Written in 1918, Mary Parker Follett's The New State takes a fresh look at Democracy, and turns many "givens" on their heads. Early on in her introduction she comments, "We talk about the evils of democracy. We have not yet tried democracy." From their she goes on the explore the relating between the all important individual AND the state. She asks, "Are we capable of a new method? Can the inventive faculty of the American people be extended from mechanical things to political organization. Without spoiling a thing, I happen to like what she says about War and Peace on pages 357-358. "We have thought of peace as the passive and war as the active way of living. The opposite is true. War is not the most strenuous life. It is kind of a rest-cure compared to the task of reconciling our differences." If you like Follett you might want to check out a web site that now has 346 members from 55 countries: [...] And keep your eyes open for a copy of The New State (1918 or reprints), Creative Experience (1924 or reprints), Dynamic Administration (1940 or later.) She was born in Quincy, Massachsuetts, USA in 1868 and died in Boston, MA in 1933.
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Se você que entender o seu tempo e, principalmente, saber como organizar melhor a sua empresa, comece a ler Mary Follett. Apesar de ser contemporânea de F. Taylor, nunca recebeu a devida atenção e sua obra continua mais atual do que nunca.
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I came to Mary Parker Follett by way of researching early management and organizational theory. As I read more about her and her work, I was struck by the vibrancy of her thinking as it relates to current organization culture studies. Her work laid the groundwork for much of what has become accepted wisdom among management theorists such as Douglas McGregor and Peter Drucker. But what really struck me in reading The New State was it relevancy to today's Occupy movements. Her analysis of what democracy can and should be, and how to work it, should be required reading for those proposing that the 99% stand up and remake our political landscape. From nearly a century ago, she provides a practical vision of the tools, processes, and techniques that can be employed to create a more just, representative, and equitable state. It should be required reading for those who wish to make a new beginning in this country, and the world.
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