An Outline of the History of Management Thought
The Human and the Neo-Human Relations School
Falkné dr. Bánó Klára
BGF Külkereskedelmi Főiskolai Kar
Falkne.dr.BanoKlara@kkfk.bgf.hu
falk.cs@t-online.hu
Summary of Management theories
The Hawthorne Studies (1924-32) (E. Mayo)
Four main stages:
Hawthorne effect – people receiving attention perform better
1. The illumination experiments
2. The Relay Assembly Test Room Study
3. The interviewing programme
4. the Bank Wiring Observation Room Study
(importance of the informal groups/organisation
came to light)
THE CONCLUSIONS
DRAWN FROM THE HAWTHORNE STUDIES
• Workers respond primarily to the social context of the
workplace.
• The workers’ need for recognition and a sense of belonging
are important.
• A person’s attitude to work is shaped by the group to
which he/she belongs in the company.
The worker is more responsive to the social forces of
his/her peer group than to the controls and incentives
of management.
Comparing the Classical and the Human
Relations School
Early Modernists Compared; the Neo-Human Relationists
(Human Resource Theorists)
Human Resource Theorists (Neo-Human
Relationists)
• Autonomous human beings display potential for growth
and self-actualisation (A. Maslow)
• Individual behaviour is affected by the environment (K.
Lewin)
• Organisations stifle individual growth, this leads to
ineffectiveness (D. Mc Gregor: Theory X; Y, C. Argyris)
• Building work teams (R. Likert)
• Intergrating individual needs with organizatonal goals (all)
Human Resource Theorists (Neo-Human Relationists)
Kurt Lewin
• Field theoretic perspective – the environment has an
influence on the behaviour of an individual
• The notion of action theory and research – social scientists
should not only describe human activity (human
relationists) but should learn from active attempts to
change social systems
Lewin’s influence is apparent on Likert, Mc Gregor, Argyris
THE NEO-HUMAN RELATIONS SCHOOL
(or Human Resource Theorists)
continued the tradition of the Human Relations School but
they went further:
• Human beings are autonomous beings (not only social
beings) who wish to utilize their creative potential.
• These theorists are concerned with productivity in the
workplace and the application of behavioural science
concepts to increase organisational effectiveness.
• They all advocated participative democracy as a way of
functioning in modern organisations.
Behavioural management theory (Human and Neo-Human Relations)
Behavioural management theory (Human and NeoHuman Relations Schools) General Summary cont.