Chapter 3

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4. Human Relations Management

Human Relations Management

The human relations approach to management focuses on people and their role as valuable organizational resources. Human relations management supports the idea that employee’s needs are important and that their efforts, motivation, and performance are affected by the work they do and their relationships with their coworkers and supervisors. Mary Parker Follett, Elton Mayo, and Chester Barnard all contributed to human relations management.

Mary Parker Follett was a social worker who believed that the best way to deal with conflict was integrative conflict resolution rather than domination or compromise. In integrative conflict resolution, both parties find an alternative that meets both of their needs instead of either side having to make a sacrifice.

Elton Mayo conducted a series of experiments at the Western Electric Company between 1924 and 1932. The “Hawthorne Studies” took place over five years, with changes in various levels of combinations of lighting, financial incentives, and work breaks and analysis of how this impacted productivity. Researchers found that productivity levels changed whether lighting was increased or decreased, workers were paid individually or according to group production, or work breaks were increased or decreased. The Hawthorne Studies revealed that human factors related to work became much more important than the workers’ physical surroundings or actual work performed. The test subjects responded to extra attention from management and being part of a cohesive group.

Chester Barnard’s experience as a top executive shaped his views of management. Barnard defined an organization as “a system of consciously coordinated activities or forces of two or more persons.” He emphasized cooperation as the key to organizations succeeding. Barnard also developed the acceptance theory of authority. A supervisor’s authority over his or her employees depends on the willingness of the employees to accept the supervisor’s right to give orders and comply with those orders. A “zone of indifference” occurs when employees automatically accept managerial authority. Generally, employees are indifferent to managerial orders if they: