Dynamic Administration: The Collected Papers of Mary Parker Follett

"Dynamic Administration: The Collected Papers of Mary Parker Follett," edited by Henry C. Metcalf (American Political Science Professor & Management Theorist, 1867-1942), and Lyndall Fownes Urwick (British Major WWI, Industrialist, Management Theorist & Consultant, 1891-1983) was printed in 1940 in an effort to preserve the writings, thinking, and legacy of Ms. Follett during the very early days (mid 1920s) of management theory development. It is comprised of 14 papers which Ms. Follett presented to the Bureau of Personnel Administration from January 1925 to April 1932 in an effort to make businessmen more proficient at supervising their workers. Though important to the development of managerial theory this work is surpassed in usefulness by Frederick Winslow Taylor's (American Industrial Engineer & Author, 1856-1915) "The Principles of Scientific Management [1911]", and both fade to insignificance compared to Henri Fayol's (French Industrialist, Management Theorist & Author, 1841-1925) "General and Industrial Management [1916]." The modern leadership pilgrim searching for better answers will benefit to a greater extent from Taylor and Fayol, as there is only enough leadership DNA to be derived from "Dynamic Administration" to satisfy the more advanced student. In my opinion Ms. Follett would have been better off taking a junior management position with a large industrial company for several years and then developing her ideas as to how supervision and motivation work, as opposed to simply observing managers in action. However, Ms. Follett did lay some very important track for future management theorists 25 years before the ground-breaking work of Abraham Maslow and B. F. Skinner. Four stars for content, five stars for historic work.

I am doing a paper and presentation on Mary Parker Follett later this week and was worried that the book might be delayed. Excellent service and quality!

I wouldn’t say this is the worst book I’ve ever read. But it was one of them. Archaic and outdated references. Follett was ahead of her time, but the book publishers could have updated this book to at least be current with the time we’re in now. It was a tough read.

It is a Management Classic which was recommended by Peter Drucker in one of his books. Therefore, I purchased it. Price is little high, but information is useful esp while managing Labour Relations.