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Leading Edge Thinker: Rediscovering Mary Parker LEADING-EDGE THINKER: REDISCOVERING MARY PARKER FOLLETT Vincent Moroz APRJ-699 Word Count: 15,525 April 14, 2017 Linda Bramble. Supervisor Mary Parker Follett. (n.d.) Retrieved February 19, 2017, from http://blog.consultorestrategia.com/ 2012/03/la- guru-de-la-administracion-mary.html “Unity, not uniformity, must be our aim. We attain unity only through variety. Differences must be integrated, not annihilated, nor absorbed.” Mary Parker Follett, The New State, 1918, Chapter 3, Para. 28 Vincent Moroz, Applied Project Leading-Edge Thinker: Rediscovering Mary Parker Follett Abstract Our constantly connected society has significantly increased the pressure on business leaders to provide real-time responses to organizational issues and customer concerns. Leaders are expected to maintain control of resources, uncover continual improvements to operations, and actively engage with employees while providing them with job enrichment opportunities. What organizational framework exists to enable business leaders to be successful at achieving all these varied demands in near real-time? This study investigates the unity framework developed by Mary Parker Follett, an early 20 th century social worker who applied practical theories for individual empowerment through community development to the problems facing modern industry. Selections from Follett's catalogue of writings have been analyzed to uncover the framework within. Comparisons are made between Follett's theories and contemporary organizational theories. Mary Follett was internationally recognized following her book The New State being published in 1918. Several identifiable themes are found within Follett's collected writings around which an identifiable framework can be constructed. There are two unique themes showing in Follett's writings which form the core of her framework: the individual and the integrative unity, and, the doctrine of integration. These themes rest on the idea that the individual has no true context outside the group and only achieves access to power through integration with others. Avoidance of domination and compromise were key aspects of integration. Other themes Follett studied are common to business theory. The management responsibilities for inter-department coordination were connected to distribution of authority based on function rather than position. Follett discussed the value and necessity of harnessing conflict, its connection and reliance on group diversity, and how these integrated to ignite innovation. She placed significant emphasis on the dynamic relationship between leadership and followership, placing both within the realities of labour-capital relations and the need for business to enact controls that supported operations. Follett was an early proponent of business having responsibility for and within the community, not only to meet the service needs of community members, but to understand itself as a community member. It was through adoption of, and adherence to, evolving standards that business was able to legitimize its profit motive. These themes did not create a how-to guide for managers to follow, they created a framework of reality-based connections to support situational necessity. Necessity was met through functional authority by which employees could support business and customer demands 2 Vincent Moroz, Applied Project Leading-Edge Thinker: Rediscovering Mary Parker Follett without the need for vertical consultation. Emphasis was placed on organizing and recording experience. Considering Mary Follett was a sought after consultant and lecturer through the 1920s and early 1930s it is surprising she is almost unknown to contemporary organizational theorists. While it has been suggested that her disappearance was due to her gender, this is not well- supported by fact. Some modern scholars believe her ideas were untenable and idealistic, relying on the tendency for individual domination. This paper suggests the answer lies more in the realm of how information ages in academic circles and how Follett's themes were continued over the last 100 years. The following assertions can be gleaned from this report: Mary Parker Follett created a functional and scalable framework for business to organize around that promotes increased levels of coordination, flexibility and employee engagement. Business leaders can benefit from learning the art of reciprocal relating to build effective, self-managing teams with integral, situation-based controls. Contemporary organizational theories often focus on minutiae rather than building a broader, more complete, picture. By focusing on organizing experience the unity framework promotes a perpetual learning organization. Follett's unity framework is equally effective for male and female leaders as it is not reliant on gender. 3 Vincent Moroz, Applied Project Leading-Edge Thinker: Rediscovering Mary Parker Follett Table of Contents I. Introduction.............................................................................................................. 5 A. Research Questions........................................................................................... 5 B. Methods, Limitations, and Scope........................................................................ 6 C. Acknowledgements............................................................................................. 6 D. A Short Biography of Mary Parker Follett............................................................ 7 II. Critical Themes From Mary Parker Follett............................................................... 9 A. The Individual and the Integrative Unity.............................................................. 10 B. The Doctrine of “Circular or Integrative Behaviour”............................................. 14 C. Power and Influence............................................................................................17 D. Coordination, Control and Authority.....................................................................20 E. Conflict, Diversity, Innovation and Change.......................................................... 24 F. Leadership, Management, and Followership....................................................... 27 G. The Place of Business in Society........................................................................ 29 H. The Unity Framework.......................................................................................... 31 1. The Group Unity........................................................................................ 32 2. The Business Unity................................................................................... 33 3. The Greater Unity...................................................................................... 33 4. The Unity as Equalizer.............................................................................. 34 III. Some Speculations as to Mary Parker Follett’s Fall Into Obscurity......................... 35 A. The Issue of Gender........................................................................................... 35 B. Follett as Utopian Dreamer................................................................................. 36 C. Scientific Management....................................................................................... 37 D. Who Carries The Torch?.................................................................................... 38 E. One Final Thought.............................................................................................. 39 IV. Conclusion............................................................................................................... 39 V. References...............................................................................................................41 VI. Appendix.................................................................................................................. 45 4 Vincent Moroz, Applied Project Leading-Edge Thinker: Rediscovering Mary Parker Follett Introduction With the speed of change in the world today the study of how businesses organize to thrive has received a great deal of attention. Organizational leaders are under increasing pressure to produce growth with the same or fewer resources in a dynamic state of uncertainty that is increasingly influenced by global concerns and special interests. Despite an extended period of academic study there remains no unified framework available to the leader-manager for navigating the complexities they face other than a large selection of seemingly disjointed theories. How might business leaders provide a coherent framework to guide their team’s efforts to meet and master simultaneous demands? This paper will answer that question by looking back to the end of the Great War and the writings of Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933), a business management consultant and theorist who created a passionate vision for the individual to share in organizational power and responsibility through integrated group participation. While initially centred around community and political involvement through her career in social work, Follett’s attention became increasingly focused on individual fulfilment through employment after she participated on civic wage boards. Her writings garnered the interest of business leaders in both North America and the United Kingdom where she was invited to speak at business conferences and interact directly with business leaders on the issues they faced. This led to Follett translating
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