Mary Parker Follett: a biography of this organizational psychologist

This researcher was a pioneer in management and conflict resolution.

Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933) was a pioneer psychologist in the theories of leadership, negotiation, power and conflict. She also did several works on democracy and is known as the mother of "management" or modern management.

In this article we will see a brief biography of Mary Parker Folletwhose life allows us to establish a double rupture: on the one hand to break the myth that psychology has been made without the participation of women, and on the other, that of industrial relations and political management also made only by men.

Mary Parker Follet's biography: pioneer in organizational psychology

Mary Parket Follet was born in 1868 into a Protestant family in Massachusetts, United States. At the age of 12, she began her academic training at the Thayer Academy, a place that had just been opened to women, but which had been built with the objective of promoting education primarily for the male sex.

Influenced by her teacher and friend Anna Bouton Thompson, Parker Follet developed a special interest in the study and application of scientific methods in research. At the same time, she was building her own philosophy on the principles to be followed by business in the social situation of the time. in the social situation of the time.

Through these principles, he paid special attention to issues such as the welfare of employees, valuing individual and collective efforts, and encouraging teamwork.

Today, the latter seems almost obvious, although it is not always taken into consideration. But, around the rise of Taylorism (the division of tasks in the production process, resulting in the isolation of workers), together with the Fordist chain assemblies applied in organizations (prioritizing the specialization of workers and assembly lines that allowed producing more in less time), Mary Parker's theories and her reformulation of Taylorism itself were very innovative. were very innovative.

Academic training at Radcliffe College

Mary Parker Follet was trained at the "Annex" of Harvard University (later Radcliffe College), which was a space created by the same university and intended for women students, who were not seen as capable of receiving official academic recognition.. What they did receive, however, were classes with the same teachers who educated the boys. In this context, Mary Parker met, among other intellectuals, William James, a psychologist and philosopher of great influence on pragmatism and applied psychology.

The latter wanted psychology to have a practical application to life and to problem solving, which was especiallyThis was especially well received in business and industrial management, and was a major influence on Mary Parker's theories.

Community intervention and interdisciplinarity

Many women, despite having been trained as researchers and scientists, found more and better opportunities for professional development in applied psychology. This was because the spaces where experimental psychology was carried out were reserved for men, which made them hostile environments for women. This process of segregation had among its consequences that of gradually associating applied psychology with feminine values, which were later discredited by other disciplines associated with masculine values and considered "more scientific".This process of segregation had among its consequences the gradual association of applied psychology with feminine values, later discredited by other disciplines associated with masculine values and considered "more scientific".

Starting in 1900, and for 25 years, Mary Parker Follet did community work in social centers in Boston, among other places, she participated in the Roxbury Debating Club, a place where political training was given to young people around the world. a context of significant marginalization for the immigrant population..

Mary PArker Follet's thought had a fundamentally interdisciplinary character, through which she was able to integrate and dialogue with different currents, from psychology, sociology and philosophy. From this she was able to develop many innovative works not only as a psychologist innovative works not only as an organizational psychologist, but also in theories on democracy. The latter allowed her to become an important advisor to social centers as well as to economists, politicians and businessmen. Nevertheless, and in the face of the narrowness of the most positivist psychology, this interdisciplinarity also made it difficult to be considered or recognized as a "psychologist".

Main works

The theories developed by Mary Parker Follet have been fundamental to establish several fundamental in establishing several of the principles of modern management.. Among other things, her theories differentiated between power "with" and power "over"; participation and influence in groups; and the integrative approach to negotiation, all of which were later taken up by much of organizational theory.

In very broad strokes we will develop a small part of Mary Parker Follet's work.

Power and influence in politics

In the same context of Radcliffe College, Mary Parker Follett was trained in history and political science with Albert Bushnell Hart, from whom she took great knowledge for the development of scientific research. She graduated summa cum laude from Radcliffe and wrote a thesis that was even praised by former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt, who considered Mary Parker Follett's analysis of congressional rhetorical strategies valuable. on the rhetorical strategies of the U.S. Congress.

In these works, she carried out a meticulous study of the legislative processes and the effective forms of power and influence, through having made records of the sessions, as well as a compilation of documents and personal interviews with the presidents of the U.S. House of Representatives. The fruit of this work is the book entitled The Speaker of the House of Representatives (translated as The Speaker of the Congress).

2. The integrative process

In another of his books, The New State: Group Organization, which was the fruit of his experience and community work, Parker Follet defended the creation of an "integrative process" capable of sustaining democratic government outside of bureaucratic dynamics.

He also argued that the separation between the individual and society is nothing more than a fiction, which means that we must study the "groups" and not the "masses", as well as seek the integration of difference. In this way, he maintained a conception of "the political" that also involves the personal.She can therefore be considered one of the forerunners of the most contemporary feminist political philosophies (Domínguez & García, 2005).

3. The creative experience

Creative Experience, from 1924, is another of her main works. In this he understands "creative experience" as the form of participation that puts its effort into creation, where the encounter and confrontation of different interests is also fundamental. Among other things, Follett explains that behavior is not a relation of a "subject" acting on an "object" or visceversa (an idea that in fact he considers necessary to abandon), but it is rather a set of activities that meet and interrelate with each other..

From there, he analyzed the processes of social influence, and criticized the sharp separation between "thinking" and "doing" applied to the processes of hypothesis testing. This process is frequently ignored in the face of the consideration that the very formulation of the hypothesis already generates an influence on its verification. He also questioned the linear processes of problem solving proposed by the school of pragmatism.

4. Conflict resolution

Domínguez and García (2005) identify two key elements that articulate Follet's discourse on conflict resolution and that represented a new guideline for the world of organizations: on the one hand, an interactionist concept of conflict, and on the other hand, a proposal for conflict management through the integration of conflict management and the integration of conflict resolution, a proposal for conflict management through integration.

Thus, the integration processes proposed by Parker Follet, together with the distinction between "power-with" and "power-over", are two of the most relevant antecedents in different theories applied to the contemporary organizational world, such as the "win-win" perspective of conflict resolution or the importance of recognizing and valuing diversity.

Bibliographical references:

• Balaguer, À. (2014). History of Women in Psychology; Mary Parker Follet. Universitat de les Illes Balears. Retrieved June 21, 2018. Available at http://dspace.uib.es/xmlui/bitstream/handle/11201/1009/Balaguer_Planas_Agueda_TFG.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
• Dominguez, R. & García, S. (2005).Constructive conflict and integration in the work of MAry Parker Follet. Athenea Digital, 7: 1-28.
• García Dauder, S. (2005). Psicología y Feminismo. History of pioneering women in psychology. Madrid: Narcea