Mary parker follett

attempt to summarize her work for easy learning and studies

1. Mary Parker Follett 1868-1933 By Anmol kumar sharma

2. Mary parker follet was a political philosopher, social critic and a management thinker. She is regarded as a prophet in Management circles. As harold Pollard said in the field of managing no one can be more deserving of this title than her. Whatever she said in 1920 was rediscovered by psychologists in 1950 and 1960. Follett defined management as: "the art of getting things done through people". She bridged the gap between taylor scientific management and new social psychology of 1920 and promoted better human relations in the industry

3. Constructive conflict conflict is neither good or bad it is the result which is good or bad. It can be used constructively and destructively There are three ways of dealing with difference: Domination Compromise and integration. By domination only one side gets what it wants; by compromise neither side gets what it wants; by integration we find a way by which both sides may get what they wish.

4. The giving of orders Merely ordering will not produce results Action depends on habit patterns of workers over a long period and managers should build up mental attitudes. These habit patterns and attitudes are developed by training Orders should resolve than create conflicts Many people dislike being ordered. People specially talented and skilled ones resent telling what to do Very detailed orders become difficult to follow it removes responsibility from the person

5. The law of the situation The order giving is not a simple job, if orders are given in a disagreeable way, they may create troubles. Sometimes a person who receives them loses his temper or becomes sullen or is on the defensive and begins thinking of his rights. The solution is to depersonalize the giving of orders , to unite all concerned in study of situation , to discover law of situation and obey that. One person should not give orders to another person, but both should agree to take their orders from the situation. If orders are simply part of the situation the question of somebody giving and somebody receiving does not come up both accept the orders given by the situation she said of course we should exercise authority but always the authority of the situation. Study of total situation not just part of it as situation is always evolving

6. Authority and responsibility Real power cannot be delegated Power without responsibility cannot be allowed Power and authority are not same thing Authority resided in situation not person or position Final authority was an illusion based on false premise of power

7. power Distinction between power over and power with. Power over means forcing other to do your will it creates resentment and reactions but widely used. Follet had suggested power with instead of power over and replace coercion by coactions . The essence of good human relations was creating the feeling of working with someone rather than working under someone.

8. Psychology of control That is always our problem, not how to get control of people, but how all together we can get control of a situation. Fact control than man control Correlated control than superimposed control Unity and cooperation between Man , material and methods to achieve it Integration is key word to ensure control

9. Consent and participation she says mere consent of the workers to do as they are told is not enough they should be given a participation in planning the work For this the principles are Two way channels of communication and consultation Recognize ideas from workers A method of integration to settles differences and diverse opinions

10. Leadership Leadership is not the product of position but knowledge The leader must integrate not merely give orders It is role of the leader to educate and train He should be group oriented than power oriented The best leader does not ask followers, to serve him but the common end The great leader doesn’t have followers but men and women working with him He has insight not only to meet next situation but to invent it Is able to integrate individual experience for common purpose The best leaders train their followers to become leaders they wish to be leader of leaders Leadership is not defined by exercise of power but by increasing sense of power among those led. The most essential work of leader is to create more leaders

11. Her idea of democracy she opposed the idea of ballot box democracy as it reflected crowd psychology. The new and true democracy was to build from small neighborhood group to community groups to state to national and eventually to an international group will. She believed that people could create a new social consciousness .  

12. Group concept new society should be based on group concept and not upon individualism. She added group thinking, and collective will to mgmt the group concept would become basis for our future industrial systems. The potentialities of individual remain potentialities until realized by group life. Man discovers his true nature and his true freedom only through group

13. Professional management she said combination of science and service would lead to profession of management follet says of professional managers that they love the work and get real satisfaction out of doing it

14. Organisation coordination was the central core of forming organization It is continuous process it cannot be left to chance and managers must continually strive to achieve it Early start specially at planning is required to ensure coordination

15. Evaluation The range of her ideas was too wide. Her ideas stood the test of time. Follet made valuable contribution to management thought. she was at the right place at the right time to pull together three links of management scientific human and administrative Drucker says follet is the most quoted thinker but probably the least heeded of all students of organisation

16. Thank you