People in Organisations

The Human Relations MovementDr. Simon Burnett

(s.burnett1@lancaster.ac.uk)

Lent Term 2009

Organisation, Work and Technology 221

1

Introducing Human Relations.

An interdisciplinary study of the social relations in the workplace

Presents a counterpoint to the preceding scientific management hegemony

Assumes workers inherently want to engage with others in socially supportive relationships

Emphasises: motivation, communication, participation and leadership

2

There is presently a widespread, unitaristic and humanistic belief prevalent in management thinking, that being happy and

productive at work are necessarily connected

Elton Mayo: (grand)father of the human relations movement.

“How did the activities of five women

engaged in assembling intricate

electrical components in a

huge Chicago factory come to be seen as

representative of the behavior and

aspirations of all workers?”

(‘History of the Hawthorne Experiments’ - Richard Gillespie, 1991:264)

3

George Elton John Mayo (26th Dec, 1880 – 7th Sep, 1949)

Australian psychologist, sociologist and organizational theorist.

See Schein - p56-66

From Bethlehem Steel to Western Electric: the Hawthorne Experiments (i).

Reviewing Taylor’s principles:I. Separation of conception and execution

II. Reduce all tasks to simplest movements

III. Physical matching of workers to work

4

“Researchers had empirically discovered that

one may organize, and apparently scientifically, a carefully contrived enquiry

into a human industrial problem and yet failed

completely to elucidate the problem in any particular”

(‘The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization’ – Elton Mayo, 1946:53)

Ironically – the Hawthorne Experiments were intended to determine which physical and technical factors led to improved production and workplace attitude. But, after far from conclusive results, the very act of focusing on the employees directly, regardless of the changes implemented, became attributed to causing the desired outcomes witnessed.

Thus, Mayo and his team sought to reframe the management of culture rather than process

5

From Bethlehem Steel to Western Electric: the Hawthorne Experiments (ii).

“Comment after comment from the girls indicates that...they have a feeling that

their increased production is in some way related to the distinctly freer, happier

and more pleasant working environment”

(‘The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization’ – Elton Mayo, 1946:74-7)

Abraham Maslow: father of humanistic psychology. ‘Motivation and Personality’ (1970) The organismic viewpoint

Unity, integration and organisation are the natural state of the normal personality

“...disorganization is pathological, usually brought about by an oppressive or threatening environment” (Theories of Personality’ – Hall & Lindzey, 1960:296)

Embraced a number of concepts emerging from Hawthorne experiments

Attacked psychology’s prevailing negativity and ‘pessimism’

Mankind strives continuously to realise inherent potential

Humanity is ‘essentially good’ 6

Abraham Harold Maslow (1st Apr, 1908 – 8th June, 1970 )

American clinical psychologist.

The humanists’ approach.

Maslow et al wished to study ‘transcendent and transpersonal’ psychological phenomena

They considered it ‘closed off’ in principle to the schools of behaviorism [cf. Skinner and Pavlov] and Freudianism

Supremacy of the individual

Held a distrust for mechanical models and ‘customary analytical techniques’ (Hall & Lindzey 1960:257)

7

“Whilst most of the best minds in psychology were pushing relentlessly towards increasing rigor and quantification; [humanists] serenely

pursued [their] own way, advocating the importance of the qualitative study of the

individual case” (‘Theories of Personality’ – Hall & Lindzey , 1960: xxvii).

The (in)famous Hierarchy of Needs

8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxdNzOVRAmA

Is this accurate? Can you skip a stage? If you lose a lower step can’t you retain a higher one? Can humanity really be summed up in this simplistic model ?

In his own words...

“A musician must make music, an artist must

paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace

with himself”“Classic economic theory, based as it is

on an inadequate theory of human

motivation, could be revolutionized by

accepting the reality of higher human needs, including the impulse to self actualization and the love for the

highest values”

9

Positivity, wellness and

normality

Human happiness can be harnessed towards mutual employee/employer benefit

Reduces environmental

agency

Holistic study of humanity

Mankind’s limitless power

and potential

Desire to make life better

and happier

‘Hearts and minds’: the modern embracement. It is easy to see where and why these ideas have been assimilated

in to contemporary management culture...

http://www.bnet.com/2422-13724_23-182940.html

HOWEVER: despite appearances, all these theories still rely on rational and instrumental assumptions, that place primacy upon the goals of the capitalist enterprise by re-aligning employee action and attitudes to those of the employers (cf. ’Minding the Workers’ - O’Connor, 1999a:223)

10

Worker Participation The Pursuit of Excellence

Supportive Leadership Socio-Technical Systems

9-9 Systems Organizational Commitment

Job Enrichment High Performance Systems

Behavior Modification Theory Z

Goal Setting Strong Culture

Conclusion: HRM’s shaky modern incantation from a curiously misanthropic humanist.

Much of modern day HRM has stayed loyal to Human Relation’s original core notions (see Mayo and Maslow et al).

However, Mayo believed World War 1 had demonstrated “man’s fundamental rottenness” and that this innate rotten nature needed sublimating.

So, as opposed to a sympathetic, moral obligation, he hence aspired to appeal to the human factor as he saw mankind’s emotionality as posing “the foremost danger to civilization”.

He had visions of management becoming reified to the position of “guardian of social order” able to save “humanity from its naturally dire state”.

For if the human agent could be sufficiently manipulated by workplace initiatives: “this would grant managers the genuine capacity to make people not only do – but also be – what was wanted by the organization”.

11 See O’Connor, E. (1999a; 1999b).

References.

Burnett, S.B. (2008), The Happiness Agenda: the sources, sites and protagonists of a modern obsession, PhD Thesis, University of Lancaster.

Bolton, S.C. (2000), ‘Emotion Here, Emotion There, Emotional Organisations Everywhere’ in Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 11: pp155-171.

Bolton, S.C. & Boyd, C. (2003), ‘Trolley Dolly or Skilled Emotion Manager? Moving on from Hochchild’s Managed Heart’ in Work, Employment and Society, 17: pp289-308.

Fisher, C.D. (1980), ‘On the Dubious Wisdom of Expecting Job Satisfaction to Correlate with Performance’ in The Academy of Management Review, 5(4): pp607-612.

Fisher, C.D. (2003), ‘Why do Lay People Believe that Satisfaction and Performance are Correlated? Possible Sources of a Commonsense Theory’ in Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24: pp753-777.

Gillespie, R. (1991), Manufacturing Knowledge: A History of the Hawthorne Experiments, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge and New York.

Goldsmith, B. (2003), ‘Fun Adds Up’ in Successful Meetings, 52(7): p26. Goleman, D. (1996), Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ, London:

Bloomsbury. Hall, C.S. & Lindzey, G. (1960), Theories of Personality (6th edition), New York: John Wiley &

Sons Inc. 

12

References. Hochschild, A.R. (1998), ‘The Sociology of Emotion as a Way of Seeing’, in

Bendelow, G. B. & Williams, S.J. (eds.) Emotions in Social Life: Critical Themes and Contemporary Issues, Routledge: London and New York.

Hochschild, A.R. (2003), The Managed Heart, Berkeley, California: University of California Press.

Hollway, W. (1991), Work Psychology and Organizational Behaviour: Managing the Individual Worker, London: Sage Publications.

Iaffaldano, M.T. & Muchinsky, P.M. (1985), ‘Job Satisfaction and Performance: A Meta Analysis’ in Psychological Bulletin, 97(2): pp251-273.

Ledford Jr., G.E. (1999), ‘Happiness and Productivity Revisited’ in Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20(1): pp25-30.

Maslow, A. H. (1970), Motivation and Personality (2nd edition), New York: Harper & Row Publishers.

Maslow, A.H. (1998), Maslow on Management, New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc. Mayo, E. (1946), The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization (2nd edition), The

Murray Printing Company: Cambridge, Massachusetts.  O’Connor, E. (1999a), ‘Minding the Workers: The Meaning of ‘Human’ and ‘Human

Relations’ in Elton Mayo’ in Organization, 6: pp223-246. 

13

References. O’Connor, E. (1999b), ‘The Politics of Management Thought: A Case Study of the

Harvard Business School and the Human Relations School’ in Academy of Management Review, 24(1): pp117-131.

Oleson, V. & Bone, D. (1998), ‘Emotions in Rationalizing Organizations: Conceptual Notes from Professional Nursing in the USA’ in Bendelow, G. B. & Williams, S.J. (eds.) Emotions in Social Life: Critical Themes and Contemporary Issues, Routledge: London and New York.

Sayer, A. (2007), ‘Moral Economy and Employment’ in Bolton, S. and Houlihan, M. (eds.) Searching for the Human in Human Resource Management, London: Palgrave.

Taylor, F.W. (1947a), ‘Shop Management’ in Scientific Management (3rd edition), Harper & Brothers Publishers: New York and London. 

Taylor, F.W. (1947b), ‘The Principles of Scientific Management’ in Scientific Management (3rd edition), Harper & Brothers Publishers: New York and London.

Thompson, P. (2003), ‘Disconnected Capitalism: Or Why Employers Can’t Keep Their Side of the Bargain’ in Work, Employment and Society, 17: pp359-378.

Williams, S.J. & Bendelow, G. B. (1998), ‘Emotions in Social Life: Mapping the Sociological Terrain’ in Emotions in Social Life: Critical Themes and Contemporary Issues, Routledge: London and New York.

14