Historical Management Leaders - By: Robert II Smith

The theories and practices of management as we know it today did not just happen overnight. They are the products of the life work of various individuals in history. Here I will summarize two who are of interest to me-Mary Parker Follett and Abraham Maslow.

Born in 1868 in Quincy, Massachusetts to a wealthy Quaker family, Mary Parker Follett's perspectives on such modern areas as Systems Thinking, Vision-Driven Leadership, Empowerment, Management Coaching, Team/Network Structures, Diversity Integration, Constructive Conflict Resolution, TQM/CQI and Cross-Functional Teams were revolutionary and before their time. One of the first to advocate a modern Organizational Development approach, Ms. Follett’s concepts of the universal goal, the universal principle, and the Law of the Situation were all but forgotten after her death in 1933. In recent years, however, Mary Parker Follett's ideas are being seriously analyzed by today’s managers and organizations.

After receiving education at the Thayer Academy in her teens, she was forced to take on a significant role within her family to help her disabled mother when her father died. In 1892 she entered Radcliffe College in Cambridge Massachusetts, then known as the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women. In 1898, she received her degree in economics, government, law and philosophy. In 1896, her Radcliffe research thesis was published as The Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Ms. Follett’s work in the development of adult and informal education was significant. She was a tremendous advocate of establishing community centers as an important social and educational form. Her focus was on the notions of community, creative experience and the group, and how they related to the individual and to politics. She argued that democracy was only possible if individuals organized themselves into groups, and ensured that the needs, desires and aspirations of the people were met.

In our day and time, a perspective such as Ms. Follet’s is not unusual, but then, its radicalism and 'soft' orientation stood well outside mainstream- a visionary framework in an era dominated by "nuts & bolts" organizational engineering.

For 7 years, Follett worked with the staff of Roxbury Neighborhood in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. A diverse neighborhood both in terms of class and ethnicity, Roxbury had many of the classic dynamics of the suburbs - a grid-like design with no strong centre, a relative lack of attachment by its inhabitants and fairly limited local networks. But she believed that mixed neighborhoods had potential, she believed, because their diversity by its very nature worked against the narrowness and exclusivity of more homogenized communities.

Every difference that is swept up into a bigger conception feeds and enriches society; every difference which is ignored feeds on society and eventually corrupts it.”

With her concern for creative experience, democracy and for developing local community organizations, Mary Parker Follett is an often forgotten, but still deeply instructive thinker for educators.

Perhaps more than any business leader in history, Follett’s ideas seem to play a big part of the management roles that are desired at the state hospital where I work. There is a lot of talk about “groups” and “teams”, though sadly, little of it comes into play in reality. Perhaps in the future, Follett’s ideas will be more evident at our hospital.

Born April 1, 1908 in Brooklyn, New York, Abraham Harold Maslow was the oldest of seven children born to uneducated Jewish immigrants from Russia. Pushed by his parents for academic success, he became a lonely child, finding refuge in his books.

About the Author

Robert II Smith has spent more than 19 years working as a professor at New York University. Now he spends most of his time with his family and shares his experience about academic papers. Robert II Smith is a right person to ask about sample papers.

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