SCHOOL OF HUMAN RELATIONS: CHARACTERISTICS AND INFLUENCE - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The school of human relations or humanistic school of administration is an administrative current that emerged in the 1920s from experiments carried out by Elton Mayo in Hawthorne.

In these experiments, Mayo showed that a company's employees increase their productivity to the extent that they feel integrated. This meant that work began to be seen as a group activity, conditioned by social standards and the company as a social system in which the human being is the fundamental element.

At the time this theory appeared there was a great need to humanize the administration, and overcome the mechanistic idea of ​​classical theory. In addition, sciences such as Psychology and Sociology were being developed, so they tried to apply their concepts to the organizations of the time.

In fact, the humanistic vision of the Administration was possible thanks to the contribution of John Dewey with his pragmatic philosophy and Kurt Lewin with his dynamic psychology.

What is the theory of human relations based on?

Portrait taken in 1935 of Elton Mayo. Unknown author / Public domain

Elton Mayo based his theory on the discoveries he was making in his experiments according to which there were certain principles that governed the behavior of the worker. These principles include:

Social rewards and sanctions

In the experiment, workers who exceeded the production goal lost the affection and respect of their peers. But the same thing happened to those workers who did not reach it.

This gave rise to subsequent inquiries about the psychological mechanisms that operated in these cases.

Informal groups

Elton Mayo identified that the workers created an organizational structure that did not generally coincide with the formal structure of the company.

In this “parallel” structure, norms, beliefs, expectations, and systems of sanctions and rewards are also created.

Emotions

Another of the principles that emerged from the May works was the one referred to the role of emotion at work.

From there, the importance of human relationships and cooperation for people in their work was considered as a way to avoid conflicts and maintain group cohesion.

Supervision

Perhaps one of the most contradictory findings at the time, was the reference to the supervision style that seemed to influence the increase in production. It was a tacit need for workers to receive dignified treatment from managers.

The need for supervisors who knew how to communicate respectfully and cordially with employees became clear. Democratic and persuasive supervisors were needed.

The workers were people and as such, they needed to be treated with respect and for their dimension as social beings to be valued.

Motivation

The importance of motivation for any human action was also revealed. Here psychology had a great influence postulating the desire to satisfy a need, it moves the individual to act.

In this sense, the correct motivation would make a worker increase his production and work at ease.

Leadership

Another of the principles that governs the humanist school is the interpersonal influence of the leaders that emerges in social groups.

This fact, as well as the one referring to supervisory styles, put the focus on the importance of developing managerial roles with an eminently humanistic vision.

Communication

Being one of the pillars of social organization, communication became a priority concern in organizational management.

It is through communication that management objectives are transmitted to workers and transformed into motives.

Group dynamic

Kurt lewin

It was a concept developed by Kurt Lewin, according to which dynamics is the sum of the interests of the group members.

What were the main criticisms of the school of human relations?

Among those who criticize this position, the most common arguments are:

Method

The questioning of its scientific validity, since it only used a methodological instrument to reach its conclusions.

Likewise, later studies dismantled his postulates on the relationship between worker satisfaction and productivity, leadership and productivity, and participation in decision-making and productivity.

Finally, it was argued that the methodology used generated confusion regarding the meaning of participation.

Focus

It is also said that he placed a lot of emphasis on the issue of happiness at work, leaving aside other relevant aspects such as satisfaction with the opportunity for professional development, for example.

Another topic of debate was the supposed collective vision of the people in the organization, to the detriment of individualism.

Purposes

Landsberger (1958) and Braverman (1974) accused the school of human relations as simply a way of increasing the productivity of workers without a real interest in improving relations between them.

Influence of the school of human relations

The theory of human relations prevailed in organizational management until the mid-1950s.

This theory was opposed to the prominence of the task, inherited from Taylor's scientific vision; the structuralism of Fayol; and the bureaucracy defended by Weber. Similarly, it gave rise to the emergence of new areas of organizational research:

• Leadership
• Participation of the workers
• Job redesign
• Sensitivity and training in group T
• Theory X and Theory Y

References

1. Babson College Faculty (s / f). Mayo and the Human Relations School. Recovered from: faculty.babson.edu
2. Enriquez, Ricardo (2014). Theory of human relations. Recovered from: administracionmoderna.com
3. Fundamentals of Administration (2008). School of human relations. Recovered from: courseadministracion1.blogspot.com
4. Ramos, Gloria (2007). The School of Human Relations in Telecom administration. Recovered from: gestiopolis.com
5. National university of Colombia. School of human relations. Recovered from: bdigital.unal.edu.co
6. wikipedia.org