Mary Parker Follett

Mary Parker Follett: Final Thoughts for the Year 2018

December 27, 2018 rbudd Leave a Comment

“More than one hundred years after the publication of her first book in 1896, Mary P. Follett (1868–1933) remains one of our preeminent thinkers about democracy and social organization. Without the benefit of modern research methods, Follett developed such original, penetrating analyses of leadership, power and authority, conflict, and group behavior that her ideas form the basis of much of our modern discourse about organizations and management.”

Tonn, P. J. C. (2003). Mary P. Follett: Creating Democracy, Transforming Management [Kindle iOS version Location 113].

The New State by Mary Parker Follett

The New State by Mary Parker Follett is not an easy read. The concepts presented within the pages of a book published 100 years ago, continues to inspire us to think deeply and consider individual responsibility within a group dynamic.

Mary Parker Follett’s greatest gift was her ability to listen intently to everyone, irrespective of their “position” in society – factory workers, shop girls, or presidents of large corporations. She believed that every voice counted – and it was not lip service. She was above all a determined pragmatist with a philosophy that we can organize our lives and institutions so that everyone can contribute. While we may consider this rather optimistic, I have seen glimpses of this possibility. We live in a world that thrives on complexity, but I believe that resilience comes when individuals participate in a greater, more inclusive, conversation.

As we prepare to welcome a New Year, the last word belongs to a woman who passionately believed in the reality of integrating the diversity of cultures for the greater good. Mary Parker Follett valued differences, maintaining that together we gain strength and renewal, as individuals, as groups, as a society.

To complete our series on Mary Parker Follett, I am joined by Annie Giraudou, MBS(FS)Class of 2007 and Yvonne Thevenot MBA(FS) Class of 2001, who have been following Dr. McLarney’s series on Mary Parker Follett.

Rebecca Budd
Editor & Blog Coordinator
CEGE Connection

Annie Giraudou:

I have enjoyed reading “The New State” by Mary Parker Follett. I find I must take time to reflect on the ideas brought forth. One phrase stands out for me “There is a need for competent leaders and a need for competent group members”. We are seeing more research and novels focusing on the need for “followers”; emphasis being that we cannot all be leaders and that someone must effectively do the work. This is directly related to the obligation as a member to take that position seriously and contribute to the success of the team; not just the leader, but the entire team. I am seeing similar views on the extrovert versus introvert position. Could there be something to more Eastern cultures who favour “introversion” and team member contribution? Unbelievably, this question of requiring both types to make an efficient team and society was put to paper 100 years ago by Mary Parker Follett! Maybe it is about time we looked at all types to create a more balanced society.

Yvonne Thevenot:

It is fascinating in business to see the emergence of “Agile” implementation framed as a new concept for organizing structures. Or in change management the idea of “listening posts” or “Ask Me Anything” sessions… This discussion and highlighting key aspects of the work from such a prominent thinker as Mary Parker Follett through the practical today’s language of Dr. McLarney truly demonstrates to me how long it takes for societal change to truly evolve. Thank you for sharing!

Mary Parker Follett 1868 – 1933

“The most successful leader of all is the one who sees another picture not yet actualized. He sees the things which are not yet there… Above all, he should make his co-workers see that it is not his purpose which is to be achieved, but a common purpose, born of the desires and the activities of the group.”

Mary Parker Follett

Irena Stropnik: Happy Birthday Mary Parker Follett

September 3, 2018 rbudd Leave a Comment

Mary Parker Follett 1868 – 1933

“We find the true man only through organization. The potentialities of the individual remain potentialities until they are released by group life. Man discovers his true nature, gains his true freedom only through the group.”

Mary Parker Follett, The New State: Group Organization the Solution of Popular Government.

Mary Parker Follett, known as the “Mother of Modern Management,” was born today, September 3, 1868, into a wealthy Massachusetts Quaker family. Joan C. Tonn, in the introduction of her book Mary P. Follett, Creating Democracy, Transforming Management, describes Mary Parker Follett as having a warm voice and a stylish wit. Her strength was centered on her ability to listen attentively and enjoy conversations that welcomed a diversity of opinion. She fervently believed that working together, embracing differences, had the potential to generate new thought, new ideas. It was all about collaboration.

Mary Parker Follett was the first woman to receive an invitation to address the London School of Economics and was sought after by President Theodore Roosevelt to be his personal consultant for managing not-for-profits and volunteer organizations. As we celebrate the 100-year anniversary of Mary Parker Follett’s book, The New State, there has been a resurgence in revisiting her theories, which cover a broad spectrum from management and public administration to social work, mediation and dispute resolution.

Dr. Carolan McLarney has explored the remarkable life of Mary Parker Follett since her doctoral days. In her May 15, 2018 post, Dr. McLarney discussed Mary Parker’s thoughts on Group Membership.

To commemorate the 150^th anniversary of Mary Parker Follett’s birth, Irena Stropnik MBA (FS) Class of 2012, shared her thoughts on Group Membership in response to Dr. McLarney’s article.

Irena Stropnik:

Irena Stropnik MBA(FS) 2012

Dr. McLarney’s discussion of Mary Parker Follett’s theories on Group Membership has provided me with much food for thought, given our current realities. Many of Mary Parker Follett’s ideas ring true in today’s world. We are in desperate need of ‘quality men/group members’ and effective leaders to navigate the complexities and challenges of today’s world.

In reading through Dr. McLarney’s post, what struck me most was the importance of quality group members – not only willing to give their best but recognizing the importance that combined efforts build and add to the entire group. We must be committed to our own ideas but humble enough to listen to others and see how together, we can come up with an even better idea(s). This seems to contradict today’s individualistic society and norms. We are so busy looking out for ourselves and our own interests, that we fail to contribute to the larger society because we believe that, if the whole is better, we may somehow have less. Rather than judging others, seeing the potential in each other; to show empathy and endeavour to understand a situation from another person’s perspective.

Threaded throughout Dr. McLarney’s post was the notion of diversity (of thought, skill, effort, role) and inclusion (that we all must contribute to a better whole). The current business environment seems to understand this importance, but I believe, continues to struggle with how to really make his happen. How do we take into consideration everyone’s voice, their perspective, their thoughts? To me, the role of the leader is to orchestrate and facilitate this for teams. Whether it is a common vision or goal, or sometimes even stepping back to let others lead…we must consider how we want to function as a society and as business organizations.

“No member of a group which is to create can be passive. All must be active and constructively active. It is not, however, to be constructively active merely to add a share: it must be a share which is related to and bound up with every other share. And it must be given in such a way that it fits in with what others are giving. Someone said to me the other day, “Don’t you think Mr. X talks better than anyone else in Boston?” Well the fact is that Mr. X talks so well that I can never talk with him. Everything he says has such a ring of finality, is such a rounding up of the whole question, that it leaves nothing more to be said on the subject. This is particularly the kind of thing to be avoided in a committee meeting or conference.”

Mary Parker Follett, The New State: Group Organization the Solution of Popular Government. (1918, p.7)

Friday Reflection

May 18, 2018 rbudd Leave a Comment

“The insight to see possible new paths, the courage to try them, the judgment to measure results — these are the qualities of a leader.”

Mary Parker Follett

Tulips, North Vancouver

Dr. Carolan McLarney: Mary Parker Follett on Group Membership

May 15, 2018 rbudd 3 Comments

Dr. Carolan McLarney

Dr. Carolan McLarney:

Mary Parker Follett valued membership in a group almost more than leadership. She believed in the power of the neighbourhood group. She suggested that it is within these groups that the opportunity for real contribution is possible. In The New State (1918), Follett posits that when everyone is giving their full effort, then “leaders will arise among us” (p. 62). If each one of the members of the group has the potential to be a leader of that group, then it is important to look at Mary Parker Follett’s views on group membership. In her writing, she described the ideal group, where all were equal and had equal opportunities for contribution and leadership. The group members are not clones, there are differences, and difference is welcomed. But there does appear to be an underlying core of behaviours and traits. This could be described as the `true heart of a group member’. This `true heart’ has many dimensions and many obligations. Mary Parker Follett took membership very seriously, she did not believe it was for the faint-of-heart, but she did believe it was the forum for change and hope for her society.

Miss Follett believed group membership was a responsibility. These obligations include giving one’s total contribution, not holding anything back. She explicitly puts forth the minimum requirements; one cannot sit back and watch:

You must not let go of your ideas, but at the same time, you must be open for other’s ideas. It is not a matter of one idea being relinquished and another being adopted, but rather “that there has been evolved a composite idea.”(1918, p. 6) Each member of the group must have a true a conviction to their ideas and they must be willing to recognize and respect a similar conviction in their fellow team-mates. It is within this type of group that we begin to create, and what we create is something that is better than anything we could have created alone and separately.

Each group member is different from his or her team-mates, and a group power comes from the integration of these differences, “the only use for my difference is to join it with other differences.”(1918, p. 8) It is this unification within the group that is the source of creation. A solid member of the group is one who has a strong belief in their ideas, willingness to share those ideas and experiences. Shared experience is shared wisdom and it is this shared wisdom that gives the group strength, solidarity and power. It is the leader who is able to integrate this shared wisdom and mould it to form a common purpose. In The Essentials of Leadership, Mary Parker Follett called this, “the invisible leader”. (1933, p. 287)

While she identified certain elements of leadership, Mary Parker Follett also wrote about the elements of group membership. She believed that each member had to be worthy of that membership. In Leader and Expert (1930), she suggests that for leaders to be completely effective and for the group to accomplish their goal, they must have “men whom it is worthwhile to lead.”(p.248) There is a need for competent leaders and a need for competent group members. If either element is missing then we do not have a team, and we cannot create anything.

The final element of group membership is the role members play to help keep the leader in control of a situation. As a member of the group, one has a part of the leadership role, and therefore a sense of responsibility to the group. All must work together, with the leader, to keep the group on the path to the common goal. In this sense, the entire group works as one. The wonder of working in a group is that no one works alone, all labour together. Emerging from all of this is a form of communion and of a “partnership of following”. (Some Discrepancies in Leadership Theory and Practice, 1930, p. 289)

Dr. Carolan McLarney,

Professor
Rowe School of Business

Prior to completing her doctorate, Dr. McLarney held management positions in various companies in the hospital, transportation, and consulting sectors. Her research interests include the interface between small businesses and international business strategy, and the use of strategic alliances to garner success. Dr. McLarney explores issues relating to board governance, particularly the use of outside directors.

Dr. Carolan McLarney: Mary Parker Follett on Leadership

March 27, 2018 rbudd 2 Comments

“Leadership is not defined by the exercise of power but by the capacity to increase the sense of power among those led. The most essential work of the leader is to create more leaders.” Mary Parker Follett

Dr. Carolan McLarney

Dr. Carolan McLarney has explored the remarkable life of Mary Parker Follett since her doctoral days. 2018 is the 150th anniversary of Follett’s birth as well as the 100th anniversary of her book, The New State: Group Organization the Solution of Popular Government. To honour this milestone, Dr. McLarney has graciously agreed to give a series of interviews over the course of 2018 which will highlight her research on Mary Parker Follett. What will surprise you, as it did me: many “cutting edge” concepts we think came from our “modern time” had their origins in the writings of Mary Parker Follett. We invite you to join the discussion over the coming year and welcome your thoughts and comments.

Dr. Carolan McLarney

Mary Parker Follett lived in the United States from 1868 to 1933. A writer, political analyst, social activist, philosopher, lecturer, colleague and friend, she lived in a time when the United States was undergoing great changes resulting from increased urbanization and industrialization. It was not the age of the feminist, but somehow Mary Parker Follett penetrated the inner sanctum of some of the world’s leading organizations (Rowntree’s of England and Dennison’s of the United States to name two). She observed and commented on the workings of these organizations, and from them, she formulated an encompassing theory of leadership.

Mary Parker Follett wrote about leaders and leadership in the early part of the last century. Her work in leadership theory from a historical Organizational Behaviour perspective finds resonance in the theories from 1902 all the way to to-day. There is no single theory which seems to encompass her writings, but rather there are elements scattered throughout the over 3,000 empirical studies on leadership. Mary Parker Follett’s view of leadership can be found in the early literature on Trait Theory, which argues that leaders are born possessing the affinity and characteristics for leadership, to Fielder’s Contingency Theory which focuses on style and control over a situation. She also believed that there were a number of qualities that comprise leadership. In the Essentials of Leadership, she wrote:

“…tenacity, sincerity, fair dealings with all, steadfastness of purpose, depth of conviction, control of temper, tact, steadiness in stormy periods, ability to meet emergencies, power to draw forth and develop latent possibilities of others…” (1933, p. 45)

While Mary Parker Follett believed that these qualities enhanced leadership, she did not accept that these qualities were the only aspect of leadership. She believed that leaders were neither born nor simply created, but rather there exists an element of both in a good leader. Leaders could not be simply identified by just their traits or just their behaviours. Miss Follett felt leadership could be learned and strongly endorsed leadership training. Leadership involved gaining an understanding the organization and management; in other words, she felt that as a successful leader you had to know your job. A good leader knows their place in the organization and “his relation to all the other parts.”(Leader and Expert, 1930)

Mary Parker Follett wrote in The New State: Group Organization the Solution of Popular Government, that a leader can only lead the group from within the group. It is within the group that the leader can come to understand what the group’s goal(s) means to each member of the group. It is within the group that the leader can determine the varying interests of the group members and harmonize any conflicting interests through two-way communication. Only from within can they reconcile these interests to the group’s goal(s).

“…the leader of our neighbourhood group must interpret our experience to us, must see all the different points of view which underlie our daily activities and also their connections, must adjust the varying and often conflicting needs, must lead the group to an understanding of its needs and to a unification of its purpose.“(1918, p. 61)

Mary Parker Follett did not finish her theory with the search for universal behaviours, she broadened her view with the idea that leadership is situationally influenced. Miss Follett understood that leadership depended and changed according to the situation within which the group found themselves.

Dr. Carolan McLarney, Professor
Rowe School of Business

Prior to completing her doctorate, Dr. McLarney held management positions in various companies in the hospital, transportation, and consulting sectors. Her research interests include the interface between small businesses and international business strategy, and the use of strategic alliances to garner success. Dr. McLarney also explores issues relating to board governance, particularly the use of outside directors.

In Search of Mary Parker Follett

December 18, 2017 rbudd 4 Comments

“Our political life is stagnating, capital and labor are virtually at war, the nations of Europe are at one another’s throats – because we have not yet learned how to live together. The twentieth century must find a new principle of association. Crowd philosophy, crowd government, crowd patriotism must go. The herd is no longer sufficient to enfold us.”

Mary Parker Follett, The New State, Introduction, 1918

Borthwick Institute for Archives, University of York

Last year, on December 18^th, I was preparing for the holidays, wrapping last-minute presents and meeting up with friends to celebrate the season of peace, hope and joy.

This year, I am remembering that Mary Parker Follett passed away on this day, in 1933. While this may seem a solemn event, out of sync with this festive time of year, I find it appropriate to be commemorating a life well-lived. I am grateful that I have been introduced to a woman who lived a remarkable life, and shared, without hesitation, her extraordinary insight on organizational theory and organizational behavior.

I had never heard of Mary Parker Follett. Nor did I know that she is considered the “Mother of Modern Management” and is deemed, even now, as a foremost authority on democracy and social organization. January 2017, Dr. Cam McLarney introduced me to Mary Parker Follett when she invited me to be her research assistant.

Dr. McLarney was awarded a Dalhousie University Rowe Research Grant to build upon her current research on Mary Parker Follet. Dating to her doctoral days in 1992, Dr. McLarney had focused her research and writing on Mary Parker Follett’s work, specifically in the areas of leadership and vision. This project would expand into the areas of corporate governance and social responsibility, and explore the role of management consultants in this area.

This research project sent me to the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York, in the United Kingdom. At the same time, I conducted my personal unofficial and undocumented mini-research project that involved asking everyone who I met if they had every heard of Mary Parker Follett. Not one person recognized the name!

Borthwick Institute for Archives

2018 is the 150th anniversary of Follett’s birth as well as the 100th anniversary of her book, The New State. To honour this milestone, Dr. McLarney has graciously agreed to give a series of interviews over the course of 2018 which will highlight her research on Mary Parker Follett. What will surprise you, as it did me: many “cutting edge” concepts we think came from our “modern” time, had their origins in the writings of Mary Parker Follett.

We invite you to join the discussion over the coming year. We welcome your thoughts and comments.

Rebecca Budd MBA(FS) Class of 2003
Blog Coordinator, CFAME Connection

Archives for Mary Parker Follett