Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933)
American management expert (pictured right) who was one of the first proponents of employee empowerment.
Key books
The New State
(1918)
Individuals find fulfilment through their relationships in groups at work and in the
community – the greater the variety of groups, the greater the fulfilment.
Lifelong learning and education are vital.
Key quote on
ethics
I am an individual not as far as I am apart from, but as far as I am a part of other men. Evil is
non-relation.
Community is a Process (1919 Philosophical Review article)
Groups (community) are creative because individual members combine effectively through a common
will to achieve a purpose that is constantly changing.
Key quotes on
community
“Community... creates personality, power, freedom. It also... continuously creates purpose”.
Creative Experience
(1924)
There are two types of power in relationships at work:
1. “Power-over”
Coercive power i.e. forcing people to do things because of an unwillingness to educate and persuade them.
2. “Power-with”
The capacity to do things through:
- “co-active power” (sharing power and decision making through involvement)
- “the enrichment and advancement of every human
soul”.
“Power-with” is the only genuine source of power and people’s authority should come from
knowledge and experience, not position.
Success also depends on:
1. Learning
Everyone must learn from experience and past mistakes
But these lessons must be flexibly and creatively applied to each new situation.
2. Constructive conflict
(constructive debate to find new and better solutions).
To do this people must have accurate information.
3. Integration
The integration and interrelationship of:
- stimuli (causal factors like experience and motivation).
- responses (changes in behaviour).
People's experience and motivation lead to changes in their behaviour which then affect their future actions in
a “reflex circle” or “circular response”.
For example, employee behaviour changes because of:
- motivation (wanting to do something).
- experience (of past events, particularly management actions).
- external factors (like the cost of living).
Key quote on
motivation
“Our task is not to learn where to place power; it is how to develop power”.
The Teacher-Student Relation (1928
article)
The best leaders don’t exploit or coerce people but give them freedom to
- release their energy and potential.
- carry out a shared vision.
This requires
- reconciling different attitudes.
- continually earning trust and respect.
Key quotes on
leadership
The essential task of a leader is to free.
Dynamic Administration
(1941) – a collection of her speeches and articles
(for more detail see Dynamic Administration in
the Business Books section)
An organization’s success depends on:
1. Empowerment
Power is the capacity to make things happen, so empowerment comes from an individual’s
self-motivation and can’t be delegated.
Employees (and leaders) must be free to create the next situation, not just react to it.
2. Constructive conflict through
integration
(people finding common solutions to their problems through debating their different ideas).
So a leader must be a “leader of leaders”, preferring able people who can:
- constructively criticize and improve decisions.
Dissent must be rewarded and encouraged.
3. Reciprocal
service
(managers serving the community and ensuring there is a community to serve).
Managers must never sacrifice their ideals.
4. Reciprocal
leadership
(leaders and followers creating solutions in reciprocal (give and take) relationships to achieve a common
purpose, the “invisible leader”).
The role of followers (“followship”) leads to a “partnership of following”.
A leader should do what they ask with sincerity.
5. The law of the
situation
Effective leaders consider and grasp all the factors of every situation (the “total
situation”).
6. Vision
Leaders should inspire people with a shared vision of the future.
7. Co-ordination
Interrelating all the factors in every situation and working together through evolving relationships to achieve
the organization’s objectives.
This can’t be imposed but must happen voluntarily.
8. Learning
Education (not blaming others) is the best way to learn from mistakes.
Key quotes on business
ethics
Service and sacrifice are noble ideals... Let them... be the handmaids of the great purpose of our life... which
shall bring us individual freedom through collective control.
Key quote on
leadership
The best leader knows how to make his (her) followers actually feel power themselves, not merely acknowledge his
(her) power.
Key quote on
motivation
Nothing stultifies one more than being blamed.
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