Chapter 1
Human Relations:
The Key to Personal and
Career Success
Chapter 1 Objectives
• Explain the meaning of human relations.
• Discuss the importance of human relations to
organizations and careers.
• Trace the development of human relations in
business.
• Discuss 21st century competencies and your
responsibilities in a 21st century organization.
• Explain which outside forces can affect
organizations.
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
2
What Is Human Relations?
Human Relations Defined
• Human relations is the study of relationships among
people.
What Human Relations Is Not
• Knowing what human relations isn’t is as important
to your success as knowing what it is.
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
3
What Is Human Relations?
(cont.)
A Systems Approach to Studying Human Relations
• A system is a set of interrelated elements or parts
that function as a whole.
• In a system, all parts are connected to all other parts
and are affected by at least one other part, and each
part affects the whole.
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
4
Figure 1.1
Human Relations and Organizational
Productivity
External
factors
Individual
Factors in the
organization
Group
Factors in the
job
Manager
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
5
Why Is Human Relations Important?
Importance of Human Relations to Organizations
• Human relations leads to more productive
organizations.
• Organizations need people who can cooperate,
collaborate, and produce results by working
together.
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
6
Why Is Human Relations Important?
(cont.)
Importance of Human Relations to Your Career
• Effective human relations skills may be the greatest
contributor to the success or failure of your career.
• Understanding human relations gives you insight
into how and why people think and act as they do.
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
7
Why Is Human Relations Important?
(cont.)
Where Human Relations Starts
• Building human relations skills starts with
understanding your own mental and emotional
makeup and your effect on others.
• Knowing yourself, your values, and your principles
will help you understand others, practice effective
human relations, and achieve your goals.
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
8
Development of Human Relations
• Over time, several distinct and important schools of
thought on human relations have evolved:
 Classical school of management
 Behavioral school of management
 Management science school of management
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
9
Development of Human Relations
(cont.)
Classical School of Management (1900–1920s)
• Focused on efficiency
• Two branches of this theory: scientific management
theory and classical organization theory
• Scientific management theory:
 Frederick W. Taylor
 Frank and Lillian Gilbreth
• Classical organization theory:
 Henry Fayol
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
10
Development of Human Relations
(cont.)
Behavioral School of Management (1920s–1950s)
• Two branches of this theory: human relations
approach and behavioral science approach
• Human relations approach:
 Elton Mayo
 Hawthorne studies
 Researchers realized that productivity increased because
the workers were receiving attention—known as the
Hawthorne effect
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
11
Development of Human Relations
(cont.)
Behavioral School of Management (cont.)
• Behavioral science approach:
 Scientific methods were used to explore efficient
management techniques.
 Studies included both workers and managers and used
psychology, sociology, and anthropology to understand the
organizational environment.
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
12
Development of Human Relations
(cont.)
Management Science School of Management
(1960s–1990s)
• Developed during World War II to solve complex
problems of coordinating troops and supplies.
• Techniques were developed with the help of
mathematicians, physicists, and other scientists.
• Development of the computer made statistical
models easier to use.
 Models are analytical tools that help managers make
decisions and plan and control organizational activities.
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
13
Development of Human Relations
(cont.)
Information Age and Creative Age (1990s–Present)
• Partnership for 21st Century Skills concludes:
“. . . the industry economy based on manufacturing
has shifted to a service economy driven by
information, knowledge, and innovation.”
• The U.S. is now entering the creative age when
collaboration and creativity will be essential.
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
14
21st Century Skills and Responsibilities
• 21st century skills core
subjects:
 English/reading/language





arts
World languages
Arts
Mathematics and science
Geography and history
Government/civics/
economics
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
• Skills to increase
employability and
effectiveness:
 Learning and innovation
skills
 Information, media, and
technology skills
 Life and career skills
15
Figure 1.4
21st Century Skills
Learning and Innovation
Skills
Information, Media and
Technology Skills
Life and Career Skills
Creativity and innovation
Information literacy
Flexibility and adaptability
Critical thinking and
problem solving
Media literacy
Initiative and self-direction
Communication and
collaboration
Information and
communications
technology literacy
Social and cross-cultural
skills
Productivity and
accountability
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
16
Outside Forces at Work
• All organizations are vulnerable to a number of
outside forces.
• The frequency of changes within organizations
requires that employees be open to change if they
are to survive and thrive.
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
17
Outside Forces at Work
(cont.)
Types of External Forces
• Competition (locally, nationally, and internationally)
• Globalization
• Economic events (recessions)
• Legal-political events (increase in taxes, political
unrest)
• Macro concerns (going “green”)
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
18
Outside Forces at Work
(cont.)
Types of External Forces (cont.)
• Mergers and management changes
• Socio-cultural events (demographic shifts)
• Unexpected natural disasters or acts of terrorism
• Changing technology
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
19
Outside Forces at Work
(cont.)
Examples of Two External Forces and Their Impacts
• Organizational mergers:
 Organizations merge in an attempt to remain viable or to
compete globally.
 Mergers offer a challenge for both employees and the
organization.
 Employees suffer increased job insecurity and stress.
 One of the main causes leading to failure of mergers is the
neglect of “key human element issues.”
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
20
Outside Forces at Work
(cont.)
Examples of External Forces and Their Impacts (cont.)
• Technology changes:
 Organizations are adding technologies that can have a
profound impact on them and their employees.
 Computers substitute for workers who perform routine
tasks, but they complement workers who perform nonroutine problem solving.
 Employees may need to embrace new management styles,
new office processes, and maybe even new organizational
structures.
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
21
Outside Forces at Work
(cont.)
Examples of External Forces and Their Impacts (cont.)
• Technology changes (cont.):
 Increased computerization creates tasks that require
problem solving and communications skills.
 Employers need workers with expert thinking and complex
communications skills.
 Technology makes possible different ways of working:
○ The virtual office
○ Telecommuters
○ Hoteling
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
22
Outside Forces at Work
(cont.)
• Drawbacks to increased use of technology:
 Slower professional advancement
 Increased worker isolation
 Deteriorating social skills
 Effect on human brain of heavy use of digital technology
 Loss of face-to-face communication
 Internet security concerns and time-wasting
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
23
Key Terms
• Human relations
• Management science
• System
• Classical school of
•
management
• Behavioral school of
management
• Hawthorne effect
•
Chapter 1 Human Relations: The Key to Personal and Career Success
•
•
school of management
Statistical models
Virtual office
Telecommuters
Hoteling
24