THE HUMAN RELATIONS MODEL AND ITS CRITIQUES Soci 302 Spring 2011 Instructor: Deniz Yükseker

“Hawthorne experiments” 1920s-1930s: experiments on the effect of lighting on workers’ productivity in the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric, a subsidiary of the telephone company AT&T What were the results of this experiment?

The “Hawthorne effect”: Special treatment of workers by the management increases morale  productivity also increases (Elton Mayo, Fritz Roethlisberger, William Dickson) The birth of the “Human Relations Movement” as a result of the Hawthorne experiments

Significance of the Human Relations Model First criticism of the classical rational model of organizations (a la Weber) and rational management (a la Taylor) Against Weber: Organizations are human and social systems; informal organization might be as important as the formal organizational chart Against Taylor: Increasing output does not solely depend on physical aspects of labor and material incentives for workers, but also on the social conditions and environment in the workplace

Aspects of the social environment conducive to higher productivity: --Workers’ participation in decision-making --Workers form groups on shopfloor --Informal leaders among workers Overall consequence  --More social recognition for workers (motivation, morale, job satisfaction) --More cooperation with the management goals by workers

From Management and the Worker (1938) (Roethlisberger and Dickson) Two functions of industrial organizations: 1- producing products  “external balance” (related to economic goals) 2- creating and distributing satisfactions among members of the organization  “internal balance” (related to satisfying individual desires)

The authors distinguish -- technical organization of the plant -- human organization of the plant: social needs as well as physical needs of individual workers Importance of individual sentiments (socialization, etc.) -- social organization of the plant: patterns of social relations between various levels of management and workers Anything in the work environment can be a carrier of social values, or indication of social distance

Consequence: behavior of members of an organization are not only related to economic and logical goals; patterns of interaction may involve strong sentiments

The authors also distinguish between -- the formal organization of the plant and -- the informal organization of the plant

Formal organization: patterns of human interaction as defined by rules, systems, regulations and policies of the company (part of the social organization is formally organized) Informal organization: informal organization within a plant based on sentiments and values according to which individuals and groups of individuals are differentiated

The effect of informal organization on productivity and output Hawthorne experiments “Relay Assembly Test Room” Bank Wiring Observation Room”

Human resource management Emerged in the second half of the 20th cc in response to criticism of the human relations movement

All organizational members are valuable resources, and the organization should develop and tap those resources -- participation in decision-making at ground level -- effectively contributing to achievement of meaningful goals Satisfaction of “higher order” needs* Higher morale Higher productivity * Abraham Maslow: Humans have lower-order needs (physiological and safety needs) and higher-order needs (social affiliation, prestige, self-actualization and autonomy)

Human Resources Model, cont’d Critical of scientific management: jobs should have more variety and involve more skill and discretion  Less external control of worker behavior; more reliance on workers’ internal commitment, self-control and self-direction Major proponents: Douglas McGregor, Chris Argyris, Rensis Likert

CRITIQUES OF HUMAN RELATIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCES MODELS

Criticism towards human relations model Empirical evidence for the thesis: mixed, not conclusive Definition of leadership: no consensus among researchers Training of leaders: not very effective Hierarchy in organizations: not removed Assumption: managers are rational, but workers are non-rational (sentiments, etc.)  assumes workers are childlike and immature Assumption: workers and management have the same interests Emphasis: reforming worker-management relations rather than reforming the alienating types of work

Criticism towards human resource management Empirical evidence: mixed and inconclusive Model unquestioningly assumes that: -- workers would identify with the organization -- self-actualization would happen on the organization’s terms -- workers’ participation and legitimate self-assertion are the same thing (the latter has to be institutionally guaranteed)

Common criticism against the human relations and human resources models Existing empirical evidence on the hypotheses of these models not conclusive Organizations cannot be explained with reference to the attitudes and behavior of individuals in them Attitudes do not always predict behavior Models rely too much on outdated sociological concepts (values, norms, etc.) Pro-management bias in the goals of the models