Southern New Hampshire Human Relations Theory and Relations Discussion Provide an analysis of your post – What did you take away? What did you learn? Be de

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The Illuminations Studies, the initial set of Hawthorne experiments which ranged from 1924-1927, were
of great importance to the overall Hawthorne Studies. This particular experiment was intended to study
and measure the level of productivity based on the level of illumination within the work space.
Illumination levels were gradually increased for one of two groups (experimental group) while another
group remained at a constant level of illumination (control group). “In keeping with their initial
hypothesis, the researchers found that the productivity of the experimental group increased along with
the level of illumination. Strangely, however, the productivity of the control group increased as well.”
(Mumby, 2013) This caused confusion within the researchers as there is a strong indication that there is
another variable which had caused increased productivity levels.
Following the Illumination Studies there were the Relay Assembly Test Room Studies which took place
from April 1927 – February 1933. In this experiment, there was a group of five women who were
separated from the rest of the work force and were subjected to “a much less variable work task,
shorter working hours, more rest pauses, freer and friendlier supervision, and a new wage incentive
system” and it was found that the majority of a 30% increase in productivity was related directly to the
change in supervision. This study was repeated with different groups and produced very similar results
and confirmed the original findings. Following this were the Interview Program and then the Bank
Wiring Observation Room Study.
The human relations theory can be presented as a standard in shifting the management and leadership
styles when dealing with employees and their work. Research has proven this to be a true mechanism of
change towards both productivity and employee outlook in many cases. This theory, however, merely
focuses on the mental state and psychology of the worker and does not incorporate any physiology and
therefor “control practices shifted from body to mind, but with little or no change in the nature of work
itself. Indeed, it might be said that human relations theory did not replace scientific management but,
rather, complemented it with efforts to mentally adjust workers to the industrial labor process.”
(Mumby, 2019)
Reference
Mumby, D. K. (2013). Organizational Communication: A Critical Approach. [MBS Direct]. Retrieved from
https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781483306940/
Post 2
Prior to the Hawthorne studies, autocratic leadership styles prevailed within industrial organizations.
The value place on the degree of output outweighed the needs and satisfaction level of the laborers.
Moreover, monotony of the work process, fatigue, and lack of collaboration between management and
staff was becoming a concern for the first time in modern history. Studies conducted by Hawthorne
revealed that simple changes to routine, work environment modifications, and listening to worker input
generated increased physical wellness, provided much needed economic improvement for all
stakeholders, and enhanced the social construct of the workforce. The results and recommendations
presented by Hawthorne’s research was the first attempt at replacing autocratic leadership with
participative management whereby a more balanced relationship among all levels could be achieved
(SNHU COCE, 2016).
Mumby (2013) agreed adding that early studies supported additional evaluation of organizational
cultures and processes. The results of the early research concluded that teamwork was more
productive, multilateral communication was necessary to achieve objectives and generate a prolific
work environment, and attention to worker needs allowed for improved processes which infused staff
with greater pride and allegiance to goals. Additionally, leadership styles became a focal point of
additional research, provision of a more systemic tactic to evaluate worker satisfaction and cultural
norms was provided, qualitative analysis was introduced, and industrial conflict began to diminish.
Finally, the illumination studies, although seemingly simple, delivered results that caused analysts to
delve deeper into what variables most influenced worker output and level of satisfaction. During the
illumination studies, two control groups were evaluated. The control group worked using a continuous
and constant degree of lighting. In contrast, the experimental group lighting was incrementally
adjusted. Despite the differentiation in illumination, both groups performed equally. Hersey,
Blanchard, and Johnson (2012) agreed adding that environmental changes did not improve worker
output. According to Mumby (2013), perplexed by the results, the researchers continued with a new
test involving a relay assembly test room (RATR). Workers were provided regular rest breaks, fewer
work hours, engaged with positive supervision, and were provided with a reward system. Under these
conditions, the laborers generated a substantial increase in output. Researchers concluded that the
most positive influencing factor was not the physical environment but the manner of supervision.
The resulting Hawthorne effect proved that attention to both intrinsic and extrinsic needs of each
member improves output, job satisfaction, physical well-being, and organizational culture. Subsequent
testing supported the original notion that a content worker delivers best results (Mumby, 2013). Hersey
et al. (2012) concurred noting that the ensuing Mayo research further augmented Hawthorne’s studies
by supplanting survey tactics with one-on-one informal interviews which provided key insights for
management to use to enhance job satisfaction and worker attitudes. Therefore, early research
provided a baseline from which industries could derive best practices which focus on employee feelings
and mindsets to develop and implement motivational schemes to realize positive outcomes for both the
organization and workers.
Within your current work environment, are you able to identify protocols and/or processes that
demonstrate how these early studies have helped in the evolution of modern day practices? If so,
please describe one or two examples.
References
Hersey, P., Blanchard, K. H., & Johnson, D. E. (2012). Management of organizational behavior: Leading
human resources (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Mumby, D.K. (2013). Organizational Communication – A Critical Approach. Los Angeles, CA: Sage
Publications
SNHU COCE Assistive Technology. (2016, Oct 14). MGT 510: AT&T archives: The year they discovered
people [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNPLBixRXiw
THE HUMAN RELATIONS SCHOOL
1. Placing the human relations movement in its historical and political context
a) Work conditions (ex. Ludlow massacre and Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire) led to unions and strikes.
b) The need to improve work conditions let to reform initiatives as well as a widespread interest in
alternative political systems.
c) The need for increased production for WWI led to government pressure on business owners to
provide workers with increased rights.
d) The wealth disparity between rich and poor reached unprecedented levels.
e) These conditions led to debates about democracy and its application to industrial contexts.
i) Industrial democrats called for increased participation by workers and democracy in the workplace.
ii) Realist democrats believed that administrative elites should take the lead in industrial development
because the masses could not be trusted to make objective decisions.
2. Elton Mayo and the Hawthorne Studies
a) Elton Mayo was the principal architect of the human relations movement.
i) Mayo argued that the workplace produced an extreme sense of alienation in the worker and thus,
counseling could psychologically adjust worker to their work.
ii) Modern workplaces lacked cooperative systems and administrative elites should world to create
conditions of social collaboration.
iii) The solutions to problems of the era, according to Mayo, were not in social and economic reform, but
in the application of psychological principles.
b) The Hawthorne Studies were conducted from 1924 to 1933 at the Western Electric Hawthorne plant
in Cicero, Illinois in order to investigate the importance of a variety of physical, economic, and social
variables in the workplace.
i)The illumination studies (1924-1927) studied the effects of varying the lighting on production. The
productivity of the workers increased no matter how the lighting varied.
ii)The relay assembly test room studies (1927-1933) placed a number of workers in a special test room
and altered certain variables in the conditions. Researchers determined that much of the increase in
productivity came not from those variables, but from the new system of “laissez-faire” supervision.
1.The Hawthorne effect was the name given for the phenomenon in which workers respond to the
personal attention paid to them.
iii)The interview program (1928-1931) worked as non-directive counseling and showed that workers
seemed to appreciate being recognized as individuals by the company.
iv)The bank wiring observation room study (1931-1932) observed a group of workers to examine the
natural development of informal group relations.
c) Implications of the Hawthorne Studies
i) Mayo argued that group cohesiveness could lead to a more productive workforce.
ii) HRM emphasized the positive, social aspects of informal communication.
iii) The discovery of the Hawthorne effect led to a new focus of organizational research: worker attitudes
and worker satisfaction.
iv) The studies became an impetus for leadership research.
v) The studies showed the importance of taking a systemic approach.
vi) The studies, especially the relay assembly test room study, were among the first to utilize naturalistic,
qualitative methods.
vii) The studies seemed to provide a solution to the intense industrial conflict of the times.
d) A critique of the Hawthorne Studies
i) Reexamining the empirical data
1. There were competing explanations but Mayo and his colleagues ruled these out in favor of “social
factors.”
ii) Critiquing the ideology of the Hawthorne researchers
1. Conflict was assigned a wholly negative role.
2. Managers were assumed to be rational and workers were thought of as “sentimental.”
3. The studies were gender biased and much of the Hawthorne effect may be attributable to gender
dynamics.
3. Mary Parker Follett: Bridging theory and practice
a) Follett was a pragmatist who saw groups and organizations (flat, nonhierarchical collectives) as the
vehicle for change toward greater democracy in society.
i) Follett used the notion of circular response to capture the ongoing, dynamic, and ever-changing
character of the interactions amongst people and notes that the very act of communicating changes
everyone involved.
ii) Follett distinguishes three different ways of dealing with conflict in organizational life:
1. Domination – the interests of one person are asserted over those of another
2. Compromise – both parties give up something
3. Integration – creative engagement in order to find a solution in which neither side has to make a
sacrifice
iii) Power, authority and giving of orders
1. Follett distinguishes between two types of power: “power-over” in which managers assert their
authority over workers, and “power-with” in which power is seen as coactive, not coercive.
2. Her law of the situation refers to the idea that in exercising power or giving orders, one’s authority
arises out of the needs of the situation.
b) The strange case of the disappearing theorist
i) Gender – As a woman, Follett’s ideas may not have been taken seriously
ii) Nature of Follett’s work – While most management thinkers of the time were associated with a single
idea, Follett’s work was not easily classifiable and “too rich”
iii) Political implications – Follett’s work was associated with industrial democrats which did not fit with
management thinking
4. Human resource management was an effort to motivate workers by recognizing their value to the
organization and to legitimize work as relevant to the achievement of human potential.
a) Douglas McGregor describes two sets management attitudes–Theory X and Theory Y–and argues that
Theory Y has the best chance for organizations to reach their objectives.
i) Theory X is McGregor’s label for the traditional philosophy of management control that assumes that
people do not like to work and will avoid it, people must be coerced to achieve organizational goals, and
people want to avoid responsibilities and so must be directed.
ii) He, instead, proposes Theory Y in order to realize the full potential of workers as human beings.
Theory Y management assumes that work is as natural as play, people will exercise self-direction and
self-control, commitment to objectives is based on rewards, people will accept responsibility, people are
generally creative, and the intellectual potentialities of people can be more fully utilized.
b) Rensis Likert’s Four Systems Approach classifies organizations into one of four systems, or leadership
styles:
i) Exploitative-authoritative – Similar to Theory X, motivation occurs through fear and threats, and
decisions are concentrated with top management.
ii) Benevolent-authoritative – Motivation occurs through both rewards and threats, and decisions are
made in top management with possible opportunity for comment at the lower level.
ii) Consultative – Motivation occurs through rewards, and there is some low-level participation in
decisions.
iv) Participative – Motivation occurs through rewards, and decision making is distributed throughout the
organization.
c) Critiquing Human Resource Management
i) HRM does not take different organizational contexts into account but treats them all as if they could
all benefit from the same participative models.
ii) HRM often treats the employee as an object of knowledge that can be more precisely controlled.

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