How Mary P. Follett’s ideas on management have emerged: an analysis based on her practical management experience and her political philosophy

Sébastien Damart ()
Additional contact information
Sébastien Damart: NIMEC - Normandie Innovation Marché Entreprise Consommation - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - ULH - Université Le Havre Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UNIROUEN - Université de Rouen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - IRIHS - Institut de Recherche Interdisciplinaire Homme et Société - UNIROUEN - Université de Rouen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: Purpose – The aim of this paper is to highlight the way Mary P. Follett's ideas on management have emerged. Design/methodology/approach – The research explores the different opportunities Mary P. Follett has regarding management issues. It also analyses Follett's way of reasoning in some of her conferences on management. Findings – Follett's ideas on management have been based on her practical management experience and on her political philosophy. The paper particularly demonstrates that Follett was currently proceeding in three different areas: instantiation, conceptual linkage and deduction of management principles. A management problem becomes a particular instance of social interaction situation, within a broader category of problems and situations: that is what we identify as "instantiation". Follett makes connections with concepts she has developed about democracy: that is what we named "conceptual linkage". Deduction of management ideas is then made possible by combining instantiation and conceptual linkage. Originality/value – This paper helps to explain why so many management authors have considered Mary P. Follett as a pioneer, a "prophet of management".

Keywords: Mary P. Follett; Management concepts; Management ideas; Political philosophy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Journal of Management History (Archive), 2013, 19 (4), pp.459-473

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01074340

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().