|
Out of the mists of historical heights she emerges, sometimes seen
full form but most often glimpsed as a shadowy shape. Mary Parker
Follett is a true enigma in the history of the organizational development
field. In the 1990's she has been acknowledged as a significant influence
on the work of such conceptual stalwarts as Blake & Mouton, Lawrence
& Lorch, and Katzenbach & Douglas in the area of conflict
resolution. She presages the systems thinking around "coordination"
put forth by James Thompson in his 1967 book , Organizations in Action.
She captured the concept of "business eco-system" seventy years before
James Moore presented it in The Death of Competition (1996). Warren
Bennis openly claims that..."Just about everything written today about
leadership and organizations comes from Mary Parker Follett's writings
and lectures."1 She was revered in the 1950's along with Deming as
the savior of the Japanese industrial base and a Mary Parker Follett
Association exists in that country to this day. Even the legendary
Kurt Lewin and his Action Research saw a forerunner in Mary Parker
Follett's 1918 theory that bureaucratic institutions should be replaced
by group networks in which the people themselves analyzed their problems
and then planned and implemented the solutions.
Who was this extraordinary visionary genius? What was the essence
of her theories? Most importantly how and why were such conceptually
advanced ideas lost to her native country for nearly six decades.
Peter Drucker, dean of management theorists, bluntly states, "Follett...had
been the brightest star in the management firmament and - to change
the metaphor - she had struck every chord in what now constitutes
the management symphony. Ten years later (1943) not even her memory
remained, at least not in her native America. She had become a non-person."2
A Brief History
Mary Parker Follett was born in 1868 in Quincy, Massachusetts to a Quaker
family. While in her teens she was thrust into a primary family responsibility
role when her father died and her mother was an invalid. She was fortunate
to have a measure of financial independence and attended the Society
for the Collegiate Instruction of Women in Cambridge ,Massachusetts
(later Radcliffe College) where she graduated with a degree in economics,
government, law and philosophy. While still in college she published
her first book, The Speaker of the House of Representatives (1896),
in which she researched the methods used by the effective holders of
that position in Congress. In a review for the American Historical Review
that same year Theodore Roosevelt (1901- President Roosevelt) declared
that it was an indispensable reading.
During the next 20 years she dedicated her life to addressing social
issues and was frequently sought out by national associations for
her innovative ideas & strategies for wrestling with the intractable
problems of the day.
In 1918 she re-energized her interest in government by publishing
her second book, The New State: Group Organization the Solution of
Popular Government. The powerful premise in this book was that group
networks that took responsibility for discovering and implementing
the solutions for social problems should replace bureaucratic institutions
as the primary form of governance in the US. The ideas about participation
advanced in this book proved to be the primary underpinning for her
later theories on management. Surprisingly, this radical work moved
Mary Parker Follett into prominence as a bold and innovative thinker
and established a reputation in both the United States and England.
This in turn opened the door for invitations to serve on industrial
relations arbitration boards, minimum wage boards and other official
tribunals in Massachusetts. This close exposure to the inner workings
of industry resulted in her third book, Creative Experience (1924).
This book formed the core of her management theory with the advocacy
of a "self-governing principle (which) facilitated the growth of individuals
and of the groups to which they belonged; by directly interacting
with one another to achieve their common goals, the members of a group
fulfilled themselves through the process of the groups development."3
In short, an early version of self-governing teams.
Conceptual Skyrockets
In 1925, Mary Parker Follett was launched as a lecturer and consultant
in Management when she was invited to present her core work "The Psychological
Foundations of Business Administration" to business executives at the
prestigious annual conference of the Bureau of Personnel Administration
in New York. She advocated a view that the ideas that went into creating
strong & healthy social communities also could be applied to the
development of successful business organizations. This "Organization
as Community" formed the framework for her management theories.
It is important to appreciate the context of the times in which Mary
Parker Follett fired off her conceptual skyrockets over the organizational
landscape. The dominant theorists were the ones promoting the "Great
Machine - Employee as Cog in the Operation" model. Frederick Taylor,
an engineer , organized organizational processes into time & motion
frameworks in his 1911 work, Principles and Methods of Scientific
Management. Henri Fayol, another engineer, swept along the same vein
with his 1916 advocacy that the essential tasks of managers were to:
plan, organize, command, coordinate and control. The sole rising cohort
of Mary Parker Follett was Elton Mayo. His work , The Hawthorne Studies,
which eventually spawned the Human Relations School of Management
were not even launched until 1927. Mary Parker Follet held sway and
influence in the United States and England by the sheer force of her
ideas.
What were these illuminating ideas that were able to blunt the allure
of the "scientific" slants of other prevailing theories of the day.
A sampling below should give some sense of the tone and thinking behind
her concepts as drawn from her lectures in P. Graham (ed), Mary Parker
Folett: Prophet of Management (1995).
Organizations..."I have left to the last what seems to
me the chief function , the real service, of business: to give an
opportunity for individual development through the better organization
of human relationships."4
Leadership..."The Leader is the one who can organize the experience
of the group...and thus get the full power of the group. The leader
makes the team...Men with this ability create group power rather
than express a personal power."5
Power..."You can not coordinate purpose without developing purpose,
it is part of the same process. Some people want to give the workmen
a share in carrying out the purpose of the plant and do not see
that that involves a share in creating the purpose of the plant."6
Coordination... "Collective responsibility is not something
you get by adding up one by one all the responsibilities. Collective
responsibility is not a matter of adding but interweaving, a matter
of reciprocal modification brought about by the interweaving."7
Conflict... "Thus we shall not be afraid of conflict, but shall
recognize that there is a destructive way of dealing with such moments
and a constructive way. Conflict as the moment of the appearing
and focusing of difference (emphasis added) may be a sign of health,
a prophesy of progress."8
Management... "And that is always our problem, not how to get
control of people, but how all together we can gain control of a
situation."9
Mary Parker Follett was considerably more alert to the practical realities
of relationships in organizations and their impacts on the dynamics
of the whole than any of her contemporaries in management studies. She
referred to the "unities" and the "co-relations" within organizations
as the driving forces. Today, we call that a Systems Perspective.
"The ablest businessman or social worker or statesman,
the ablest worker in any field, looks at an 'environmental complex'
sees the solution of his problem depending on the interacting of the
elements of that complex."10
In the short eight year period during which Mary Parker Follett was
at the zenith of her influence on management thinking she conceptually
anticipated and developed perspectives on such modern areas as Systems
Thinking, Vision-Driven Leadership, Empowerment,
Management Coaching, Team/Network Structures, Diversity Integration,
Constructive Conflict Resolution, TQM/CQI and Cross-Functional Teams.
It may be fair to say she was truly among the first to advocate a
modern Organizational Development approach.
Yet, upon her death in 1933 her influence began to rapidly evaporate
until her ideas and her very name had faded within 10 years to a thin
subsurface impact on the landscape of management theory especially
in the United States. The English theorists held her in regard, although
diminished stature, throughout the decades. Her collected works ,
Dynamic Administration: The Collected Papers of Mary Parker Follett,
were published in the United Kingdom in 1941, but would have to wait
until 1973 to appear in the United States. This disparity continues
to this very day. Two books, one of English authors and one written
by an American, both were published in 1996 and dealt with the subject
of the origins & history of modern management theory. John Micklethwait
& Adrian Woolridge, The Witch Doctors, (UK) refer to Mary Parker
Follett as "pioneering female management theorist" and Art Kleiner,
The Age of Heretics, (US) simply does not refer to her at all.
The Japanese industrialists discovered her in the 1950's and credit
her ideas along with Deming's concepts of quality as revitalizing
their industrial base. A Mary Parker Follett Association was formed
in Japan dedicated to the serious study of her works and continues
to this day.
Her work survived in the US in pockets of study such as the doctoral
seminars of the Harvard Business School, but the stream of visible
management theory influence on organizations generally passed her
by until recently.
There are numerous speculations as to why works of such dynamic quality
could dissipate so rapidly. Explanations based on notions of gender
bias simply don't offer a sole basis since the 1930's were a period
of feminist upswing. Prominent figures such as Emelia Earhart , Eleanor
Roosevelt and Frances Perkins (first female Cabinet Member) commanded
respect and influence. The publishers of the New York Times and the
Washington Times Herald were both women. Strong women figures were
emerging in higher education and other fields. Anna Rosenberg became
the first woman in top management of a major US corporation (RH Macy).
My own explanation is a simpler and sadder one. Much of the momentum
behind Mary Parker Follett's visionary ideas came through the sheer
force of her belief in them. Reading them today I am struck with the
simple practical common-sense quality to them. Her nurturing steered
interpretations and applications away from the mechanical, scientific
and mystical bent of many of the other management theories of the
day. After her death this guiding hand that kept her theory uncluttered
and accessible was gone and the message faded.
Revival
In recent years, the obscuring conceptual mists have lessened and the
shape of her enduring influence can be seen more clearly. Stalwarts
in the field of organizational development such as Peter Drucker and
Paul Lawrence openly reflect upon her influence in the development of
their own perspectives. Henry Mintzberg boldly proclaims that... "how
relevant Mary Parker Follett's writings are to today's problems - really,
to every day's problems."11 Her view that organizations are social communities,
not solely economic engines, is considered cutting edge thinking at
present.
Mary Parker Follett's ideas appear to have found their own time at
last. Perhaps the best tribute we can pay to her is to acknowledge
her power as a person in developing and nurturing such a visionary
framework in an era dominated by "nuts & bolts" organizational
engineering.
"Follett's strength derived from her unique combination
of skills, skills that flowed from her broad mastery of the social
sciences, her profound empathy with people and her own practical experience
in the ways of the world."12
Note
This article was written to acquaint AU/NTL Association members and
others with the work of Mary Parker Follett. The Association annually
presents an award of recognition to persons in the AU/NTL community
who have distinguished themselves in their efforts to develop organizations.
This year we are pleased to honor another remarkable woman, Edie Seashore,
for her powerful and visionary work over several decades. The above
description of "strength" could just have easily been written about
Edie Seashore. In recognition of Edie's many contributions to the field
we are naming this year's award after Mary Parker Follett. This award
will be presented during NTL's 50th Anniversary Grand Gathering celebration
in Bethel, Maine during July 10-12, 1997.
Endnotes
- 1 Graham, P. (ed), Mary Parker Follett: Prophet
of Management, Boston, MA, Harvard Business Schook Press, 1995,
p. 178
- 2 ibid, p.2
- 3 ibid, p.276
- 4 ibid, p.276
- 5 ibid, p.168
- 6 ibid, p.56
- 7 ibid, p.198
- 8 ibid, p.71
- 9 ibid, p.130
- 10 ibid, p.217
- 11 ibid, p.202
- 12 ibid, p.15
|
