天美传媒

Mary Parker Follett was a management prophet for her early 20th century vision of power and authority, as relevant today as it was then.

Power and authority are two key concepts in management, yet they cause great confusion. Usually, people focus o颅nly o颅n the division of power or o颅n how to achieve power.

This is a limited view, say 天美传媒 professors Dom猫nec Mel茅 and Josep Rosanas. In their paper, 鈥�,鈥� published in Philosophy of Management, they go back in time to rediscover the innovative vision of Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933) o颅n the subjects of power and authority.

Known as a prophet of management, Follett wrote about business in the early 20th century, but her ideas are as relevant today as they were then. Mel茅 and Rosanas believe that Follett鈥檚 views can help modern managers better understand the notions of power and authority and how they should be used in business.

Follett was a contemporary of Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915), considered the father of Scientific Management. While Follett accepted some of Taylor鈥檚 concepts, her ideas o颅n power and authority differed greatly. Taylor viewed power as 鈥渢he boss knows best鈥� and he should give subordinates orders based on his scientific analysis of the situation. Follett, on the other hand, focused o颅n getting people to cooperate. She believed that genuine power was not power-over but power-with.

In the world of business, managers, unions and workers constantly strive for power over one another. Workers resist management having power over them and employers resist the efforts of unions to invert the situation.

Power-with a better goal than power-over

In Follett鈥檚 view, power-over is an inadequate goal, for two reasons.

The first was a legal distinction. The prepositions over and with were used to mark a distinction in law, as in the following example: one had rights over a slave while one had rights with a servant.

The second reason that power-over does not work is that people simply do not want to be lorded over or patronized.

As an alternative, Follett proposed power-with. By jointly developing power with workers, managers set the stage for fairness. 鈥淭hat is always our problem,鈥� she wrote, 鈥渘ot how to get control of people, but how all together we can get control of a situation.鈥�

While power-over is coercion, power-with is coactive. Sharing control provides personal enrichment for everyone and boosts morale. 鈥淚t is all right to work with someone,鈥� she wrote, 鈥渨hat is disagreeable is to feel distinctly that you work under someone. Executives as well as workers object to being under anyone.鈥�

To solve conflicts, seek a union of interests

The meaning of jointly developing power can be further illustrated by her concept of circular response or circular behavior.

Imagine this example, which she gave: In a game of tennis, A serves. The way B returns the ball depends partly o颅n the way it was served to him. A鈥檚 next play will depend o颅n his own original serve plus the return by B, and so o颅n.

Likewise, in social relations, there are linear responses as well as circular ones. In the business environment, employees respond both to their employers and to the relationship between them. In other words, according to Follett, 鈥渁 reaction is always a reaction to a relation.鈥�

To eliminate power-over, Follett recommended using integration to solve conflicts. She also maintained that managers should look for the authority or law of a situation and seek a union of interests.

When a person feels overpowered by another, he or she seeks freedom. Cooperation, and what Follett called 鈥渇unctional utility,鈥� will make these feelings vanish. 鈥淲e are seeking an integrative unity as the foundation of business development,鈥� she wrote.

Authority comes not from being on top but from involving those below

On the subject of authority, Follett pointed out that ownership, or just the fact of holding a certain position, does not give a top manager authority. Real authority, which people obey, comes from function and experience.

The challenge of good management is giving authority to those who have real responsibility for their function. She summarized her thoughts this way: 鈥淭he one who gives an order should try to bring those ordered into the situation.鈥�

Follett鈥檚 management writings help shed light o颅n concepts of power and authority today. As she said, power is something that managers should jointly develop with their colleagues in the workplace.