Abstract
This paper discusses the notion of freedom and relates this to the processes and outputs of systems design. It focuses on the ideas of Mary Parker Follett, an American administrator, who lectured and wrote in the 1920s and 1930s. Follett had revolutionary ideas on industrial democracy and on how employee involvement in problem solving and decision taking could be used to improve the efficiency and success of American industry. Follett’s ideas are compared with those of the Human Relations Movement and with socio-technical design.
The author describes how she tries to apply the ideas of Mary Parker Follett and socio-technical design in her own work. She also discusses how Follett’s philosophy compares with the management principles being put forward by modern management gurus such as Vickers and Handy.
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© 1996 IFIP International Federation for Information Processing
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Mumford, E. (1996). Designing for Freedom in a Technical World. In: Orlikowski, W.J., Walsham, G., Jones, M.R., Degross, J.I. (eds) Information Technology and Changes in Organizational Work. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34872-8_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-34872-8_25
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