2ND SLIDE

Okay so when we're talking about the Hawthorne effect, what researchers were looking
for was really ways to get people to be more productive. So, perhaps, if they do some
experiments with these people like give them more lighting, give them less lighting, we'll
find out what gets them to produce more to make a business more profitable.
So, they discovered that when they separated people and studied them regardless of
what they did, these people were more productive. They were more productive when the
lights were turned up to maximum brightness. They were more productive when the
lights were dimmed to almost complete darkness. It didn't matter what they did or
where they put them; as soon as they started studying these people, they became more
productive. As a result, their conclusion was that improving the workplace does not
actually treat people well. Paying attention to people will increase their productivity.
Separating them out and saying, "We're going to observe you, pay attention to you” and
that's what's going to make people more productive. That is the conclusion that the
entire human relations approach is based on people needing to be considered.

4TH SLIDE
When we're talking about some kind of more specific aspects of the human relations
approach, Maslow's hierarchy of needs comes in. You know people aren't machines,
they're not cogs, they do have complicated needs, they have multiple layers and levels
of needs, so, yes we need to fulfill their basic needs like food and shelter, which you
know we can accomplish by giving them a decent salary, but they also have more
complex needs and more social needs. They need to be treated like human beings in
that they need to have conversations with people, they need to think that they're
important, they need to think that we care about them. Notice the difference here
between “we need to care about them” and “we need them to believe that we care about
them”. That's going to be the central difference between the human relations and the
human resources approach.

5TH SLIDE
Now when we're talking about the human relations approach what they're trying to do is
get people to feel that their needs are satisfied, so that they will produce more, so that
the company can be more profitable. So, people have complex needs we need to kind of
figure out a way to meet those needs so that they can produce more for us. Or when
we're looking at theory x and theory y, well, if we treat people like they're independent we
give them some sense of autonomy, some sense of ownership then they'll feel more
fulfilled and therefore they will produce more, that's human relations. If we make people
feel good or if we make people feel like we're paying attention to them, then they're
going to bring in more profit and we will be more successful.

6TH SLIDE
And for some instances when the managers, the executives, or the higher-ups in an
organization, the human relations approach is really about making employees feel
important, making employees feel heard. It does not mean actually hearing employees.
The human relations approach is not interested in actually caring about the employees,
so what we have here is a kind of mismatch between the beliefs about employees and
how we actually treat those employees because we don't actually believe that
employees are anything more than just a cog in the machine, but we know that they
function as better more effective cogs if they don't treat them like they're cogs, so
they're gonna treat them like they're people even though we don't actually believe that
they're people and so.

7TH SLIDE
Here is the major criticism that human resources came in with. If you happen to read
some descriptions about managers, applying theory x and theory y. If you have a
manager who truly believes in theory y, you really probably have a human resources
manager, but if you've got a human relations manager what they're going to do is
behave in ways that look like theory y while actually believing in theory x. So, a human
resources manager actually believes in theory y and believes that humans are the
resource, so the human resources approach sees humans as valuable as productivity,
as profit, so productivity and profit are equally important to the people accomplishing
that productivity and profit. Human relations don't believe that, human relations think
productivity and profit are the most important. The way to achieve that is to make
people feel like they're important so we're going to make them feel good so that they'll
produce. The human resources approach says no no no no, humans actually are as
important as productivity so we're going to treat them that way genuinely, we're actually
going to treat them like they're as important as productivity, provide them with some
mentorship, with some direction.
Example when your boss said to you “here's what I want you to accomplish, you can do
it in any way that you want, all right. Here are some resources, here's everything you
could need, if you need more just ask and I'll give it to you”. You've got a human
resources approach going on. Now, if you've got a manager who comes to you and says
“hey I know that you can do it, you're so good at this stuff. I'm going to give you some
resources, here's 20 bucks and a ream of paper. I'm sure you're going to do so great,
come talk to me when you have any issues and I'm glad to talk them through with you.
Go get them tiger, I love you!” Now you've got a human relations approach. They pretend
like they care about you, they are giving you lip service to make you feel good so that
you'll accomplish their goals. Human resources is not giving lip service, it truly believes
in its employees. That's really the difference between the human relations and the
human resources.