Follett Writings: Articles, PhD theses, Research, etc. Everyone invited to contribute!

[Albie M. Davis]

Davis, Albie M. (1991) "Follett on Facts: Timely Advice from and ADR Pioneer," Negotiation Journal, (April 1991): 131-137.

This is a test to see if I can upload this file and if it can be read. Thanks for your patience.

[Eduardo Ibarra]

Dear Abie:

Thanks a lot for the file. It is really a very pertinent piece because it shows the powerfull ideas of MPF nowadays. I read also that you published an interview with MFP in the same journal. Can you share it with us. All the best.

[Albie M. Davis]

Dear Eduardo,

I'm happy the Follett on Facts article was useful. That's what I had hoped when I wrote it, but one never knows.

I do have a copy of my "interview" with Mary Parker Follett somewhere on one of my computers. Right now the only copy I have on my current computer is in Spanish, so I'm going to upload it, since this may work well for you. I'll also find a copy in English, or scan one and upload it later. The translation was done by the Fundacion Libra: Pinera en Mediacion en la Rupublica Argentina, Lider en el Mercosur at the request of their director, Gladys Stella Alvarez, who was an early winner of the Mary Parker Follett award for the then Society for Professionals in Dispute Resolution, now Association for Conflict Resolution. I must send her an invitation to join us!

There is also an article on the Fundacion site which I co-authored with Richard Salem and which was published about five years before I "met" Mary Parker Follett in the Schlesinger Library in April, 1989 by reading Dynamic Administration. In English, "Dealing with Power Imbalances in the Mediation of Interpersonal Disputes." Mediation Quarterly, 1984. Jossey-Bass.

Warm regards, Albie Davis (the fundacionlibra URL is below)

http://www.fundacionlibra.org.ar/index.htm



Eduardo Ibarra said:

Dear Abie:

Thanks a lot for the file. It is really a very pertinent piece because it shows the powerfull ideas of MPF nowadays. I read also that you published an interview with MFP in the same journal. Can you share it with us. All the best.

[John R. Helie]

Hi Albie, Downloaded the file and will read, thanks. Ironic to see you out here today and I am just visiting for the first time in months.

John

[Albie M. Davis]

John,

Great to "see" and hear from you! Please do not be embarassed if I publicly say that you are a recipient of the Mary Parker Follett award from the Association for Conflict Resolution (formerly SPIDR) for your pioneering work in the field of mediation! Oh, I know, you are mad at me for this, but I had to do it!

Albie

[John R. Helie]

Hey, I could never be mad at you, it is one of my proudest acknowledgments. Thanks,

Albie M. Davis said:

John,

Great to "see" and hear from you! Please do not be embarassed if I publicly say that you are a recipient of the Mary Parker Follett award from the Association for Conflict Resolution (formerly SPIDR) for your pioneering work in the field of mediation! Oh, I know, you are mad at me for this, but I had to do it!

Albie

[Albie M. Davis]

Dear Eduardo Ibarra and other network members,

As promised, I've scanned An Interview with Mary Parker Follett in English and pasted the 13 pages PFDs into a Word document, so I hope it comes out okay. Let me know.

Remember, Follett died in 1933 and I interviewed her in 1989, so obviously I took some liberties! For a rich and full look at her life, be sure to buy or take out from your local library Joan C. Tonn's 2003 biography, Mary P. Follett: Creating Democracy, Transforming Management, Yale University Press.

AND, PLEASE, IF YOU HAVE A PAPER OF YOUR OWN TO SHARE, OR FROM SOME OTHER WILLING SOURCE, UPLOAD IT FOR THE NETWORK TO VIEW.

Thanks, Albie Davis

[John Sarvey]

Should we upload just to this thread of discussion or is there a folder somewhere on this website where papers could be organized? I'll go ahead and post a paper that I did on Mary Parker Follett and Edgar Schein as an undergraduate senior thesis.

[Albie M. Davis]

Great John, your paper came through. I can't open it now because my partner is using our shared Word software, but will look at it tonight. I sent your query to Matthew Shapiro, who is our volunteer administrator. I wish we could have one place to go to retrieve papers, but am not sure if it is possible.

More later, Albie

John Sarvey said:

Should we upload just to this thread of discussion or is there a folder somewhere on this website where papers could be organized? I'll go ahead and post a paper that I did on Mary Parker Follett and Edgar Schein as an undergraduate senior thesis.

[Albie M. Davis]

Hello John Sarvey,

I just finished reading your 2007 paper Mary Parker Follett and Edgar Schein:
Two Giants in the Field of Organizational Studies. I made a bunch of notes as I read with fascination your account of Follett's life and contributions, then of Schein's, about whom I knew nothing prior to your paper, although obviously I should have. I truly enjoyed the way your brought the two together, speculating on the many points of possible contact, and some significant differences. I'd love to send you my "notes on the go" if you'll send me your email. Mine is [e-mail]

I think I should spare the full group all my notes and comments, but I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THEY DOWNLOAD YOUR PAPER AND READ IT. Very informative and interesting! I am going to attach a one page handout which I copied from a 1936 book by Follett's good friend and personal physician, Richard C. Cabot. I think it highlights the way she was working with Cabot on those Harvard lectures you mention.

Warmly, Albie Davis ([e-mail])

[Clifford L. Norman]

Albie, this is great. Dr. W. Edwards Deming used to say, "Get the facts. Nonsense! Do you know that has no meaning at all." Your paper and quotes from Mary give that quote some substance.
Thanks,

Cliff Norman

[Eduardo Ibarra]

Dear Albie:

Thanks a lot for the interview. I enjoyed a lot and will use it in my teaching next term. I couldn't find the other article (I "met" Mary Parker Follett). Maybe it was removed. I take this opportunity to share with you and all the MPF community my interes in finding any connection between Mary's contributions and the work of Elton Mayo. Maybe there isn't any but perhaps you can give me some orientation on the subject. All the best and thanks again for sharing the interview.

[Albie M. Davis]

Dear Eduardo,

If you send me your email address, I could send you Follett on Facts and Liquid Leadership, which may actually be on this network someplace. My email is [e-mail].

Do you have a copy of Joan Tonn's biography? She has four footnotes on Elton Mayo. Borrowing from Tonn, in essence, Follett and her good friend, personal physician and Professor of Ethics at Harvard, Richard Clarke Cabot, collaborated designing what became known as the Follett-Cabot Seminary, an attempt to break down interdisciplinary barriers at Harvard--under the guidance of the Department of Social Ethics. This ocurred during the 1926-1927 school year. All the Harvard notables were there: Dean Roscoe Pound; Arthur Schlesinger, William Hocking, Alfred North Whitehead, Harold Lassell, to name a few. Also present, says Tonn, were 'two other distinguished participants," Lawrence H. Henderson, who had only recently read and been influenced by Vilfredo Pareto, and Elton Mayo, then 46, who was undertaking scientific studies of human relations in industry. Mayo didn't present a paper, but did participate in discussions. In the footnotes for this reference, Tonn cites correspondence between Cabot and Follett in which she makes reference to his use of the "total situation" concept. (p. 430 & p. 574, footnote 62.)

On page 435 you hit a little pay dirt because Tonn has presented an exchange between Follett and Mayo that's lively and I know you would enjoy it. If you don't have a copy already, time to get hold of Joan's book (Mary P. Follett: Creating Democrary, Transforming Management. Joan C. Tonn, Yale University Press, 2003.)

If you need this right away for some reason, I could scan the page and send it your way.

Good luck, Albie Davis (Thomaston, Maine, USA)

Eduardo Ibarra said:

Dear Albie:

Thanks a lot for the interview. I enjoyed a lot and will use it in my teaching next term. I couldn't find the other article (I "met" Mary Parker Follett). Maybe it was removed. I take this opportunity to share with you and all the MPF community my interes in finding any connection between Mary's contributions and the work of Elton Mayo. Maybe there isn't any but perhaps you can give me some orientation on the subject. All the best and thanks again for sharing the interview.