Human relations theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Human relations theory - Essay ExampleMainly, the Human relations theory in organization and oversight has been attributed to Elton mayo. Mayos major(ip) theoretical stand point, according to Wood (2004, p.35),is that in the absence of an explicit understanding of the determinants of co-operative effort, rapid expert and scientific advance tends to be associated with change magnitude social disorganization. Wood (2004, p.36) has added that by social disorganization, Mayo means, a disruption (loosening, weakening, impoverishment etc.) in the social ties, codes and established routines.Wood (2004, p.36) has further clarified this persuasion of Mayo by dileneating that these social ties, codes and routines are the factors that regulates the relations of individualistics to one another in a group and they foster a strong identification of the individual to the group. So, when these are disrupted, as predicted by Mayo, the essential conditions for cooperative efforts among individu als and groups are destroyed.(Wood, 2004, p.36)Mayo (1975, p.32))also has observed that when these elements are present, the act as an atmosphere where non logical bases for co-operation are present and from which, lucid bases for cooperation can also emerge. When the kind of social disorganization as observed by Mayo (1975, p.31) happens, obsessive thinking replaces rational thinking. According to Mayo (1975, p.32), obsessive people are those who have not been trained for co-operative effort. The rational people, on the other hand, have explicit skills of communication required by the adaptive society (Wood, 2004, p.36).Mayo has analysed that as for obsessive people, there is no turning back unless they learn the skills to relate to others, modern societies without understanding of the importance of cooperative efforts and with rapid technological and scientific growth, also have no way to return from chaos (Mayo, 1975, p.33). Mayo has not put forth any magic solutions to this pro blem. He has kinda suggested some indepth and longterm measures. One such measure is to observe the relations within a group, develop these observations into a systematic social science study, just alike physical sciences and then incorporating sociology with psychological thought by an involved researcher (not a detached one) (Mayo, 1975, p.113).The Hawthorne experiments conducted by Mayo was a major milestone in the study of industrial behaviour (Mayo, 1975, p.60). He conducted an interview based research in Western Electric Company, Chicago, to analyse the development of employee attitudes and how that influences the outcome. He was searching for an optimal situation which could bring about highest productivity. Hawthorne experiment findings included observations like, an individuals identity is strongly associated with his or her group an individuals affiliation or sense of belonging to the group can be more important to him or her than monetary rewards groups can be formal o r informalboth can exercise a strong influence on individuals at work(and) managers and supervisors would do well to take this group behaviour into account when seeking to extract the maximum amount of work from their subordinates (Campbell and Craig, p.16). This was part of Mayos efforts to develop a reinvigorated approach which he named, clinical sociology. (Mayo, 1975, 65-70). In this way, Mayo wanted to add sociology to the group of natural sciences. A second experiment, named, relay assembly test room was conducted by Mayo, in which a group of women, whose work was to assembly telephone relays, were subjected to various changes in their conditions of work, payment, rest pauses etc. (Crowther &Green, 2004,p.35). And he found that workers productivity depended less on their fair game conditions and more on communicating with them well, helping them become involved in the organization and making them feel wanted and important (Crowther &Green, 2004,p.35). This experiment was a m ajor breakthrough in management studies. From his studies, Mayo inferred that every social group