Introduction
The field of management has experienced tremendous growth since the industrial revolution up to date. This advancement courtesy of numerous contributions from management theorists gave rise to new insights in the context of management science.
In this paper, the analysis seeks to represent the inevitable contributions of Mary parker Follet, a classical theorist considered as the “prophet of management” following her discoveries that existed beyond her time (Graham, 2003). The analysis shall entail a critical evaluation of her three fundamental ideas that influenced the classical school of management thought, and their relevance to the contemporary management in the 21st century.
Discussion
Follet has had a significant contribution o the field of management through her studies and ideas of the nature of an organization. Throughout her studies, she emphasized the need for establishment of common goals to all the employees of an organization.
In her discovery, she asserted that absence of a common basis upon which employees could function potentially endangered an organization’s and individual performance. Setting of goals as a fundamental principle for an organization has had emphasis since goals establishes the future path of an organization (Graham, 2003).
Studies indicate that her thinking varied extensively from her fellow contemporaries and theorists that lived before her. Her consideration of management from an organizational perspective gave new impetus to the field of management.
She proposed that the process of management should be approached from an understanding of how an organization functions, instead of emphasizing the quantitative nature of employee performance. In demonstrating the need for a change in management approach, she discarded the command style and the rudimental treatment of employees as machines in the production process.
Unlike her opponents in the scientific management, she believed that the robotic treatment of employees ignored the humanistic nature of employees, which negatively influenced an organization’s performance (Tonn, 2003). Using this thinking, it lends a lot of relevance to the modern theory of management in which organizations should treat their employees with dignity and compassion in order to achieve their long-term goals. She stressed the significance of people as contrasted to techniques.
In her submissions, she suggested that people driven work had far-reaching effect on the outcome compared to the machinations and technical emphasis, which ignored the element of “people” in a production process (Tonn, 2003).
Her emphasis on the concept of acknowledging people in the operational process did not receive welcome during her time. However, this notion has become the focus by most firms in the 21st century management (Fox, 1968). An illustrative relevance of this though has yielded developments in the field of management by the birth of “people management.” In this endeavor, her theory of human interaction has had a significant application to the modern theory of scientific and administrative management.
Despite her simplistic, and unsystematic style of expression, Mary Parker Follet achieved the objective of turning around the then existing thoughts that embraced scientific management (Fox, 1968). An organization has an obligation to encompass its employees in a bid to harness expertise and talent inherent in them.
To manage people meant to afford an inclusive approach that could derive cohesiveness among employees through the process of humanistic interaction. Informed of the imperativeness of the concept of people in an organizational setting, Follet influenced the theory and practice of management by introducing concepts of leadership, ethics and social corporate responsibility.
Today, her pronunciations of over 80 years ago continue to penetrate the modern management long after her death. Her imaginative mind sought to answer questions that concerned freedom, sovereignty, power, and representation (Seers, 2005). The prevailing application of her sentiments on the need for creating a formidable leadership continue to accumulate significant application through the implementation of capacity building programs aimed at improving “people” in an organization (Fox, 1968).
Change in the decision-making process and approach from management-centered toward employee-based approach can be attributed to her submissions on the need to incorporate the employees in the organizational decision-making processes.
The ideological thinking about the need for human relations articulated by her famous humanistic theory bore the concept and emphasis on teamwork. Although Max Weber had espoused this notion in his philosophy of bureaucracy, Follet’s approach gave much light, which has influenced the application of teamwork in today’s management theory and practice (Kaag, 2008).
Discovering a purpose in a given situation has the power in cultivating the unknown to yield fruitful results. Her work with the community bore a lot of insight into her development of the humanistic theory (Aupperle, 2007).
This development is attributed to her moment of observation of the group process, which revealed that people who worked together as one component had the power to yield multiple results compared to people working as separate entities. The unifying nature of group approach gave Follet the impetus more and more as she discovered the exemplary implications that unity had on a group performance.
Performance of people according to Follet cannot be predetermined. In so doing, situations change and that these changes have a likely impact on the overall future performance of employees. In this regard, situational management or contingency management has come to embrace her initial thought of the nature of human beings and the need to offer mechanisms capable of harnessing value through change (Tonn, 2003).
It is worth noting that Follet’s emphasis on the concept of conflict and its importance in shaping the nature of organizations lends many lessons to the modern management field (Kaag, 2008). Many of the scientific scholars have referred her to the ‘mother of conflict resolution’, a notion gained from her relentless focus on the role of leadership in conflict resolution (Aupperle, 2007).
Conclusion
Follet’s contributions gives a series of insights from her ideas in that shape the trends in management in the contemporary world. Although her ideas could not get welcome during her time, the contemporary management philosophy has found a lot of significance in them.
Among some of her ideas that lend numerous lessons to the 21st century management thoughts include her call for conflict management, departure from the mechanical thinking that considered employees as robots in the production process. Additionally, she emphasized the need for consideration of the human nature in the production of an organization in which she asserted that focus should be given to people as contrasted to techniques.
She challenged the scientific schools of thoughts in their entirety accusing them of their lack of consideration of the humanistic aspects in the process or production. She argued that human beings posses feelings and that their welfare had far-reaching importance in influencing their overall performance. Her consideration of the concept of situational management has led to the development of change management and contingency management as some of the driving facets in the modern organizational environments.
References
Aupperle, K.E., 2007. Introduction: Mary Parker Follett – A Bridge over Management’s Troubled Waters, International Journal of Public Administration, 30, pp 363-366.
Fox, E.M., 1968. Mary Parker Follet: The Enduring Contribution. Public Administration Review, 28(6), pp. 520-528
Graham, P., 2003. Mary Parker Follett Prophet of Management. New York: Beard Books.
Kaag, J., 2008. Women and Forgotten Movements in American Philosophy: The Work of Ella Lyman Cabot and Mary Parker Follett. Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 44(1), pp.134-157.
Seers, A., 2005. Interview: Two women pioneers who led the way: An interview with Rosemary Stewart with reflections on the life and times of Mary Parker Follett, In The Leadership Quarterly, 16(2), pp. 305-312.
Tonn, J.C., 2003. Writing Mary P. Follet’s Life: How the Impossible Biography became Possible, Academy of Management Proceedings.