MARY PARKER FOLLET: BIOGRAPHY AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ADMINISTRATION - DUDAS - 2025

Mary Parker Follett, called “the mother of modern management”, was one of the pioneers in creating a participatory and inclusive management system. In the development of her theories, she broke with the dominant thought of the moment, represented by the division of tasks (Taylorism) and the creation of work chains applied by Ford.

This is why his model is defined as more humanistic and less mechanical. In her thesis, Follett suggested that organizations should work together. In addition, administrators should be able to resolve existing differences not by domination but by common work.

He also raised the holistic development of the worker and the interaction between them as a fundamental axis for a healthy work environment. These ideas were totally innovative at a time of the height of consumerism and the creation of the new capitalist “welfare state”.

During his life he wrote various books that covered different areas of the social, political and administrative sphere. Among them are the works Dynamic Administration, The Speaker of the House of Representatives and Creative Experience.

Biography

Follett was born in 1868 into a common family, in the state of Massachusetts in the United States. At the age of 12 she entered the Thayer Academy co-educational in South Baintree, where she met Professor Anna Byton Thompson.

This teacher made him understand the application of scientific methods in studies, thus making them more precise and verifiable.

Studies

Thanks to the resources inherited by his father and grandfather, Follett managed to enter the annex of Harvard University. Still, she suffered from the academy's discriminatory policies as the academy refused to admit women as official students.

Despite this he received education from teachers such as George Santayana and William James; the latter taught him about psychology applied to everyday life and, above all, in business and industry.

Thanks to his high qualifications, in 1898 he graduated summa cum laude and moved to Paris, where he began his doctorate. Upon her return to the United States, she devoted herself to social work.

Social work

At universities such as Harvard and Cambridge he came into contact with the various humanistic branches such as philosophy, history and political science. Thanks to his various studies, he also had an approach in various disciplines such as social psychology and administration.

In Boston he helped create the youth labor office, gaining knowledge of industry and management. Thanks to her contributions to administration and management, she was requested as an advisor and speaker at the Boston Preservation Alliance.

During the talks, Follett stated that a company should be a space for common and collective work. In addition, integration methods should be implemented in conflictive periods that occur within the workplace.

Death

From 1925 to 1925, Follett worked as a theorist in administration and politics as a result of the recent crash of the New York Stock Exchange. She died in Boston on December 18, 1933, at the age of 63, after suffering from cancer.

Contributions to the administration

During his studies, Follett focused on the existence of principles of integration. These principles are conditioned by the physical, social and psychological realities of the individual.

That is, to achieve the integration of the labor group it was necessary to know the reality of each worker; in this way, the administrator should aim to integrate people and coordinate joint activities. From this, Follett shapes four fundamental principles:

1- Coordinate at the various levels of the organization through direct contact. The responsible person should contact all members of the organization regardless of their position. This is applicable in both horizontal and vertical organizations.

2- Include all members of the organization in the planning process. In this process all members must be taken into account and must participate from the beginning.

3- This coordination must be carried out through reciprocal relationships, taking into account the levels of the organization; that is, the highest rank influences the lowest and vice versa.

4- Said coordination must be a continuous process.

Law of the situation

Another fundamental principle is what Follett called the law of the situation. This law is opposed to Taylor's mechanistic principles: it states that the decisions to be made in the face of an organizational dilemma are considered according to the conditions existing within the same organization.

That is, to resolve conflicts it is necessary to know each of the components of the organization; for example, the participants involved, the time, the available means, among others.

The result of this law would be the organization and integration of work. According to this law, the concept of leadership must focus on each individual achieving a greater contribution and greater group cohesion.

Another contribution to the concept of leadership is that the leader must be dedicated to discovering the talents and capacities of the individual members. The work must be done in order to develop both talent and capabilities.

Conflict resolution

One of the statements created by Follett focuses on ways to resolve conflict within an organization. In this field, it proposes four fundamental strategies:

1- The voluntary submission of one of the sides.

2- The victory of one side over the other.

3- The arrival of an agreement between both parties.

4- The integration of the objectives and interests of both groups.

Among these four strategies, Follett raises the fourth as one of the most effective for conflict resolution. With this, a common solution is found between both parties without the need to resort to the domination of one over the other.

For this to take place in the best terms, Follett argues that it is necessary to replace the conception that was used until now about authority and power.

Under this premise, he proposes that “power with” be developed to replace “power over”, and “coercion” to replace “coercion”.

References

1. Águeda Planas (2014). History of women in Psychology; Mary Parker Follett. Recovered at: dspace.uib.es
2. Hery Serzo. Mary Parker Follett. Recovered at: reddinconsultants.com
3. Luis Soto (2001). Accounting and Administration Magazine Nro 200. Retrieved from: ejournal.unam.mx
4. No more complaints (2017). Mary Parker Follett the mother of modern management. Recovered at: nomaspalidas.coms
5. Gestiopolis (2001). Mary Parker Follett, your contributions to the administration. Recovered at: Gestiopolis.com