What is Mary Parker Approach of management?

Mary Parker Follett’s Theory of Management 

 Mary Parker Follett’s theory  is based on the art of getting things done 

through people. 

Mary Parker Follett (1868 - 1933) was a social worker, writer and organisational 

consultant and has been called ‘the woman who invented management’. She 

advocated ‘pull’ rather than ‘push’ for employee motivation, and developed insightful 

ideas about negotiation, conflict resolution and power sharing. 

Parker Follett looked at management and leadership holistically - as a whole, not 

just a collection of parts. Each part, each function and each person was seen as 

interdependent, and the key concept is inter relatedness,

Her model is about management by objectives, with people governing themselves, 

and interacting to achieve objectives through cooperation. 

Parker Follett’s theories about management includes such principles as:

1) Conflict resolution through integration often results in a win-win situation 

– e.g. identifying each party’s underlying needs, concentrating on the similarities and 

finding solutions that meet different sets of needs. 

Parker Follett claimed that working in groups allows people to find out about 

themselves. She said that recognizing and dealing with fundamental differences, in 

friendships and with colleagues, leads to a deeper and more meaningful relationship. 

Differences are enriching and lead to higher levels of understanding and endeavor.

This more democratic style of consultation, negotiation and management was 

pioneering at the time, but is seen as normal in the twenty-first century. By embracing 

the diversity or people’s skills, experience, culture, backgrounds and so on, conflicts 

are usually dealt with quietly, calmly and quickly. 

2) Genuine power is not coercive but co active – not having power over someone, 

but sharing power with someone.

She coined the phrases “power-over” and “power-with”. Time and motion studies at 

the time concentrated on managers having power over people, highlighting the need 

to ‘push’ people into action at work. Parker Follett observed that groups of people 

work more effectively if they share power with each other and the organisation, so 

that they ‘pull’ together and are empowered.

She believed that organisations need to do more than just share the power. They 

need to increase the power, and to seek methods by which power can be increased 

for all. 

In the twenty-first century, it is now quite normal for employees to have a stake 

in their organisation. This can be a share ownership scheme, for example, a 

comments and suggestions scheme, or a forum where employees are represented 

in management decisions. 

3) True leaders create power rather than expressing personal power – e.g. they 

empower their team rather than exerting their power over the team members.

Parker Follett criticized hierarchical organisations. She despised competition, bullying 

and the ‘command and control’ style of leadership (push/power-over), and she 

supported democratic and integrated forms of management (pull/power with).

She believed that the energies of the human spirit need to be free to release full 

potential. The idea is that leadership is fluid, where leaders and followers are in a 

relationship. She said that the leader guides the team and is, in turn, guided by the 

group. Leaders teach and influence others by stimulating them, and value front line 

employee knowledge.

This was radical in the early 1900's, but has become the center of many managers’ 

styles. Legislation, appraisal and training policies and procedures are often based 

around empowering and supporting employees.