Managers create subordinates rather than rivals, growing headcount.
Parkinson's two motives: an official multiplies subordinates rather than rivals, and officials make work for one another. He calculated British Admiralty staff growth of about 6% a year while the fleet shrank.
In practice
- A manager buried in work asks for two juniors rather than one peer, because a peer could later be a rival.
- A department of four becomes a department of eleven with the same output, and each appointment was justified by the workload the previous one created.