Chapter 17 in A History of Management Thought by Daniel A. Wren

1. Human Relations in
Concept and Practice
Mutia Ulfi 29014016
Regarding to a book of Daniel A. Wren, “The History of
Management Thought”

2. Outline
Hawthorne
Study
HR:
Reviewing
the impact
on teaching
& practice
Extending
&
Applying
HR
Revisited
Organized
Labor

3. Seeds of Human Relations in Early
(before Hawthorne Study)
Humanists of
the
Renaissance
Rediscovery of
the human
being as a unit
of study
Robert Owen
Workers as
“vital
machine”
Taylor
Individual
development–
Scientific
Management
Hugo
Münstenberg
Industrial
psychology –
responding the
call for better
understanding
people at work
Whiting
Williams
Industrial
sociology –
attention to
people should
be an
organization
function
14th – 17th 1771-1858 1856-1915 1863-1916 1878-1975

4. Hawthorne Study
Logical efficiency
Illogical sentiment
• Interpersonal
relations
• Listening
• Communication
• Socio-human
skills for the
manager leader
Smoothly
accepted?
Premises
• Bell
• Landsberger
• Fox
• McNair
• Knowles
Research
Methods
&
Results
• Sykes
• Carey
• Roethliesberger
• Franke & Kaul
• Schlaifer
Hawthorne
Revisited
Hawthorne
Study
(1924-1932)
Elton Mayo

5. Hawthorne Study: Revisited
Premises
Who? Assumptions Observed Criticism
Bell
Nature of social industry &
Mayoist view of social systems
Managed social system + adjustment -->
human equation = industrial equation
HR style of supervision was to replace thinking
about improving work itself
Landsberger
Commonality of interest could be
found between labor and
management
Instead of to eliminate conflict, the goal is
better to provide healthy outlets
Fox
When bliss was attained, higher
productivity was the result
HR was not an "end", but it was the process
McNair Compartmentalizing knowledge
It should be an integral part of managerial
development
Knowles Compartmentalizing knowledge Better mix of managerial skills
Premises
Hawthorne
Revisited

6. Hawthorne Study: Revisited
Hawthorne
Revisited
Overall challenges to the basic premises of Mayoist:
• Accepted that worker could be manipulated to fit
into the industrial equation.
• It is assumed that cooperation and collaboration
are a natural, thus they ignored the more complex
issues in social conflict.
• Confused means and ends in assuming that the goal
of contentment and happiness would lead to
harmonious equilibrium and organizational
success.
Premises
Hawthorne
Revisited

7. Hawthorne Study: Revisited
Methods & Results
Who? Methods & Results Criticism
Sykes (result) Money did not motivate The opposite result concluded by Hawthorne
Carey
Money did not motivate and friendly
supervision which motivate worker (result) Hawthorne experiments concerned about increasing
output through the view of economic incentives and
the use of a firm hand in discipline
Cooperative workers were being selected
in participating the project (method)
Roethliesberger
(result)
The researchers concluded that
supervision, not incentives, led to the
increases
It was a conceptual scheme for finding out what the
relations in particular organization at a particular
place and time were, not what they should be
Franke & Kaul
(result)
The researchers concluded that
supervision, not incentives, led to the
increases
What increasing productivity were the use of
discipline, the economic milieu, and relief from
fatigue; not supervisory style nor financial incentives
Schlaifer &
Toelle (result)
The researchers concluded that
supervision, not incentives, led to the
increases
The passage of time alone was sufficient to explain
the increased productivity
Trahair &
Gillespie (result)
Equilibrium of logical efficiency and
illogical sentiments
Mayo “manufactured” the Hawthorne findings in term
of making it a base of his political & social theory
Research
Methods
& Results
Hawthorne
Revisited

8. Hawthorne Study: Revisited
Hawthorne
Revisited
Overall challenges to the basic Methods & Results of
Mayoist:
• Economic incentives were played down as a contributing
factor as the Hawthorne Study proceeded and money
was indeed a contributing factor.
• It was not only supervisory style nor financial incentives
that increasing productivity.
• Science versus advocacy problem  Mayo selected
perceived data to fit his social philosophy.
Research
Methods
& Results
Hawthorne
Revisited

9. Extending & Applying Human Relations
Hawthorne
study:
HR with
supervisory
“flavor”
After
Hawthorne
Study:
HR with
interpersonal
relations
“flavor”
Improving
labor
management
relations Lewin’s Center for
Group Dynamics
Chicago
Groups
Tavistock
Institute London
Harvard
University
Chester
Barnard
Institute for
Social Research
HR in industries with focusing
on field research method
HR with longitudinal
and sociotechnical
system research
HR with case
study approach
Organization = social
system
Human assets
• Group membership
• Intergroup relation
• Social perception
• Functioning group
• Communication
• Group production

10. Organized Labor & Human Relations
Premise
Was it?
The fact is…
• Hawthorne Studies had been concluded in 1932
which means organized labor had not made its great
pace.  It was more fair to said that Hawthorne
Studies only considered low influence of labor.
• Despite that inaccurate conclusion, Human relations
thought entered the revisionist period in 1950’s…

11. Organized Labor & Human Relations
Scientific
managem
ent
Organized
labor
Industrial
Human
Relations
Background:
There was a conflict between labor and management in
dividing the surplus
The answer to industrial conflict was by
overcoming the conflicting interest and
ideologies of management and workers
(organized labor)
Morris
Cooke
(1878-1975)
Robert
Valentine
(1872-1916)
Wages &
Work
Hour
51%
Union
Organizing
Drives
21%
Other
28%
WORK STOPPAGES
REASON IN 1920-1929
Wages &
Work Hour
31%Union
Organizing
Drives
53%
Other
16%
WORK STOPPAGES
REASON IN 1935-1939
Wages &
Work Hour
21%
Union
Organizing
Drives
34%
Other
45%
WORK STOPPAGES
REASON IN 1930-1934
1940’s – Early 1950’s
Feelings of people became more concerned rather than logic of
organization such as charts, rules, and directives.
Human Relations:
intangible
Human relations skill:
worker = center of
attention

12. Conclusion
Human
Relations
Human
Relations
• Though it was got many criticism in revisit, Hawthorne
Study was the beginning for formal Human Relations
concept brought by academia (Harvard & MIT).
• In Human Relations’ concept and practice, trust is a
crucial thing in building the interpersonal relationship.
• Financial incentives had to be included in seeking
productivity gains
• The major difference between the human relations era
and organizational behavior is the theme (including
feelings, sentiments, and collaboration) which is in
contrast with scientific investigation.
Scientific
management
Industrial
psychology
Industrial
sociology
Interpersonal
relations
Industrial
human relations