If the concept of individual leadership advanced by modern gurus is more meritocratic than its lineage would suggest, it has not escaped its aristocratic heritage altogether. For example, it remains described as a rare capability, demanding that its possessor be accorded special rights and powers in an organization. And it is in this that some of its less pleasant traditional predispositions resurface in the modern face of individual leadership as promoted by the modern leadership movement. . .
This book should be read by everyone who wants to learn how to better manage an enterprise of any size. It describes methods that can be replicated by anyone to expand their effectiveness and reach, by expanding those of their staff. These methods harken back beyond Dr. W. Edwards Deming, to whom many of them are ascribed, to Mary Parker Follett. The author of The Elegant Solution, Matthew May, is a consultant who was invited into Toyota for a specific assignment which grew into a mulit-year exploration of the entire management system. This book is his report of what he found . . .
As we saw yesterday, the great early 20th century management thinker Mary Parker Follett was a pioneer in the innovative and constructive use of conflict in organizations. She believed they should be resolved by neither domination nor compromise, but rather by integration. However, she was fully aware of the potential obstacles to its use. A principle one is the presence in a situation of a strong individual leader. . .
As we have noted, conflict causes great stress for many managers, whether it is resolved through domination or compromise. But the great early 20th century management thinker Mary Parker Follett argued that there is a vastly superior way to treat the issue. . .
We began, yesterday, talking about Mary Parker Follett’s views on conflict in organizations. She recognized that the most obvious way to deal with it is through compromise. This method enjoys broad support and is widely viewed even today as the most sophisticated and mature approach to the resolution of conflict. But is it really?
Most of us become anxious at the mention of conflict, and are eager to find ways to avoid or calm it. But Mary Parker Follett had a very positive view of the role of conflict in organizations. Rather than seeking to eradicate or suppress it, she felt, we should find ways to put it to work for us. Follett illustrated this point by comparing conflict with friction. While it is true, as she conceded, that our work with friction is usually directed at eliminating it, we also study how to understand and exploit it.
The great management thinker Mary Parker Follett had much to say about the questions of decision making and the flow of power in organizations. Together, her ideas point to insights about organizational design that are without peer. Central to them is her concept of the “law of the situation.”
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