Mary Parker Follet Case Study

Ques 1

Organizational success and profitability can be largely attributed to the company philosophy, business model that the organization follows and its employee capabilities. However, the one aspect that binds all these three components together is the management of the company1. According to Mary Parker Follet, management can be defined as the art of getting work done through people2. In other words, this implies that the primary objective of all the categories of managers, namely, First-line managers or supervisors, Middle level managers and the Top line managers, is to coordinate and oversee the work of the other people along with providing alignment and direction to their efforts so as to achieve the goals of the organization2.

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c) Leading: This function involves providing appropriate direction to the people and enabling them to work together for achieving the organizational goals.

d) Controlling: This function involves the monitoring of the overall progress and intervening if required.

The Boston Consulting Group conducted a study in which they analyzed the most successful organization present worldwide and identified the five most important characteristics which they considered to be crucial for ensuring organizational success. These five characteristics are described as follows:

1) Leadership: A strong and aligned team of leaders provide the right direction to the organization and formulate the business strategy.

2) Design: The structure of the organization and clear definition of the roles and responsibilities of the various designations.

3) People: Efficient translation of business strategy into people strategy, so that the employees having the right kind of skill and attitude for the organization can be recruited, retained and promoted to the right kind of

It has been stated by some scholars that many time the middle level managers are entrusted with the responsibility of handling a complete business unit of a large corporation6. On the other hand some other scholars believe that the major role of middle level managers is to integrate the short-term and long-term business demands of the organization and ensure profitable functioning of the organization at all times. Many other scholars have closely linked the entrepreneurial capability of an organization to the attitude and overall orientation of the middle level managers as well, stating that behavior of these managers determine the extent of motivation and encouragement that entrepreneurial spirit within a company