Human Relations Movement. How It Changed Management

HR Word of the day: Human Relations Movement. How It Changed Management

Introduction

• The human relations movement was a crucial shift in management history. Here's what it is, and how it changed management.
• Human relations are a critical part of the workplace and have been guided largely by the basics of the human relations movement.
• There are a few key applications of the human relations movement that can be used to increase employee motivation and improve performance.

It is important for companies to apply the principles of the human relations movement to their management of employees.

Who started the human relations movement?

The human relations movement was born from the Hawthorne studies, which Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger conducted from 1924 to 1932. Originally, the studies focused on how physical conditions, like lighting, affected workers' productivity, but the studies found that one of the biggest factors influencing employees’ performance was whether they were being observed by others.

In other words, relationships between workers and management affect employee efficiency. If workers are being analyzed by their boss, they will be more motivated to do well – a phenomenon known as the Hawthorne effect.

Being part of a group and having a specific responsibility in that group also increased employees’ motivation. Workers want to feel that their personal goals and development goals align with their team’s overall goals and that their work is valuable.

Human Relations vs Human Resources

Some, if not most, employee management styles are predicated on the tenets of the human relations movement. All employee management styles require the use of human resources (HR), not to mention a department devoted to HR. This distinction raises the question: How do human relations and human resources differ?

Human relations encompass all interactions between employees and your company. That means not just how your employees interact with you (the business owner), but your work environment, all your other employees, your clients, and anyone else they come into contact with in the course of their work. Human relations aims to ensure that your employees are as happy and productive – not the latter at the expense of the former – as possible.

Human resources somewhat disregard interpersonal interactions and treat your employees primarily as resources. An HR manager or outsourced HR firm may view your team as largely another cog in your machine while occasionally thinking about their wants and needs. This distinction stems in part from the fact that your HR team may be responsible for minimizing your risk, a task sometimes at odds with employee happiness.

What were the results of the human relations movement?

The human relations movement was a crucial event in management history and a major contribution to today’s leadership style. 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.

How can human relations management improve employee performance?

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 ensure they know their hard work is being noticed. This will encourage others to work hard to achieve company goals as well.

Essentially the Hawthorne studies concluded that when employers take an interest in workers and make decisions based on their natural needs and psychological makeup, productivity increases. They also found that people work best when organized into groups when they can have effective two-way communication with their leaders, and when leaders communicate and share information freely as part of an overall cohesive decision-making process.

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.