Management / Organization / Efficiency
Management / Organization / EfficiencyKrishna Harsh Law
More managers than optimal is counterproductive.
Popularity
Usefulness
Aliases
Kochner's law / overstaffing-management principle
Domains
Management, organization, efficiency, staffing
Definition
- Krishna Harsh Law (Kochner's Law) holds that when the number of managers exceeds the optimal level, working hours do not fall but rise, and work costs grow exponentially — too many managers make work slower and costlier.
Core Idea
- More managers than optimal is counterproductive.
- Excess management increases hours and cost, not output.
- There is an optimal — and lean — number of managers.
How It Works
- Beyond the optimal point, each added manager creates coordination, communication, and oversight overhead.
- This overhead consumes time and multiplies cost rather than improving results.
- The relationship is non-linear: costs rise exponentially as bloat grows.
Usage Example
- A company that keeps adding management layers finds decisions slowing and costs ballooning — and improves both by stripping back to a lean management structure.
Famous Example
- Example: A close cousin of Parkinson's Law, illustrating how managerial overstaffing inflates time and cost.
- Why it fits this rule: It states the diseconomy of excess management directly.
Use Cases / Situations Where It Applies
- Organization design and delayering.
- Management span and staffing decisions.
- Cost and efficiency control.
When Not to Use or Common Misuse
- Do not cut management so far that necessary coordination collapses.
- Do not assume fewer managers always means better; there is an optimum.
- Do not confuse manager headcount with management quality.
Rule Invention / Origin
- Invented by: Attributed to "Kochner/Krishna" in management literature; source unverified.
- Year of invention: Modern; not firmly dated.
- Country / context of origin: Popular management literature.
Evidence / Research Basis
- Consistent with Parkinson's Law and research on bureaucracy and coordination costs.
