Mary Parker Follett

(3rd September, 1868- 18 December, 1933)

Mary Parker Follett was an American social worker and a management consultant.

She was a pioneer in the fields of Organizational theory and Organizational behavior.

Follett was born in Boston and spent much of her early life there.

She was one of the great women management gurus.

Introduction

Mary Parker Follett defined management as “the art of getting things through others.”

Definition of Management

Mary Parker Follett is regarded as the mother of scientific management.

Her ideas on negotiation, power, and employee participation were highly influential in the development of the fields of organizational studies.

She was a social worker turned management theorist and consultant and writer.

Work

Principle of Early Stage

Principle of Continuity

Principle of Direct Contact

Principle of Reciprocal Relations

Principles of Coordination

Principle of Effective Communication

Principle of Mutual Respect

Principle of Clarity of Objectives

Principle of Scalar Chain

Additional Principles

The Mary Parker Follett Theory of Management is marked by such principles as the following:

1. Conflict resolution through Integration (i.e., identifying and meeting each party's underlying and often compatible need, as opposed to attempting to meet the frequently-incompatible expressed desire of each) often results in a win-win situation.

2. In Mary Parker Follett leadership theory, genuine power is not "coercive" ("power over") but "coactive" ("power with").

3. True leaders, according to Follett's theory, "create group power, rather than expressing personal power."

Theory Of Management

Mary Parker Follett’s Contributions

Managers need to communicate with

workers Workers should

participate in solving

problems

Managers need to establish good working relationships with employees

Goal:Improve

Coordination

New State: The New State was written during 1918, and argues for group-based democracy as a process of government.

The Creative Experience: The Creative Experience was also written during 1918, and again focused on democratic governance, using examples from business to illustrate ideas.

Books

She also authored a number of books and numerous essays, articles and speeches on democracy, human relations, political philosophy, psychology, organizational behavior and conflict resolution.

Few other publications by her are The Speaker of the House of Representatives (1896), The Giving of Orders (1926) and Dynamic Administration (1942).

Publications

Mary Parker Follett was a pioneer of community organizing. Her advocacy of schools as community centers helped open numerous such centers throughout Boston, establishing them as important educational and social forums.

Her argument of the need of community organizing as the school of democracy led to better understanding of the dynamics of democracy in general.

Legacy

Regarding her work on management, after her death in 1933, she became practically forgotten.

Her ideas vanished from the mainstream of American management and organizational thinking in the 1930s and 1940s. She however continued to draw followers in Great Britain.

Gradually her work re-emerged, especially in 1960s Japan, and several management thinkers started to re-apply her theories.

HimaniSaurabhKomal

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