The human relations theory of organization is an alternative paradigm to Taylor’s scientific management. Human relations involve the study of problems arising from people’s interactions with organisations and their inter – personal relations. The human relations theory seeks to promote better interpersonal relations in an organization.
Origin and Growth
The human relations theory of organization emerged much after the scientific management theory by Frederick Taylor had established itself. Taylor’s theory had adopted a view of man where monetary motivation alone mattered to him. He regarded an individual as an isolated human being uninfluenced by other fellow human beings.
The research findings by the team, comprising Elton Mayo, F.J. Roethlisberger and William Dickson at the Western Electric Plant at Hawthorne, near Chicago, proved Taylor wrong. The Hawthorne studies (1927-32) showed that an organization is a social system and its members are motivated by prevalent group norms and regulations and thus not merely by monetary considerations.
Taylor believed that an individual worker interacts directly with the organisation but the Hawthorne studies showed that group norms and values prevailed over the individual employees in case of a conflict between the group norms and the employer’s formal rules the employee’s behaviour would be more governed by the former. The Hawthorne studies proved that an organization is more than a workplace; it is a social system with its own parallel organization, called informal organization, comprising social values, norms, understandings and expectations. Employees’ behaviour is governed no less by peer groups and supervisor-employee relationships.
The human relations theory supplements Taylor’s scientific management e.g.: human beings are motivated by monetary factors. Elton Mayo and his colleagues expanded Taylor’s motivational base: employees reacted to the way they were treated by the supervisors. Every organization is underpinned by an informal organization. The workers would give their best if the management cooperates with them and does not fight with the informal organization. This is why Elton Mayo is sometimes called a Neo-Taylorian.
Evaluation
The organization comprising the human elements received organized attention only around the 1920s and the Hawthorne experiments highlighted the human needs and human concerns of the employees. It showed that informal organization by which is meant the spontaneously emerging network of personal and social relations among employees, exists within the formal organization. The human relations theory is also called an ‘informal organization theory’ because of its emphasis on informal structure of organization.
Conclusion
In conclusion, from 1900-39, Public Administration was dominated by classical organization theory and human relations theory. To this list were added the decision-making theory and systems theory but this development occurred after the Second World War.