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The theories and practices of management as we know it today did not just happen overnight. They are the products of the life work of various individuals in history. Here I will summarize two who are of interest to me-Mary Parker Follett and Abraham Maslow. Born in 1868 in Quincy, Massachusetts to a wealthy Quaker family, Mary Parker Follett's perspectives on such modern areas as Systems Thinking, Vision-Driven Leadership, Empowerment, Management Coaching, Team/Network Structures, Diversity Integration, Constructive Conflict Resolution, TQM/CQI and Cross-Functional Teams were revolutionary and before their time. One of the first to advocate a modern Organizational Development approach, Ms. Follett’s concepts of the universal goal, the universal principle, and the Law of the Situation were all but forgotten after her death in 1933. In recent years, however, Mary Parker Follett's ideas are being seriously analyzed by today’s managers and organizations. After receiving education at the Thayer Academy in her teens, she was forced to take on a significant role within her family to help her disabled mother when her father died. In 1892 she entered Radcliffe College in Cambridge Massachusetts, then known as the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women. In 1898, she received her degree in economics, government, law and philosophy. In 1896, her Radcliffe research thesis was published as The Speaker of the House of Representatives. Ms. Follett’s work in the development of adult and informal education was significant. She was a tremendous advocate of establishing community centers as an important social and educational form. Her focus was on the notions of community, creative experience and the group, and how they related to the individual and to politics. She argued that democracy was only possible if individuals organized themselves into groups, and ensured that the needs, desires and aspirations of the people were met “The training for the new democracy must be from the cradle - through nursery, school and play, and on and on through every activity of our life.
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