To What Extent Does the Human Relations Approach to the Design of Work and Management of People Represent an Improvement over Work Designed and Managed According to the Principles of Scientific Management?

Chapter 2: The classical approaches (scientific management, administrative principles, and bureaucratic organization) share a common assumption: people at work act in a rational manner that is primarily driven by economic concerns. Scientific Management: in 1911, Fredrick W. Taylor published The Principles of Scientific Management, in which he made the following statement: “The principle object of management should be to secure maximum prosperity for the employer, coupled with the maximum prosperity for the employee. He noticed that many workers did their jobs their own ways and without clear and uniform specifications. He believed this caused them to lose efficiency and underperform. He believed the problem would be fixed by scientific

Frederick W. Taylor worked across the United States in the first 15 years of the 20th century looking to solve production problems (Owens & Valesky, 2011, p. 67). He was an engineer in steel manufacturing and studied developed what what is now known as the four principles of scientific management. These principles spell out what both managers and workers are to do. Two important principles include having the management set goals, plan, and supervise workers, and the workers perform the work, and that organizations should establish the standard where management “sets the objectives and the workers cooperate in achieving them” (p. 67). Taylor’s principles are still used today by some organizational leaders who fight the movement that management should work as a team with the workers (pp. 67-68). Taylor’s principles have led to things such as strict discipline, the idea that workers must focus on their task with little or no interaction with colleagues, and the idea of incentive

The history of HRM had its beginnings in the early 1800s in England. In the pre industrial era, the apprentice worked and lived in close proximity with the master craftsman who looked after his needs. During the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, manufacturing underwent a sea change when machines were used in large factories to manufacture goods. Later, in the 19th century, Frederick W. Taylor propounded the theory of scientific management that studied workflows scientifically to improve economic efficiency and significantly improve labor productivity. Taylor recommended that the combination of scientific management and industrial psychology of workers. Taylor proposed that workers should be managed not only for

Scientific management evolved into Fordism, which was established by the American entrepreneur Henry Ford. It basically involved mass production and an assembly line. Workers were attracted and motivated by higher wages, paid daily, which resulted in reduced staff turnover and productivity increase. Scientific management had many disadvantages, especially for the worker. Workers felt socially isolated, the work was exhausting, monotonous and stressful. As a result, in the 1930s, a movement, opposing Scientific management was created- the Human Relations movement. It emphasized on the cooperation of workers by treating them humanely and shifted the emphasis from utilitarian to normative control. Yet, it developed from Scientific management's principles. Post Tayloristic ideas influenced modern HRM, which unlike Taylorism, emphasizes on the commitment and individuality of

“Scientific Management” and “Human Relations” are two different management approaches. In Scientific Management, managers are responsible to think and workers do. Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856-1915) develops the Principles of Time and Motion Study, which leads to a conclusion that certain people have a higher work efficiency compared to the others. In his means, cooperation is “to do what workers are told to do without asking questions or making suggestions.” (as cited in Miller & Form, 1924).

Scientific management has also been criticised for not accounting for the employees in the organisation (Handy, 20) “but people had been left out of the equation – they were not so easily regimented.”, moreover this the management style also received a bad reputation (Brooks, 19) “Similarly, in Germany in 1912 they were greeted with considerable hostility, and in France (Renault) they resulted in strike action and violent

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 year 1911 saw Frederick Winslow Taylor publish a book titled ‘The principles of scientific management’ in which he aimed to prove that the scientific method could be used in producing profits for an organization through the improvement of an employee’s efficiency. During that decade, management practice was focused on initiative and incentives which gave autonomy to the workman. He thus argued that one half of the problem was up to management, and both the worker and manager needed to cooperate in order to produce the greatest prosperity.

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.

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).

Managers today have many different options when choosing a managerial theory to implement for their organizations. Knowledgeable managers must be aware of the different historical approaches and also able to determine which approach would be most effective for their unit. The established work structure of my unit currently utilizes elements of classical organizational theory, more specifically scientific management and bureaucratic theory. More recent theories, such as those that focus on human relations, are not applied as frequently. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the historical management theories utilized by my organization and determine whether they are appropriate. When areas in which my organization could be improved upon are identified, the recommendations of other management theories are considered for their possible effectiveness.

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.