HUMAN RELATIONS MOVEMENT

The human relations movement was founded by sociologist George Elton Mayo in
the 1930s following a series of experiments known as the Hawthorne studies,
which focused on exploring the link between employee satisfaction/wellbeing and
workplace productivity. The human relations movement is seen as the precursor
of the modern human resources function. Before the human relations movement,
workers were typically seen as replaceable cogs in organizational systems that put
the ultimate value on higher output.
When companies focus only on the production and profits of their business, they
ignore the human behavioral issues of people. The human relations movement in
organizational behavior focuses instead on the person as an individual and
analyzes what motivates and cultivates their achievement in a work setting.
Employee attitudes towards work became important to a successful company.

HOW IT CHANGED MANAGEMENT?

The human relations movement was a crucial event in management history and a
major contribution to today's style of leading. The behavioral sciences helped
managers and theorists understand how to increase productivity by ditching the
primary focus on organizations over their workers. Contemporary theories, like
the contingency theory and the systems theory, focus more on the importance
and effect of every individual in a company and how they can achieve their own
goals while benefiting their organization. Some aspects of human relations
management can be applied to the modern workplace. There are a few positive
actions businesses can take to improve employee performance.
 Treat work naturally. Try to encourage employees to treat work just as
naturally as they would resting or playing. After all, this is one of the central
points of human relationship management. They are exercising their skills
in a professional environment. The more that employees can treat work as
a natural state, the easier this will become.
 Share the big picture. Try to share the overall theme and big picture of the
job with employees. Everyone wants to feel valued, and they want to know
that their work is contributing to larger successes. When employees can see
how they fit into the big picture, they will be more motivated.
 Give employees more power. Everyone wants to feel independent, and
nobody wants to feel like someone is constantly looking over their
shoulder. Therefore, push employees to innovate and make independent
decisions when appropriate.
 Train employees and develop their skills accordingly. Employees who feel
like the company is investing in them are more likely to perform better. As
they grow, increase their freedom and responsibilities as well.
 Reward success. Recognize employees when they do well. Nobody wants
to feel like their work is being ignored. Therefore, reward employees and
success, and make sure they know their hard work is being noticed. This
will encourage others to work hard to achieve company goals as well
Mayo and his associates were interested in determining, among other things, how
to design work environments in ways that increased performance. In his findings,
Mayo recognized that the answer resided in the fact that how effectively people
work depend not only on the physical characteristics of the working environment,
but also the social conditions encountered. In the first set of studies, where
productivity rose in all conditions, people simply were responding favourably to
the special attention they received. Knowing that they were being studied made
them feel special and motivated them to do their best. So, the Human Relations
Movement proposed that individual work behaviour is determined by a complex
set of factors. Man is not just a rational being (as supposed by Taylor), but also an
emotional being who often reacts unpredictably to his work environment. Thus,
the workplace must be seen as a social system and not just a productive system
because human beings can’t be treated like automatons.The influence of the
human relations philosophy can be seen even today, as for instance, the HR
Department which is an integral part of every working environment.