
originally studied in the British Navy, Parkinson’s Law
as it has become known, applies to all types of
organizations, profit and non-profit. The profit-seeking
motive of businesses encourages them to operate efficiently
(i.e., to maximize output and minimize input). Businesses
that do not operate efficiently might lose out to
competitors who do. It is in the best interest of
for-profit firms to become and remain lean.
Non-profit organizations are probably more susceptible to
wasteful and inefficient processes because they lack
competitive pressures to remain lean. Churches,
governments, schools and universities, and other
organizations that lack a profit motive should be as
concerned about creating and maintaining healthy, lean, and
productive processes as their for-profit counterparts. It
is up to organizational leaders to recognize the inefficient
nature of organizations and to continually work to keep them
lean and productive.
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