Frances Perkins: gender, context and history in the neglect of a management theorist

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to achieve four things: to build on recent discussion on the neglect of Frances Perkins’ contribution to the understandings of management and organization (MOS); to surface selected insights by Perkins to reveal her potential as an important MOS scholar and practitioner; to explain some of the reasons for the neglect of Perkins, particularly by MOS scholars; and to interrogate the role of management history in the neglect of Perkins and her management and organizational insights. Design/methodology/approach This paper adopts a feminist post-structural lens through which the authors focus on major discourses (dominant interrelated practices and ideas) that influence how people come to define themselves, others and the character of a particular phenomenon (e.g. management history). To that end, the authors have undertaken Foucauldian discourse analysis, where they examine various sources that collectively work to present a dominant idea of a given set of practices (in this case, management and organization studies and associated histories of the field). In Foucauldian terms, these interrelated practices constitute an archive that consists of various selected materials (e.g. the Roosevelt Library and the Columbia University Oral History Collection) and, in this case, works on and by Francis Perkins. Thus, the authors analyzed various materials for their discursive value (viz. the extent to which they produced and reinforced a particular notion that excluded, neglected or ignored women from any privileged role in MOS and management history). Findings The findings are discursive, which means that the purpose is to disrupt current knowledge of MOS and management history by revealing how its practices as a field of study serve to leave certain people (i.e. Frances Perkins), influences (i.e. the impact of the “settlement ethos” on the New Deal), and social phenomena (i.e. the New Deal) out of account. Originality/value The objective is to ask for a rethink of the field definition of MOS and management history, to include broader levels of social endeavour (e.g. labour, social welfare and politics) and a range of hitherto neglected theorists, in particular Frances Perkins. Achievements in labour, industry and management of organizations, credited to the New Deal, are overlooked in MOS and management and organizational history. As Secretary of Labour, Perkins researched, lobbied and ushered in critical New Deal measures which transformed working environments for men, women and children with social welfare and labour policies that contributed to the understanding of managing and organizing in the modern world.

Feminist frustrations: The enduring neglect of a women’s business history and the opportunity for radical change

“…Mary Parker Follett in Gibson et al, 2013). This is in contrast to engaging in the critique of the practices of history in such exclusions or the missed opportunity to surface agency and voice of neglected female leaders in fields outside of the taken-forgranted corporatist environments (Williams & Mills, 2017, 2018.…”

“…Phipps own contribution to this focus was to encourage a revisiting of the impact of Mary Parker Follet and Mary Barnett Gilson on the field of management and business studies. undeniably, over the past decade, the 'revisiting' of women in business has been one of the most popular approaches across MOH, JMH, and BH (Damart, 2013;Gibson et al, 2013;Jensen, 2001;Levicki, 2004;Novicevic et al, 2013;Perriton & others, 2017;Prieto et al, 2016;Williams & Mills, 2017, 2018).…”

Finding Viola: the untrue, true story of a groundbreaking female African Nova Scotian entrepreneur

“…As a feminist polemicist, I am interested in disrupting current and past patriarchal narratives with prowoman writing. Specifically, my research interests have focused on overlooked historical female figures who have been ignored by management and organizational studies and management history (Williams, 2017(Williams, , 2018. By adopting this standpoint, I am also signally that I reject 'the traditionally silencing of women' in favour of articulating independent and 'self constituted' female agency (Ferguson 1986, 457).…”

“…Something not understood is also something perhaps not appreciated entirely and as a result, receives very little focus and attention. I have a much more fragmented text to draw on than with my past research into historical figures (Williams and Mills 2017. As a result, it is difficult to draw out all of the insights and potential lessons Viola might have offered to our study and understanding of management and organizations.…”

Spontaneity Is the Spice of Management: Elton Mayo’s Hunt for Cooperation

“…Likewise, we have documentation of how the war dramatically changed and shaped modern liberalism. Some scholars, such as Albert G. Mills (Foster et al 2014;Williams and Mills 2017) and others, have begun to fill in the gap. For the purposes of this chapter, to understand the importance of both events would reveal the intellectual importance of the Hawthorne studies.…”