ETHICS IN MANAGEMENT:
EXPLORING THE CONTRIBUTION
OF MARY PARKER FOLLETT
Summarized from
Domênec Mele
Presented by
MUHAMMAD YAHYA AHMAD
PCU, Manila
Mary Parker Follett Biography (1)

Mary Parker Follett (September 3, 1868 –
December 18, 1933) was an American social
worker, sociologist, consultant, and author of
books on democracy, human relations, and
management. She worked as a management
and political theorist, introducing such phrases
as "conflict resolution," "authority and power,"
and "the task of leadership”
Mary Parker Follett Biography (2)

Publications






Follett, Mary P. [1896] 1974. The Speaker of the House of Representatives.
New York: B. Franklin Reprints.
Follett, Mary P. [1918] 1998. The New State: Group Organization the
Solution of Popular Government. Pennsylvania State University Press.
Follett, Mary P. [1924] 2001. Creative Experience. Bristol, U.K.:
Thoemmes. ISBN 1855066327
Follett, Mary P. [1941] 1973. Dynamic Administration:The collected papers
of Mary Parker Follett. London: Pitman. ISBN 0273318586
Follett, Mary P. 1954. The illusion of final authority: Authority must be
functional and functional authority carries with it functional responsibility.
Washington: U.S. Bureau of Public Assistance.
Follett, Mary P. 1987. Freedom & co-ordination: Lectures in business
organization. Continuity in administrative science. New York: Garland
Pub. ISBN 08
Abstract






Mary Parker Follett never wrote on ethics in management nor on
business ethics, both of which are now familiar. However, some
implicit and even explicit references to these topics can be found in
her thought.
Her whole approach to business and management are concepts
that have a lot to do with ethics.
Follett holds that the manager must accept standards established by
professional managerial associations.
She is aware of the contribution of business management to
individual development and to the welfare and culture of society.
he also presents a seminal approach to stakeholder theory.
Her concept of ethics is related to her dynamic vision of the
individual and society. It overcomes subjectivism and the narrow
view of an individualistic ethics, but it is not an ethics rooted in
ethical principles or in human virtues.
The Concept of Ethics
in M. R Follett
She stresses the importance of the standards
of the management profession, including codes
 These standards and codes contain ethical
requirements
 The concepts of ethic: integrity, honesty, and
fairness
 The individual is created by the social process
and is daily nourished by that process


She assimilates moral law with the social ideal:
moral law is nothing more than a 'social ideal‘;
the social ideal is generated by the interweaving of individuals and groups
Ethics in Management

Mary Parker Follett overcomes the separation
of the economic and the moral aspects:
Ethics is not something external to business
 Ethics is an aspect of business reality which has to be
integrated into decision-making.

Ethics in Management

Follett maintains that business managers must
take into account the technical side
(production and distribution) simultaneously
with the personnel side:

when managers treat workers in a proper way, and
not as a part of a "mechanism", it is fruitful for
business.
The Ethical Manager

Approaches to the Concept of Ethical
Manager:
Dealing fairly is not a matter of technique but
requires a certain practical knowledge
 Management as a profession, rests on the basis of
a proven body of knowledge, and such knowledge
is supposed to be used in the service of others
rather than merely for one's purposes
 A profession is exercised as one of the necessary
functions of society, not purely for private gain

The Ethical Manager
Two relevant elements of the action: the morality
of the action itself and the intention for doing it.
‘Integrity', is related to the morality of the action
and 'motive of service' and 'job satisfaction', could be
interpreted as another way of referring to moral
intention.
 The standards of professions, including their codes
of conduct, are indeed a crucial reference for an
'honest work'

Transcendence and spirituality in
management
Follett reveals her vision of work as being
something in which there is something
transcended. The transcendence is related to
spiritual life.
 Her fine perception of the dualism that exists
in many people between the spiritual life, on
the one hand, and daily activities, on the other,
is remarkable.

Transcendence and spirituality in
management
Interaction between people could create
spiritual values, and this is more important in
business than manufactured articles
 She suggests that business offers a great
opportunity for the creation of spiritual values,
indeed "a larger opportunity than any single
profession in the possibilities of those intimate
human inter-weavings through which all
development of man must come"

Organizational Ethics

Organizational ethics:
ethical dimension of organizational structure
 ethical appraisal of the organizational
requirements and
 incentives affecting the behavior of the people
involved in the organization

Organizational Ethics

The moral right to power which has not been
psychologically developed is an empty ethics
power and authority have to be developed
 real authority that implies ethical responsibility
comes from a function rather than from a static
position
 replacing the current concept of 'power-over'
people for 'power-with' people, and 'coercive'
control for `coactive' control

that only 'power-with' is acceptable: "It's all right
to work with anyone: what is disagreeable is to feel
too distinctly that you are working under anyone“
 Genuine power is power-with, pseudo power is
power-over“. Genuine power is not coercive
control, but coactive control. Genuine power can
only be grown

Integrative Unity



Follett's philosophy is not about confrontation but
integration.
Management has seen that an enterprise can be more
successfully run by securing the co-operation of the
workers
Co-operation is related to integration, and integration
brings about unity:



achieving unity in business organizations is a crucial point,
unity as the foundation of business development
The worker no longer has to be a passive taker of
orders, but someone with initiative and responsibility
Individual development
Follett's doctrine of 'circular response‘: the
situation does not change without changing us
 Technique of human relations based on the
preservation of the integrity of the individual
 Her approach is to foster the personal
development of those involved in an organization
 Fostering individual development necessitates a
certain managerial style
 Individual development comes through
interweaving activities

Corporate Responsibility and
Collective Responsibility



Follett does not use the term 'corporate social responsibility',
related to the social function of business, but she talks
about 'collective responsibility in business organizations‘
Approach of professional corporativism: a business man
should think of his work as one of the necessary functions
of society
Social dimension of business management:




Business contribution to individual development
Manager contribution to the welfare of society
Manager contribution to culture
Managers must be aware of their social responsibility not
only as citizens but also as members of the business
profession; should hold corporate responsibilities
Corporate Responsibility and
Collective Responsibility

Corporate responsibility :
For maintenance of standards: managers must be
loyal to their profession
 For the education of the public:

to realize that it is responsible to something higher
than the public will of a community,
 its service to the public does not lie wholly in obeying
the public


For the development of professional standards
Stakeholders approach
Stakeholder is interdependent groups or
individuals who affect or are affected by business
decisions
 Manager has relations with:








1) bankers,
2) stockholders,
3) co-managers and directors,
4) wage-earners,
5) competitors,
6) the people from whom he buys,
7) customers"
Stakeholders approach

The chief job of business is to find a method
for integrating the interests three classes
stakeholders:
workers, including industrial and managerial
workers,
 consumers, and
 inventors

Stakeholders approach

Three ways of dealing with conflict:




Domination: the victory of one side over the other: it
is not usually successful in the long run
Compromise: each part giving up something in order to
have peace
Integration: looking for a solution where the desires of
both parts have a place, and neither side has to
sacrifice anything
Follett's ideas on solving conflicts by integration
could be applied to stakeholder theory
Conclusion
Mary Parker Follett had a set of crucial intuitions
on ethics in management and other related
matters
 Without talking explicitly about ethics, Follett
uses an implicitly ethical approach in presenting
her vision of business
 Her concept of ethics is related to her dynamic
vision of the individual and society, overcomes
subjectivism and the narrow view of an
individualistic ethics
