Customer Reviews:
Parkinson's Law: funny, bitter, largely accurate.......2007-07-26
I first received a copy of "Parkinson's Law" from a retired three-star general. Since that time, I've seen copies on the shelves of almost every powerful person I know, from professors and deans to lawyers and businesspeople. Based on this wide-spread popularity, I can safely conclude that C. Northcote Parkinson has written something that transcends his time and profession to become a true classic. He has written, in short, the definitive work on bureaucracy.
Chapter one contains the titular law, which is frequently misquoted. The actual law gives a mathematical formula for how fast an office will grow, simply by observing that every bureaucrat will demand two subordinates at certain times. Parkinson backs this up with analysis of various British government bodies. The Colonial Office, for instance, more than doubled in size even as the number of colonies was shrinking. This is a rock-solid rule, as far as I can tell, and particularly relevant to an America where we somehow spend $728 billion despite having fewer actual soldiers than at any time in the past sixty years.
Chapter three famously looks at budget meetings. The conclusion is that up to a certain point, committees will spend more time on items that cost less. Some trivially small item, such as coffee, is easily understood, so every committee member has an opinion about it. On the other hand, nobody really understands expensive items such as reactors, so nobody has much to say about them. This is a phenomenon which I've seen arising in real life time and time again.
Chapter four is perhaps the most fascinating and devastatingly accurate one in the book. The hypothesis is that whenever an organization builds a fancy new headquarters, its time is up. Parkinson offers mainly British examples, but we can see the truth of this in America. The Sears Tower went up at precisely the moment when the Sears Corporation went down. When construction began on the AOL Time Warner Center in 2000, that should have been our indication that the dot-com boom was on its last legs.
There are ten chapters in all, but I'll let you discover the delights of the later ones on your own. For sure, some chapters aren't quite so hard-hitting. Chapter two on the French Parliament may strike some as no longer relevant, while chapter nine on crime and economics in China contains some cringe-inducing racism. But on the whole, "Parkinson's Law" is a delightful little book (150 pages) that will explain while it amuses you. "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" and "Who Moved My Cheese" may rule the bestseller lists, but C. Northcote Parkinson has the real answers for the business world.
Some great insights to human behavior.......2007-02-23
Parkinson's Law, written by C. Northcote Parkinson, is a wonderful book which explores the realities of human behavior within a bureaucracy. The author doesn't pay attention to theories or the idealized world, but instead writes about how people really function in organizations.
The title of the book is from Parkinson's statement that "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion." He explains that "an elderly lady of leisure can spend the entire day in writing and dispatching a postcard to her niece at Bognor Regis." In contrast if all you have is five minutes to write a postcard, it takes just five minutes to write the postcard.
At a higher level this idea applies to many situations. For example people's stuff expands to fill their house and use up their income. Or in the computer world: Data expands to fill the space available for storage
Parkinson writes that it takes great discipline to fight the tendency to use up all the time available to do some job. And likewise it takes great discipline to save some of your income, or to avoid buying stuff just because you have room for it.
Parkinson has a number of other interesting observations. For example in his Law of Triviality he explains how a group of managers might spend hours on selecting a coffeepot and minutes on deciding matters of much greater importance.
I also appreciated his explanation on the effective size of a governing group. He says that the right number of people to lead an organization, like a business or a country, is about five. As the group gets larger, it takes longer and longer to get together and to agree on matters.
There are many other insightful comments on a variety of topics related to organizations. This is a great book to have teenagers read, and then to be reread every couple years. Just over a hundred pages it is a quick read, as well as being enjoyable.
If you haven't read Parkinson's Law before, I encourage you to read it this week.
Insane, funny and useful.......2007-01-27
Parkinson's law is a collection of short articles about administration of which the first article, called "parkinson's law" is the most well know. Most of the stories are incredibly funny. They contain reality but then overdone and made fun of. "Parkinson's law" is a good example. The article explains that "work expands in the time available", in other words, people wil keep themselves busy. It's a good example of something that has probably some truth in it, but in the article made ridiculous and made fun of.
Personally I loved the story in chapter 3 "high finance or the point of vanishing interest" in which the author explains why, in management decisions, the decisions on the lower cost items take longer time to make than the decisions on higher cost items. Also story 8 was extremly funny. It's called "injelititis" which describes a decease of incompetence in organizations, how it starts and how it can kill a whole company.
One interesting sidenote to "Parkinson's law". It's a law which is often quoted in project management literature. The law itself nor the whole book states anything about projects or project management. Personally I consider references to this law from project management area as invalid.
An excellent book, recomended read. 4 stars just because there are other books even more worth reading :)
Excellent tool for learning bureaucracy.......2006-11-26
This is one of the best books if you live in a corporate environement. You can find solutions to almost all your everyday problems - from how to manage the political situation, to how to design a job ad... highly recommend.
Overly simplistic, Fun, but..........2004-09-14
This book attempts to decrypt the enigma of hierarchies in a far too simplistic manner. One sentence to describe the whole book would be 'we keep getting promoted at work because we know how to do the job we are assigned, and stop getting promoted when we don't know how to'. The book is elaborate with supporting arguments.
One concept this book seem to assume is, all of us have a set of competencies and it is fixed. That is why we stop growing. But, in reality our skills continue to improve throughout our life time. Hence, accepting Peter Principle as a fact may be detrimental to our career, thus fulfilling his prophecy. I choose to accept his principle as a fact, only if I stop expanding my competencies (probably by freezing my brain). If I keep expanding my competencies, there is nothing but endless growth for everyone.
Average customer rating:
|
Civil Gang Abatement: The Effectiveness and Implications of Policing by Injunction (Criminal Justice (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)
Edward L. Allan
Manufacturer: LFB Scholarly Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
 Public Affairs & Administration
| Government
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Criminology
| Crime & Criminals
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Gangs
| Crime & Criminals
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Violence in Society
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Criminal Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Criminal Law
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1593320418 |
Book Description
Civil gang abatement is an innovative remedy employing civil injunctions to combat public nuisance activity by gangs. This strategy has been promoted as a problem-oriented response to gang problems. Allan examines whether the process of acquiring a "gang injunction" incorporates the primary dimensions of problem-oriented responses: flexibility and community involvement. Flexibility is evident in the even distribution of initiatives among three categories - high-drug, high-crime, and high-disorder. Evidence of community involvement is weak, due to the lack of community organizations in gang-plagued neighborhoods, the low-profile nature of the initiatives, and the potential for retaliation against participants. Although the expectation for community involvement in gang injunction initiatives should be tempered, civil gang abatement is an appropriate approach to neighborhood gang problems.
Book Description
The New York Public Library
AMAZING U.S. Geography
Follow a chinook over the Rocky Mountains. Trace the course of the Mississippi River from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. Discover where gold is mined and fish are farmed in the United States. Explore our fascinating nation from Alabama to Wyoming, and find answers to all your questions about U.S. geography...
Where is the highest waterfall in the United States? See page 33.
What is a sand sea? See page 40.
Why does California have so many earthquakes? See page 41.
Why are people from new England called Yankees? See page 69.
How many U.S. presidents were born in Ohio? See page 89.
Where did the Santa Fe Trail begin? See page 96.
How large is mammoth Cave in Kentucky? See page 108.
How hot are the Hot Springs in Arkansas? See page 116.
Also in The New York Public Library Answer Books series:
Incredible Earth
Amazing Space
Amazing African American History
Amazing Hispanic American History
Amazing Women in American History
Amazing Mythology
Amazing Explorers
Amazing Scientists
Average customer rating:
|
Procurement of Construction & Design Contracts (Construction Law Library)
Michael T. Callahan
Manufacturer: Aspen Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Construction
| Business
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Taxation
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Construction
| Business
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Taxation
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Contracting
| Construction
| Civil
| Engineering
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Business Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Construction Law Handbook (2 Volume Set)
ASIN: 0735556997 |
Product Description
Procurement of Construction and Design Contracts gives you clear, easy-to-follow guidelines for managing every step of the process and for tackling liability problems, bid protests, and bidder mistakes that crop up from one project to the next.
From soliciting and negotiating bids to selecting bidders and defending awards, this essential practice guide clarifies all relevant requirements and provides practice-tested strategies for meeting them. It gives you the tools to:
Supervise procurement for all kinds of projects with step-by-step procedures for bidding out federal, state, and local public projects as well as private construction projects.
Make best value statutes work for you, not against you, with guidelines for establishing best value selection criteria, ensuring full and free competition, evaluating bids, justifying decisions, and documenting each step.
Establish set asides that will withstand legal scrutiny with concise analysis of the Supreme Court s new standards, how states are interpreting them, and how you can apply them correctly and effectively.
Work knowledgeably with the revised Part 15 with explanations of the relevant FAR sections, advice on how to negotiate better deals in federal projects, and how to avoid the liability issues that the new Part 15 has created.
Keep pace with key cases and trends in the field, such as the growing use of state unfair trade practices acts in procurement disputes, and much more.
With its detailed coverage of federal, state, and local regulations and its step-by-step approach to the entire bidding and negotiation process, Procurement of Construction and Design Contracts is an indispensable resource to ensure successful and problem-free project bidding every time.
Customer Reviews:
Two Volumes.......2007-09-29
This is a two volume set. Make sure you get both, by ordering both from Lucky's Books (Lucky3018).
Book Description
Islamic law (the Shari'a) and its application is a central issue in contemporary Islamic politics and culture. Starting from modern concerns, this book examines the origins and evolution of the Shari'a and the corpus of texts, concepts and practices in which it has been enshrined. Sami Zubaida here considers key historical episodes of political accommodations and contests between scholars and sultans. Drawing on modern examples, mainly from Egypt and Iran, Zubaida explores how the Shari'a has evolved and mutated to accommodate the workings of a modern state.
Customer Reviews:
Poor Readability.......2007-01-19
This book contains a lot of great information, but the way it is written makes it a difficult read. Unless you are already familiar with the subject, you should read this with a thesaurus and an Arabic dictionary. Definitely not a good choice as an introductory book for the subject in general.
Average customer rating:
|
Being Apart from Reasons: The Role of Reasons in Public and Private Moral Decision-Making (Law and Philosophy Library)
Cláudio Michelon Jr.
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Ethics & Morality
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Political
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Law
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Professional & Technical
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1402042825 |
Book Description
Being Apart from Reasons deals with the question of how we should go about using reasons to decide what to do. More particularly, the book presents objections to the most common response given by contemporary legal and political theorists to the moral complexity of decision-making in modern societies, namely: the attempt to release public agents from their argumentative burden by insulating a particular set of reasons from the general pool of reasons and assigning the former systematic priority over all other reasons. If those attempts succeed, public agents should not reason comprehensively, taking into account all reasons and weighing them against one another. Some reasons would be excluded from decision-making by kind. That strategy is apparent both in Rawls’ claim that reasons concerning the right are systematically prior to reasons concerning the good and in Raz’s claim that pre-emptive reasons are systematically prior to first-order reasons. The same strategy is also instantiated by certain arguments for the procedural value of law, such as Jeremy Waldron’s. In the book, each of those arguments for the insulation of reasons is objected to in order to defend the thesis the reasoning by public agents must always be as comprehensive as possible. In order to reach that conclusion a particular picture of public decision-making in needed. That picture in provided by the comparison between the use of reasons in public and private decision-making which is carried out in the first two chapters of the book. That comparison brings to light peculiar features of public decision-making that imply the need for public agents to reason comprehensively before deciding. The remaining chapters object to those arguments mentioned above which aim at justifying the exclusion of certain reasons from public agent’s decision-making.
Average customer rating:
|
Privacy in the 21st Century: Issues for Public, School, and Academic Libraries
Helen R. Adams ,
Robert F. Bocher ,
Carol A. Gordon , and
Elizabeth Barry-Kessler
Manufacturer: Libraries Unlimited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Privacy
| Business & Culture
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Computers & Technology
| Technology & Distance Learning
| Education
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Library Management
| Library & Information Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Library & Information Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Communications
| Intellectual Property
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Constitutional Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Communications
| Intellectual Property
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Library Literacy
| Specific Skills
| Education
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Look Inside Computer Books
| Trip
| Specialty Stores
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Computers & Internet
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Law
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Professional & Technical
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Computers & Internet
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1591582091 |
Book Description
Concentrating on privacy issues in public, school and academic libraries, this title pays particular attention to the effect of technology on personal privacy in these settings. In depth discussions of the laws effecting personal privacy and privacy in library settings will be explored. Recent laws enacted that impact individual privacy are discussed and explained. Special attention is given to the USA Patriot Act. Appendices with core privacy documents, sample privacy and confidentiality policies and outlines for privacy audits to be implemented in staff training situations in all types of libraries will add to the practicality of the book for individual librarians. It will be both a helpful handbook and a guide to encourage further study on these complex issues. Of particular interest is the impact of personal privacy on issues of accessibility to online databases and other online information in academic libraries.
Average customer rating:
|
The Theory and Practice of Institutional Transplantation: Experiences with the Transfer of Policy Institutions (GeoJournal Library)
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
| Agricultural
| Commercial Policy
| Comparative
| Consolidation & Merger
| Cooperatives
| Debt & Deficits
| Development & Growth
| Econometrics
| Economic Conditions
| Economic History
| Economic Policy & Development
| Exports & Imports
| Free Enterprise
| Inflation
| International
| Labor & Industrial Relations
| Macroeconomics
| Microeconomics
| Money & Monetary Policy
| Natural Resources
| Privatization
| Public Finance
| Statistics
| Sustainable Development
| Theory
| Unemployment
| Urban & Regional
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Public Policy
| Government
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Relations
| International
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Regional Planning
| Politics
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Federal Government
| Levels of Government
| Political Science
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Comparative
| Perspectives on Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Comparative
| Perspectives on Law
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Law
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Professional & Technical
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1402011083 |
Book Description
This book provides insights into the empirical experiences of countries adopting policy institutions from other countries, in order to improve the performance or legitimacy of their own institutional structures. Both students of public and private administration, planning, political science, political geography, and comparative law recognise this issue as of high and increasing relevance. The volume presents a conceptual framework to grasp the potentials and limitations of institutional transplantation and features a collection of characteristic case studies drawn from 14 different countries on the actual process of institutional transplantation. These accounts cover a large variety of institutions including spatial and transport planning, education, housing, welfare, privatisation and political representation. The concluding chapter provides an overview of the advantages and dangers involved in adopting foreign policy institutions and the state of the art of our understanding of policy transfer and lesson-drawing in the context of the relevant academic disciplines.
Average customer rating:
|
Group Rights as Human Rights: A Liberal Approach to Multiculturalism (Law and Philosophy Library)
Neus Torbisco Casals
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Human Rights
| Constitutional Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
Public
| Administrative Law
| Law
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Political
| Philosophy
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Public
| Administrative Law
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Law
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
All Amazon Upgrade
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Law
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
Professional & Technical
| Amazon Upgrade
| Stores
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Business & Investing
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Nonfiction
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
Professional
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 1402042086 |
Book Description
Liberal theories have long insisted that cultural diversity in democratic societies can be accommodated through classical liberal tools, in particular through individual rights, and they have often rejected the claims of cultural minorities for group rights as illiberal. Group Rights as Human Rights argues that such a rejection is misguided. Based on a thorough analysis of the concept of group rights, it proposes to overcome the dominant dichotomy between "individual" human rights and "collective" group rights by recognizing that group rights also serve individual interests. It also challenges the claim that group rights, so understood, conflict with the liberal principle of neutrality; on the contrary, these rights help realize the neutrality ideal as they counter cultural biases that exist in Western states. Group rights deserve to be classified as human rights because they respond to fundamental, and morally important, human interests. Reading the theories of Will Kymlicka and Charles Taylor as complementary rather than opposed, Group Rights as Human Rights sees group rights as anchored both in the value of cultural belonging for the development of individual autonomy and in each person’s need for a recognition of her identity. This double foundation has important consequences for the scope of group rights: it highlights their potential not only in dealing with national minorities but also with immigrant groups; and it allows to determine how far such rights should also benefit illiberal groups. Participation, not intervention, should here be the guiding principle if group rights are to realize the liberal promise.
Books:
- Detecting Lies and Deceit: The Psychology of Lying and the Implications for Professional Practice (Wiley Series in Psychology of Crime, Policing and Law)
- Difficult Conversations: How to Discuss what Matters Most
- Doing What Comes Naturally: Change, Rhetoric, and the Practice of Theory in Literary and Legal Studies
- Effective Environmental Assessments: How to Manage and Prepare NEPA EAs
- Enhancing Trader Performance: Proven Strategies From the Cutting Edge of Trading Psychology (Wiley Trading)
- Excuse Me, Your Life Is Waiting: The Astonishing Power of Feelings
- Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy
- Freedom's Coming: Religious Culture and the Shaping of the South from the Civil War through the Civil Rights Era
- Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In
- Getting Up, Getting Over, Getting On: A Twelve Step Guide to Divorce Recovery
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Wish I Could Be There: Notes From a Phobic Life
- The Post-Birthday World
- Postgraduate Studies in the Biological Sciences: A Researchers Companion
- Quantum Geometry: A Statistical Field Theory Approach
- Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel
- Sustainable Construction: Green Building Design and Delivery
- The More Complete Chondro, the bestselling manual for all Green Tree Python keepers
- Betye Saar: Extending the Frozen Moment
- No Place Like Utopia: Modern Architecture and the Company We Kept
- On the Trail Of The Wild: Encounters In The Southern African Bush
