Parker Follett, Mary

(1868–1933) Gen Mgt

U.S. academic. Applied psychological and social science insights to the study of industrial organization at a time when the scientific management methods of Frederick Winslow Taylor were predominant. Recent interest in her work owes much to Pauline Graham’s writings, including Mary Parker Follett: Prophet of Management (1995). Follett’s career was largely spent in social work, though her books appeared regularly—The New State (1918) was an influential description of her own brand of dynamic democracy, and Creative Experience (1924) was her first business-oriented book. In her later years she was in great demand as a lecturer.