Individual critical essay (Essay Sample)

Human Relations movement
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Institution
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Introduction
Workplaces attract and hire people from different backgrounds who interact to fulfil personal and organizational obligations. Human relations movement concerns people’s behavior in groups towards organizational development. This study helps modern managers to handle their workforces in appropriate ways. Elton Mayo conducted the most notable study that influenced the human relations movement in his Hawthorne experiment. The Hawthorne experiment theory focused on the impacts of social relations, incentive and employee contentment on factory efficiency. This implies that the movement categorized workers based on their psychological fitness to match the company’s objectives. Some managers apply concepts from this study to enhance productivity in their organizations. The theory enhanced management’s approach to deal with employees in social setups. The concrete benefits of human relations movements entail improved communication between employees and the management. This is because Hawthorne workers had the privilege to respond to issues affecting the organization. Another benefit of the theory’s application is that employees were encouraged by the response of appreciation they received from their managers. The workers operated in groups, which was a strategy of teamwork to increase productivity. This efficient practice resulted in the establishment of personnel departments. The responsibility of the department is to encourage management’s participation in maintaining the employees’ interests.
The Hawthorne Experiment and influence in the operation of managements
Elton Mayo conducted research at the Hawthorne plant. The intention of the research was to determine employee motivation and other aspects that contributed to productivity. This comprised of the roles of the managers and participation of employee in diverse situations. Mayo’s works indicate that employees work better in groups because they enjoy companionship and teamwork (Institute of Management Foundation, 1998). This shows that human factors are determinant towards the total output of an organization. The Hawthorne experiment used illumination intensity to explore how the productivity of workers relates to the illumination. From the experiment, it was evident that the two aspects did not relate (Cole, 2004). As a result, Elton used other factors that could influence workers to perform better. This is because physical environment in a workplace did not yield the expected outcomes. Workers preferred working in informal social arrangements to decorate workstations or similar conditions. This is because informal social organizations provided a sense of importance due to constant cooperation. Such informal systems enable workers to form work groups where they share ideas and skills. The management gains from continuing interactions and an association of workers since they work according to their satisfaction (Institute of Management Foundation, 1998).
The various Mayo’s experiments emphasized on the manager and laborers encouragement to concentrate on a formal teamwork as the central focus of the output. The behavioral approach inspired by Mayo advocated for motivated and skilled individuals committed towards organizational objectives. This arises when a manger’s sensitivity to individual concerns can foster the cooperation necessary for high productivity. Organizational behavior extends to scientific applications of other theories with regard to human labor. The theory works with people who conduct their activities without pressures from senior supervisors or deadline actualizations. Workers need to embrace social involvements with each other to achieve their personal satisfactions not derived on money (Kreitner, 2009). The experiments claimed that employees created their own unofficial workplace culture complete with norms and sanctions. Mayo urged managers to offer work that fostered personal and subjective satisfaction. He campaigned for a new social order designed to stimulate individual cooperation. This means that managers should motivate performance instead of demanding it through other non-social means like use of rewards. Cooperation, a spirit of unity and self-control were the steps towards producing and a democratic way of life (Kreitner, 2009).
The Hawthorne study concluded that individual’s work performance is reliant on both social aspects and job satisfaction. Managers should try to minimize conflicts with workers by forcing them to work under unfavorable regulations. It is crucial to treat workers as members of a group instead of separating them as individuals. Mayo believed that financial enticements and decent working surroundings are insignificant to the individual than the necessity to belong to a group. This means that informal groups at workplaces have an essential influence on the performance of those employees in a group (Institute of Management Foundation, 1998). The researcher recommended that managers should consider the social needs and provide for them to facilitate employee collaboration with the approved organization. Employees who offer their views in their groups are influential to increase their productivity (Maslow, 2003). Companies should encourage their employees to communicate, share and interpret other people’s emotions. Some workers liked this approach of informal groups because it was not boring and they were allowed to offer their views. There were limited instances of repetitive tasks since they invented other ways of handling tasks through group discussions (Cole, 2004). As a result, industrial strikes and riots were not numerous. The workers felt satisfied with their job areas due to the appreciation shown by other colleagues. Both the organization and workers attained their goals irrespective of the physical and financial incentives. This makes it apparent that financial rewards and physical conditions contribute limited motivation to workers in the absence of social patterns.
Criticisms
Conversely, Mayo’s experiment did not analyze the true scenario experienced in informal groupings. The experiment failed to show other issues in the findings. For instance, the experiment focussed on social activities, which encourage workers to belong in groups. The groups might also affect the performance of workers if they concentrate on other matters unrelated to their work (Maslow, 2003). The experiment disregards F.W Taylor’s theory of executing science concepts to the management of workers in the workplace. Mayo does not mention science practices, but consider the social requirements. This is because Taylor tried to explain scientific management as an all-inclusive idea instead of a set of values. The human relations program worked similar to the concept of scientific management trying to address the social benefit requirements of workers and stimulate their teamwork as a workforce. Categorizing employees in terms of groupings breed contempt between them, which might divert their attention to organizational goals without efficiency. Taylor made significant contributions towards human motivation that targeted scientific management and approaches. Employee efficiency in production does not feature in Mayo’s theory (Schein, 2005).
The studies did not attain their original intentions of instituting a cause and effect relationship between operational conditions and output. This implies that the studies only demonstrated the requirement for an additional and cautious control. Proper supervision and work oriented are the basis of efficiency in production that other theories suggested. Instead, the theory makes workers become interested in the views and beliefs that make them feel part of the group than the organization (Henderson, 2006). This theory could not work in the industrial revolution period because of the widespread growth of mechanization and productivity. Most firms concentrated on the efficiency and output approaches that could enable them survive in the business instead of individual preferences. Social interactions at the workplace could not increase productivity and efficiency and other firms had to adopt other management theories like Taylor’s theory (Henderson, 2006). This was beneficial to modern management practices of supervising workers. It ensures that workers must achieve the targeted goals of the administrators.
Ethical and moral implications of the theory
Human relations movement respects the interest of workers in an organization. Managers should be able to consider the satisfaction of workers when they perform their tasks. This ethical aspect fosters respect and appreciation of other workers’ views. Unlike Taylor’s theory that emphasized on efficiency and increased productivity, the Hawthorne studies stress on social relations (Schuler & Jackson, 2007). A person needs time off to interact with others instead of working like a machine without rest. As a result, the Hawthorne experiment contributed towards the establishment of norms of behaviors in modern organizations. In the late 19 Century, ethical standards were significant contributions, which promoted the ideas of rationality. The history of management involved the creation of mutual understanding of the set ethical standards in the workplace (Reece, 2014). For instance, in the Interviewing program, participants suggested that feel satisfied if the management attends to their views. This showed that upward communication in a company forms a positive approach in the work environment. The findings of the experiments like the Illumination experiment and the interviewing program did offer ideas and perceptions, which were of considerable significance to the investigators and management. Organizations started offering leaves for the emp...