The human-relationship school of management: characteristics and proposals

Let us see what the human-relationship school of management was and what it contributed to companies.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the perspective on workers began to change somewhat.

Far from seeing them as mere cogs in the well-oiled machine that was the factory, businessmen began to understand that workers were people, human beings who relate to each other.

It was in this context that psychologists were asked to help them understand how to increase productivity by changing whatever was needed in the workplace, which would give shape to a new organizational psychology trend: the human-relationship school of management.

What is the human-relational school of management?

The human-relationship school of management is an organizational trend that emerged in response to the strong tendencies of scientific management in the 1930s. an organizational current that arose as a response to the strong tendencies of scientific management in the 1930s, which, due to an abusive use of mechanical and rigorous methods, did not take into account the most important fact which, due to an abusive use of mechanical and rigorous methods, did not take into account the most important fact: workers are human and, therefore, work cannot be understood by dehumanizing it.

Research on labor productivity had been based on conceiving the worker as a machine, a mere cog in the factory whose emotions and desires were not to be taken into account because they simply did not need to be. The problem was that the motivational and social aspect of workers was important, a fact that was evidenced by strikes and sabotage, the emergence of unions and all kinds of actions in favor of workers' rights.

It is for this reason that it was decided to change the approach, in order to to better understand what would improve the performance of workers, what social aspects influenced their performance, and what would improve their performance.This was one of the fundamental pillars of the human-relationship school of management. Among its greatest figures we find the Australian psychologist Elton Mayo, whose mission was to study the attitudes and complaints of workers in order to know what was causing decreases in the rate of production.

Mayo decided to carry out one of his experiments at the Western Electric Company, in which he obtained valuable data.In it he obtained valuable data that helped him to conclude that it was necessary to change some parameters of the organization in order to offer its workers a more humane treatment. By treating employees as people and not as mere cogs in the company, a significant increase in production could be achieved.

As a result of his experiment, the companies in which he worked and recommended his changes improved significantly.This was the passage of psychology into the world of organizations and the psychological study of work.

Although it must be said that Mayo was not the only one (other important figures were Mary Parker Follet, Frederick Winslow Taylor, Fritz Roethlisbery and Vilfredo Federico Pareto), his figure is related to having helped to change the approach in the world of organizations, starting an era of studies related to human behavior in the workplace that initiated changes in the basic business principles.

Also, one of the new visions brought about by the human-relationship school of management is that the individual cannot be studied as an isolated entity, but as part of a group. The worker is not a person interested only in earning a salary. but also wants to feel that he is part of something, that his co-workers have some kind of appreciation for him and that there is something other than money that calls him to come to his job.

Background of this school

At the beginning of the 20th century, a series of studies began to be carried out at Harvard University, which linked the science of management with human relations. In 1911, at the same institution, courses began to be taught that gave rise to the psychological approach to the science of management, introducing the idea that the human element was very important in any company, as it was what kept it active and alive..

This new mentality allowed the introduction of a series of reforms in the world of organizations that improved the quality of life of employees. Among them we can find some that, although today are basic and are part of our labor rights, at that time they were seen as generous concessions such as the introduction of rest periods, the reduction of the working day and the application of some variants in the payment system.

But despite these advances, no answers had yet been found as to what could influence an efficient increase in productivity. Fortunately, this did not take too long because, with the arrival of Elton Mayo and his new views on work, it became clear that productivity could be increased if certain social factors were taken into account. Among these factors were the morale of the workers, their sense of belonging and the feeling of being considered as useful parts of the company..

Mayo's research

The studies carried out at Hawthorne are considered a classic in the world of organizational psychology. These were carried out by Elton Mayo mainly in the Western Electric Company, located in the Hawthorne neighborhood of Chicago. The objective of this research was to determine the relationship between the efficiency of the workers and the satisfaction of the people within the production levels of the company..

Although it must be said that this experiment was not born out of nothing, since Mayo took into consideration data taken from other previous research, it has been transcendental for the understanding of the factors that increase human potential. This research can be divided into two phases.

First phase

In 1925, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences conducted studies aimed at finding the relationship between lighting in the workplace and productivity. They studied the effects of lighting on effects of lighting on personal work performance were studied.This allowed the researchers to find out how certain psychological conditions can influence productivity.

This research concluded that the more light there was in the work area, the higher the productivity was going to be.. Added to this, another of the conclusions of the study was that the social work environment was an aspect to take into account when considering labor productivity.

Second phase

This phase consisted of an experimental recording of working conditions during normal working hours and then measuring the rate of production. The workers' perception consisted of an improvement in their individual efforts after having been incentivized by the salary.. Subsequently, a few minutes of rest between the morning and afternoon shifts were introduced, in addition to establishing a work week of five working days, with Saturday off.

In 1923 Elton Mayo captained an investigation in a textile factory located in the city of PhiladelphiaThe company had detected serious production problems and suffered annual staff turnover of up to 250%. In an attempt to see if he could solve the serious problems of this organization, Mayo decided to introduce a longer rest period, as well as giving workers the opportunity to decide when the machines would be stopped.

Thanks to these new measures, Mayo managed to achieve a significant increase in production, a reduction in turnover and, in addition to this, the emergence of solidarity among coworkers.. The textile company was no longer a simple place to work in exchange for a salary, but a place in which to share time with people who got along well and felt motivated for what they did, also working more rested.

Experiment at Western Electric Company

In 1927 a new experiment was started at the Western Electric Company. The objective of this research was to redetermine the relationship between worker efficiency and lighting intensity. the relationship between worker efficiency and lighting intensity, assuming as in the 1925 experiment that the more light, the more productivity.It assumed, as in the 1925 experiment, that the more light the greater the productivity.

This experiment was coordinated by Elton Mayo himself and became one of the most famous researches in the area of management, besides being a reference within the human-relationist school of management. It is worth mentioning that the experiment lasted longer than expected, since the researchers realized that the results were affected by some psychological variables, which is why it had to be extended until 1932.

The Western Electric Company was quite an important factory at the time.It was in charge of manufacturing telephone components and other electronic equipment at a time when electronics was still in its infancy. Its company policy was to look after the welfare of its workers by paying good wages and offering optimal working conditions.

Because it apparently treated its employees so well, some believe that the company was not interested in increasing production, but wanted to get to know its workers better. Be that as it may, the organization asked Mayo to conduct a study, and the following conclusions were drawn from it:

• The level of production may be conditioned by the worker's physical capabilities, but social norms are an important factor.
• The individual employee's behavior is fully supported in the group. A worker does not act in isolation in an organization.
• Any change in the production method may involve a reaction among workers.
• The greater the interaction, the greater the productive capacity.
• If the employee feels good, he will be more productive in his job.

Characteristics of the human-relationship school of management

Now that we have seen the historical background of this school of thought and how some experiments carried out during the first half of the last century have contributed to the view that workers are more than just people at work, we will now look at the main characteristics of the human-relationship school of management. we will see what are the main characteristics of the human-relationship school of management.

• It focuses on people and their different behaviors.
• This school of thought is based on the importance of the social factor in production processes.
• It calls for employee autonomy and relies on trust and openness among the people who make up the organization.
• The worker is not a production machine, but a human being within his work environment, who is not isolated from others and who needs collective support.

Benefits of this school

Before the appearance of this school of thought, what prevailed in the work environment were the more "scientific" approaches, in the sense that the worker was considered as a machine in charge of production, leaving aside and ignoring his values as a person and his human rights. Basically, it could be said that the worker was reified, he was seen as an object, a part of the industrial gear, a part of the industrial machinery.A part of the industrial machinery of the time, nothing more.

But this changed with the arrival of the human-relationship school of management. The main advantage of this school of thought is the vision of workers as human beings in a work environment, thus incorporating a more humane treatment of employees. The human-relationship school of management focused on the physical and psychological well-being of the employee, arguing that this would lead to an effective increase in production.

In addition to this, another of the beneficial points of this school is that it allowed the study of the human worker as a human being. it allowed the study of the working human being as a social entity that is part of a group and that cannot be isolated from the rest or from its work environment.. His productivity depends on factors such as how comfortable he is with his colleagues, how motivating he finds the space in which he has to work or whether he can rest adequately between shifts. For these reasons, the human-relationship school advocates the optimization of the work area.

Main disadvantage

But not all are advantages. Although it may be surprising, this current brings with it a problem that, although it is the only major disadvantage, it should not be ignored. Because it can be seen as taking a point of view that is quite contrary to the scientific conceptualization of work, it runs the risk that the researchers of this current may become completely detached from scientific management.This can lead them to fall into subjectivities or sentimentalities that divert them from their original objective, which is to guarantee the production of organizations.