Week 4 – HR, Work/Job Design and Employee Motivation: An Historical Perspective Managing human resources is a challenging and creative facet of a business. It is the department that handles the recruiting, hiring, training, and firing of employees. Because of diligence and detail required in hiring and the sensitivity required in firing, human resource managers have a broad skill set. Similarly, human resources is vital to the overall functioning of the business because without the right staff a firm will not be able to work together and to enhance strengths and downplay weaknesses. In addition, a good human resource manager can anticipate upcoming needs and changes in the business, hiring in line with the dynamics of the market and organization. Once a good workforce is in place, human resources managers must ensure that employees are properly trained and oriented and that they clearly understand some elements of what the organization expects. Hiring new people is expensive, time consuming, and turbulent; thus, it is imperative that all employees are carefully selected, trained, and motivated so that they will remain committed and loyal to the company. This is not an easy task. Following is an historical overview of some work design theories: Scientific Management Scientific Management, also called Taylorism, is a theory of management that analyzes and synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity through the simplification of tasks and division of labor. It was one of the earliest attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to management. Taylorism began in the United States in the 1880s and '90s within the manufacturing industries. Its peak of influence came in the 1910s; by the 1920s, it was still influential but opposing or complementary ideas/theories were introduced to businesses. Although scientific management as a distinct theory or school of thought was obsolete by the 1930s, most of its themes are still important parts of industrial engineering and management today. Frederick W. Taylor and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth proposed that money was the sole motivator for workers (the classical theory of motivation). As such, they suggested managers should break down each job into its component tasks (specialization), determine the best way to perform each task, and specify the output to be achieved by a worker performing the task. The three social scientists conducted “time and motion” studies to prove their belief. Taylor also believed that incentives would motivate employees to be more productive. That said, Taylor’s and the Gilbreths’ motivation to provide incentives for employees wasn’t employee-focused. Rather, their motivation was to have the employees be more productive, so companies made more money. 1. Watch the following videos of Gilbreth’s original Time and Motion Studies research. https://www.youtube.com/.

1. Week 4 – HR, Work/Job Design and Employee Motivation:
An Historical Perspective
Managing human resources is a challenging and creative facet
of a business. It is the department
that handles the recruiting, hiring, training, and firing of
employees. Because of diligence and
detail required in hiring and the sensitivity required in firing,
human resource managers have a
broad skill set. Similarly, human resources is vital to the overall
functioning of the business
because without the right staff a firm will not be able to work
together and to enhance strengths
and downplay weaknesses.
In addition, a good human resource manager can anticipate
upcoming needs and changes in the
business, hiring in line with the dynamics of the market and
organization. Once a good workforce
is in place, human resources managers must ensure that
employees are properly trained and
oriented and that they clearly understand some elements of what
the organization expects.
Hiring new people is expensive, time consuming, and turbulent;
thus, it is imperative that all
employees are carefully selected, trained, and motivated so that
they will remain committed
and loyal to the company. This is not an easy task. Following is
an historical overview of some
work design theories:
Scientific Management

2. Scientific Management, also called Taylorism, is a theory of
management that analyzes and
synthesizes workflows. Its main objective is improving
economic efficiency, especially labor
productivity through the simplification of tasks and division of
labor. It was one of the earliest
attempts to apply science to the engineering of processes and to
management.
Taylorism began in the United States in the 1880s and '90s
within the manufacturing industries.
Its peak of influence came in the 1910s; by the 1920s, it was
still influential but opposing or
complementary ideas/theories were introduced to businesses.
Although scientific management
as a distinct theory or school of thought was obsolete by the
1930s, most of its themes are still
important parts of industrial engineering and management
today.
Frederick W. Taylor and Frank and Lillian Gilbreth proposed
that money was the sole motivator
for workers (the classical theory of motivation). As such, they
suggested managers should break
down each job into its component tasks (specialization),
determine the best way to perform
each task, and specify the output to be achieved by a worker
performing the task. The three
social scientists conducted “time and motion” studies to prove
their belief. Taylor also believed
that incentives would motivate employees to be more
productive. That said, Taylor’s and the
Gilbreths’ motivation to provide incentives for employees
wasn’t employee-focused. Rather,
their motivation was to have the employees be more productive,
so companies made more

3. money.
1. Watch the following videos of Gilbreth’s original Time and
Motion Studies research.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=hhvC10kGBu4&list=PLcjaMbVtfVvE04vDv_0lFzDLNAU_t3
mHt&index=6 !!
Human Relations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analysis
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/synthesis#Noun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workflow
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_efficiency
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workforce_productivity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applied_science
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_process
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_engineering
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhvC10kGBu4&list=PLcjaM
bVtfVvE04vDv_0lFzDLNAU_t3mHt&index=6
!
On the other hand, Elton Mayo, the father of Human Relations
Movement, and his followers
really did care about employees and wanted to create work
environments and incentives that
motivated employees. The Human Relations Theory of
Management began in the early 1920s
during the industrial revolution. At that time, productivity was
the focus of business (Taylorism).

4. Professor Elton Mayo began his experiments (the Hawthorne
Studies), to prove the importance of
people for productivity - not machines.
The Human Relations Management Theory is a researched belief
that people desire to be part
of a supportive team that facilitates development and growth.
Therefore, if employees receive
special attention and are encouraged to participate, they
perceive their work has significance,
and they are motivated to be more productive, resulting in high
quality work. !
2. Watch the following videos of Elton Mayo’s Hawthorne
Studies research.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=W7RHjwmVGhs&list=PLcjaMbVtfVvFRtQOsoPQ4OQmAwZ
IYPRcq&index=1
!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEwCWR5Vkpw
The results of Professor Elton Mayo's Hawthorne studies proved
that the factor most influencing
productivity is relationships. The researchers realized
productivity increased due to relationships
and being part of a supportive group where each employee's
work had a significant effect on the
team output. As a side result, the researchers noticed that the
increased attention the workers
received by the researchers increased motivation and
productivity, which resulted in what is the
Hawthorne Effect.
After the Hawthorne experiments, Abraham Maslow and

5. Douglas McGregor revealed how their
motivational theory complemented theories of human relations.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Theory (1943, 1954) suggested five basic needs (physiological,
safety, love, esteem and self-
actualization) were motivating factors when viewing an
employee's work values, because the
employee is motivated to ensure the most important of these
individual needs are met.
McGregor was a contemporary of Abraham Maslow and also
significantly contributed to
developing management and motivational theory. He is best
known for his Theory X and Theory
Y concepts as presented in his book “The Human Side of
Enterprise” (1960), which proposed
that a manager’s individual assumptions about human nature
and behavior determined how an
individual would manage his/her employees. The Theory X and
Theory Y concept supported
motivation beliefs by realizing that employees contribute more
to the organization if they feel
responsible and valued.
Motivator–Hygiene Theory
Psychologist Frederick Herzberg’s Motivator–Hygiene Theory,
also known as the Two-factor
Theory and began in 1964, also had an influence on Job
Characteristics Theory and sought to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7RHjwmVGhs&list=PLcja
MbVtfVvFRtQOsoPQ4OQmAwZIYPRcq&index=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEwCWR5Vkpw
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychologist
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Herzberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Herzberg

6. increase motivation and satisfaction through enriching jobs.
According to Herzberg, individuals
are not content with the satisfaction of lower-order needs at
work (those needs associated with
minimum salary levels or safe and pleasant working conditions).
Rather, individuals look for the
gratification of higher-level psychological needs having to do
with achievement, recognition,
responsibility, advancement, and the nature of the work itself.
These ideas parallel Maslow's
hierarchical needs theory.
However, Herzberg added a new dimension to this theory by
proposing a two-factor model of
motivation. The theory predicts changes in “motivators,” which
are intrinsic to the work (such
as recognition, advancement, and achievement) will lead to
higher levels of employee
motivation and satisfaction; while “hygiene factors,” which are
extrinsic to the work (such as
company policies and salary) can lead to lower levels of
dissatisfaction. Thus, satisfaction and
dissatisfaction are not on a continuum with one increasing as
the other diminishes, but are
independent occurrences. This theory suggests that to improve
job attitudes and productivity,
administrators must recognize and attend to both sets of
characteristics and not assume that an
increase in satisfaction leads to decrease in dissatisfaction.
Quality Improvement Theory
Quality Improvement Theory is based on the idea that jobs can
be improved through the analysis
and optimizing of work processes. Quality management, a

7. recent occurrence in business,
ensures that an organization, product, or service is consistent
and has four main components:
quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality
improvement. Quality
management is focused not only on product and service quality,
but also on the means to
achieve it. Therefore, it uses quality assurance and control of
processes as well as products to
achieve more consistent quality.
Walter A. Shewhart made a major step in the evolution towards
quality management in 1924
when he first proposed a method for quality control for
production, using statistical methods.
This became the foundation for his ongoing work on statistical
quality control. W. Edwards
Deming later applied statistical process control methods in the
United States during World War
II, thereby successfully improving quality in the manufacture of
munitions and other strategically
important products. After WWII, Japan decided to make quality
improvement a national
imperative as part of rebuilding their economy, and sought the
help of Shewhart, Deming and
Joseph Juran. W. Edwards Deming championed quality
improvement ideas in Japan from 1950
onwards and brought new life to Japanese manufacturing.
Deming’s Total Quality Management
Theory (and others’ theories) was eventually implemented in
U.S. manufacturing companies in
the 1970s, as a result of Japanese manufacturing outperforming
U.S. companies and achieving
very high levels of quality in products they produced.
Current quality management theories include Six Sigma,

8. Kaizen, ISO 15504, ISO 9004, ISO 9001
(for IT, processes, and management), Quality Circles, Taguchi
Methods, and Business Process Re-
engineering.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recognition_%2528sociology%25
29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advancement_%2528inheritance%
2529
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achievement_%2528heraldry%25
29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salary
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_assurance
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_control
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_quality
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_%2528business%2529
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_A._Shewhart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shewhart
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_M._Juran
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Edwards_Deming
Week 4 DB - How HR, Motivation, and Time and Motion
Studies Relate to Job and Work Design
!
!
This week's DB focuses on some historical aspects on work and
job design (i.e.,
Time and Motion Studies) and employee motivation i.e.,
(Maslow's Hierarchy -
Theory of Self-Actualization). To participate in the first part of
the DB and to do
your first DB post:

9. 1 Read Week 4 - HR, Work Design, and Employee
Motivation.docx � �
( Attached )
◦ Be sure to watch the videos and take notes
2 Read DB Week 4 - Motivating at Eagle
Pharmaceutical.pdf Case Study
( Attached )
3 Post your answers to the case study in 150-200
words.
◦ To ensure maximum points, incorporate information
from:
▪ Chapter 4 ( Attached )
https://marymount.instructure.com/courses/8268/files/207063/d
ownload?wrap=1
https://marymount.instructure.com/courses/8268/files/221997/d
ownload?wrap=1