Mary Parker Follett, Dynamic Administration (1941)
American management writer (pictured right) who was one of the first proponents of employee
empowerment.
She died in 1933.
See also...
Mary Parker Follett in the Management Gurus
section.
Book summary
How to make an organization successful
1. Empowerment
Power is the capacity to make things happen.
So empowerment:
- comes from people’s self-motivation.
- means taking responsibility for something people have the authority to do.
2. “Constructive conflict”
This is people finding solutions to their problems through debating their
different ideas.
So a leader must be a “leader of leaders”, who:
- prefers able people who can think for themselves.
- rewards and encourages constructive criticism and debate.
3. “Integration”
This is finding common interests and purpose after openly
resolving people’s differences.
This is the best method of dealing with conflict (not compromise or coercion).
4. “Reciprocal service”
This means that managers must:
- ensure there is a community to serve.
Better employees make for a better society, so:
- their needs (spiritual and physical) must be satisfied.
- they must work “for the love of creating something”.
5. “Reciprocal leadership”
This results in leaders and followers:
- creating solutions in reciprocal (give and take) relationships.
- achieving a shared vision and purpose.
Leaders should:
- do what their followers ask with sincerity.
- identify the “moment of passing” from one significant event to another.
- encourage people to take responsibility and become leaders themselves.
- obey the “law of the situation”, considering all the factors of every situation.
6. Learning
The best way to learn from mistakes is education and training, not
blaming others.
7. Increasing employee power and rewards
This results from:
- involvement in decision making.
8. Co-ordination
People working together to achieve organizational objectives.
9. Ethics
- businesses must have a conscience.
- managers must never sacrifice their ethical ideals.
10. Effective problem solving
Creating a situation that solves a problem.
Key quotes on leadership
The best leader has not followers, but men and women working with him.
The best leader knows how to make his followers actually feel power themselves.
The best leader does not ask people to serve him but the common end.
Key quote on management
People do not like to be ordered even to take a holiday.
Key quote on workers and unions
Capital and labour must fight or unite.
Key quote on training and education
The greatest service the teacher can render the student is to increase his freedom - his free range of activity
and thought and his power of control.
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