Mary Parker Follett: Prophet of Management : A Celebration of Writings from the 1920s (Harvard Business School Press ) [Paperback]

Pauline Graham (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1996 | Series: Harvard Business School Press

Though Mary Parker Follett died in 1933, her philosophy of business organization and management is echoed in companies today where quality circles employee empowerment, and more horizontal organizational structures built on networks and relationships have been adopted with impressive results. Ahead of her time in the 1920s and 1930s, Follett was a political scientist, social work pioneer, speaker, and advisor to leaders concerned with labor-management relations on both sides of the Atlantic. Her advocacy of conflict as a constructive and creative means of problem solving and her general criticism of strict hierarchical structures in business organizations ran counter to the administrative dictates of the post-World War II era. Accordingly, her insights were neglected in the years following her death, and much of her work fell out of print. In Mary Parker Follett - Prophet of Management, editor Pauline Graham presents a selection of Follett's remarkable writings, culled from all her work, including her lectures. These, delivered between 1925 and 1933, provide a fascinating perspective on critical management topics that have continued relevance for managers today: conflict, power, authority, leadership, control, the role of the individual in the group, and the place of business in society. This collection brings together an eminent group of management experts from four continents and two generations who celebrate their own good fortune in having encountered Mary Parker Follett in the decades when her work was uncovered primarily through library research. Commentaries by Warren Bennis, John Child, Angela Dumas, Tokihiko Enomoto, Henry Mintzberg, Nitin Nohria, and Sir Peter Parker accompanyFollett's own words. Their reflections underscore the contemporary significance of Follett's ideas and testify to the excitement of discovering eloquence and truth in the observations of a brilliant thinker who continues to lead the way in her espousal of business as a social in

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This book aims to return Follett to her rightful place in the pantheon of classic business writers. A preface by Rosabeth Moss Kanter and an introduction by Peter Drucker attest to the fact that she merits such attention. The book contains extracts of Follett's writings on specific subjects: conflict, authority, power, and the place of the individual in society and the group. Each extract is followed by commentaries from today's foremost management scholars that underscore the contemporary significance of her ideas. Follett espoused the theory that business was a social institution and advocated an almost complete change of vocabulary in the business world, eliminating terms like grievance and complaints since such words led to automatic negative reactions. Since Follett wrote about the human side of management, there have been several "discoveries" that promote her essential philosophy: the participative management movement of the Fifties and Sixties, the quality-of-work movement of the Seventies, and now the network movement?each of these moving organizations toward a new, more effective, and humane form of management. This extraordinary book belongs in all academic management libraries and any others aspiring to have comprehensive management collections.?Mary Chatfield, Angelo State Univ., San Angelo, Tex.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

What's old becomes new again, a remarkable occurrence in the relatively young field of management. To witness the recycling of ideas from such neglected visionaries as Bostonian Mary Parker Follett, one has only to look at the resurgency of total quality management--and its real roots. Editor Graham selects 11 of Follett's lecture essays delivered or published between 1925 and 1933 that prove without a doubt that the concepts of "empowerment" and "horizontal management" began with her. Contemporary gurus of business from Peter Drucker to Rosabeth Moss Kantor add flourishes and today's meanings to Follett's philosophies. Yet the experts admit that this turn-of-the-century social worker in her insistence on mutual problem solving and business' debts to society, among other ideas, was way ahead of us all. Barbara Jacobs --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 309 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Business Press (September 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875847366
• ISBN-13: 978-0875847368
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,537,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a key to understanding contemporary innovations in managemen, November 13, 1998

By 

Terence Harwick - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mary Parker Follett Prophet of Management (Hardcover)

In spite of a well-crafted selection of essays from Mary Parker Follett's lectures and writings, it is unfortunate that the subtitle of this text may be misleading. The significance of this publication is not that Follett wrote in the 1920's -- or even that she was a prophet of what has been discovered in management to date. The significance of this text is that it may help the reflective practitioner and theoretician create the future of management on a more sound footing than we have accomplished throughout most of this century. As Peter F. Drucker, Warren Bennis and others have pointed out, Follett developed her approach to management on a fundamentally different assumptive base than did her contemporaries. What remains to be articulated is the fundamental character of that contrast and their implications. These questions will not be answered in the commentaries, but there is an implicit invitation to consider the issues. One may find that Follett's assumptions anticipate our own time in its complexity, turbulence, and uncertainty, more adequately than most writers or practitioners who are currently grappling with these sorts of issues. If you are a reflective practitioner or a theoretician, and wish a leg-up on the future, this is a good place to start.