Mary Parker Follett - Essay Example

She was also heavily involved in social work where she got in touch with people from different classes and ethnicities which allowed her to come to the conclusion that diversity is an important requirement for all walks of life (Smith, 2002). She said that “Instead of shutting out what is different, we should welcome it because it is different and through its difference will make a richer content of life (Follett, 1918, Pg. 40)”. She said this long before other business consultants considered diversity in an organization to be an important competitive advantage.

However, her contributions towards systems of management and towards the governance of organizations are what she is most remembered for. She outlined her ideas in a paper she wrote under the title The Psychological Foundations of Business Administration which was presented in 1925. In it, she suggested that organizations functioned in ways which were similar to societies and were indeed social networks where individuals could work towards the benefit of all those who were in the network. Similarly, it becomes the responsibility of the organization to help the growth of the individual thus leading to a cycle of fulfillment for both parties (Smith, 2002).

While management gurus today extol the values of an organization, as early as 1941, Follett had connected the values of an individual and the values of an organization as the main function of group work when she said that working in a company showed, “the willingness to search for the real values involved on both sides and the ability to bring about an interpenetration of these values (Follett, 1941, Pg. 181)”. As suggested by Boje and Rosile (2001), the scientific management process developed by earlier management gurus was given a social context by Follett where the employees became active participants in the growth and development of the company.