The Most Important Contributions Of Scientific Management And Human Relationship Management

Elton Mayo- is considered the pioneer of the human relations approach to improve levels of productivity and satisfaction. This approach was first highlighted by the improvements known as Hawthrone Experiments. The Hawthorne studies centered on how workers reacted to actions of management, how variations in physical working conditions affected output, and how social interactions among workers affected job performance (Milakovich and Gordon, 2013). A number of experiments were conducted on the workers to find out the impact of different situations on their efficiency. Mayo advocated for the understanding of personnel problems in the context of growth of science and technology. He wanted the management to understand the problems of workers and make efforts to compensation them. As such, the Mayo’s research established the human relations school of organization theory, which stressed the social and

Human Relation Management was founded by Professor Elton Mayo (1880-1949). During the industrial revolution in early 1920’s, Mayo initiated the Human Relation Theory of Management. A psychologist, Henry C. Link (as cited in Miller & Form, 1924, p. 657) relates that the ideal employment method is receiving applicants from all kinds at one end, sort, interview, and record them, before labelling them with the righteous job. Mayo introduced an experiment, the Hawthorne Studies, to look into the impact of working environment on the productivity of workers.

Organizational theory studies the various variables that influence the behavior of an individual(s) working within an organization, but also, “prescribes how work and workers ought to be organized and attempts to explain the actual consequences of organizational behavior (including individual actions) on work being performed and on the organization itself.” (Milakovich & Gordon, 2013, p.145). Of the many approaches to organizational analysis, Classical Organizational theory has been, even to this day, extremely influential by focusing on more formal concepts such as bureaucracy, rationalization and scientific management. Although, over the decades organizational management has taken on a more human relations approach to getting more productivity out of employees, it is contributors like Max Webber, Fredrick Taylor, and Luther Gulick that laid down the basic foundation organizational theories by recognizing the need for control and procedures.

The economic environment in nowadays dynamic, it is fairly important for organisations and managers to recognise the curtail of Human Resource Management. It is clear that Human Resource Management (HRM) has become one of the most recommend management strategy in the modern business (Leopold and Harris, 2009). Human Resource Management is a technique process of managing people in the workplace to enable and enhance organization performance (Leopold and Harris, 2009). This theory involved the responsible to attracting, selecting, training and managing people which make employees become more valuable to the organisations. It invests effect in learning and development at work. Also to communicate with all employees at each level to reward successful employee relations (Wilton, 2011). Human Resource Management plays a very important role in the operation strategy and management concerns in work organisations of all kinds (Leopold and Harris, 2009). In aim to justify this statement by evaluate the benefit and importance of Human Resource Management in contemporary work organisations. This essay will focus on analysis the advantages of use Human Resource Management in business also underline by explain more detail about the different HRM strategy brings benefits and give competitive advantages impact to the organisation success. Then summarise by a general conclusion on the importance of HRM in contemporary work organisations.

Scientific Management Theory by Frederick W. Taylor – Throughout the industrial world employees are the large part of the organisation and Fundamental interests of employees are necessarily aggressive. So as a manager it is necessary to arrange mutual relations with employees so their interests become identical. In case of any single individual the greatest prosperity can exist only when that individual has reached his highest state of efficiency and that is, when he is turning out his largest daily output (Frederick Winslow Taylor, 2007).

Managers throughout history have been interested in studying ways to increase productivity. For example, Frederick Taylor began the movement of scientific management in the 1880’s. Scientific management looked to improve productivity through means of scientific analysis of worker’s tasks and work processes rather than the old “rule of thumb” (Taylor, 1914). Taylor believed that he could maximize worker efficiency and productivity through focusing on workers specific hand motions and patterns. After this period, beginning in about the 1930’s, managers looked to take productivity to yet another level by studying worker physiology and motivation. This new movement came to be known as the human relations movement.

People are the key to business success. However nowadays of business this is often neglected and people are seen to be a necessary expense. A successful business does not just rely on a person’s power instead it involves continuous effective teamwork and communication. Storey (1995) defines that human resource management is an individual approach to employment management which seeks to achieve competitive advantage through the strategic deployment of a highly committed and capable workforce, using an integrated array of cultural, structural and personnel techniques.

Scientific Management (SM) and Human Relations (HR) are two contrasting approaches to managing people in an organisation. SM believes that an organisation’s performance can be maximised by applying scientific principles to management. However, HR believes that the best way to maximise an organisation’s productivity is to respect workers and value their needs. With that being said, both approaches have different beliefs and assumptions about workers in an organisation.

“The principle object of management should be to secure maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for the employee…” (Taylor, 1911, p.9)

There are a number of management theories that have changed the management business environment in the twentieth century. The theories have assisted managers to come up with better ways of management and organization of people. Managers have been able to increase profits, reduce costs and maximize efficiency. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the contributions of scientific management and the human relations movement to the modern management. This essay will use Frederick Winslow Taylor’s theory on scientific management and Elton Mayo’s human relations theory. These two movements have been proven to increase productivity in the workplace (Mullins, 2005).

Throughout history, there have been many different approaches of management theories. Some theories longer exist because they are no longer relevant in today’s environment, but some theories are still implemented like Scientific Management and Human Relations. Scientific management emphasizes on efficiency productivity by motivating workers with monetary rewards. Human relations emphasize on motivation of workers by both financial rewards and a range of social factors (e.g. praise, a sense of belonging, feelings of achievement and pride in one’s work).

Profit maximisation is a key objective for private firms, and the desire to fulfil such interests through potential improvements in efficiency, led to a number of organizational theories being developed in the early 20th century. Scientific Management otherwise known as Taylorism, was advocated by Frederick Taylor (1911), whose philosophy maintained that through the specialization of labour, improving managerial organization and the implementation of the results from “Time and Motion” studies, maximum efficiency could be attained. Elton Mayo (1924), considered as the founder of the Human Relations Movement, concluded that it is humans deep rooted aspirations to be valued within a team and by management that actually has a greater influence on the productivity of employees. On this basis, this essay will argue that because Human Relations takes into account the social and informal factors of the workplace, it is more relevant to the modern business society.

Scientific management is a management theory developed by Frederick W Taylor. Its main purpose is to improve an organization’s efficiency in production through analyzing workflow systematically using quantitative analysis to improve task completion efficiency. Reducing waste, increasing methods of production and create a just distribution of goods are goals of the scientific management theory. On the other hand, human relations theory attributed by Elton Mayo counteracts with scientific management theory that ignored human issues of behavior. In human relations theory, a worker is treated as an individual and what motivates and cultivates them in their achievement is analyzed. Both scientific management and human relation theory aims to improve efficiency in the workplace and it still applies to the workforce in the modern days despite the opposing ideas of both theories.

Organisational behaviour is influenced by two main theories, scientific management and human relations. The scientific management approach developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor is one of the earliest ideological approaches which attempted to explain a management process scientifically. The main goal was to find the techniques to improve production efficiency of workers scientifically. On the contrary, human relations studied by Elton Mayo studied the social interactions within a working environment. Through his studies, he found that social relationships motivates workers at their workplaces (Daft & Samson 2014; Miller & Form, 1964).Based on the two approaches, this paper looks into the assumptions made on workers; the path managers should take to maximise the efficiency of workers and lastly, my choice between these two approaches as a worker.

Human Relations School theory is indeed an efficient management approach with a profusion of benefits. Being a large business, the human relations system is beneficial as directors are appointed and decision making is made based on discussions. This was the case when after negociations, the sales manager was in charge of price cutting to keep customers, the advertising manager taking charge of new adverts and Roberto concentrating on the prospect of entering the gluten-free market.