Humanistic Era and Legislative Acts - Essay Example

Legislative acts such as Labor Management Relations Act and National Labor Relations Act were introduced because of employees increasing dissatisfaction. Along with the mentioned acts, many others were also introduced to resolve the issue of employees’ requirements and their fulfillment. According to Huston and Marquis (2008), many theories related to working situations and other employees’ needs were proposed by theorists but these theories were not successful in giving the required outcome.

Labor Management Relations Act

Labor Management Relations Act, also called the Taft-Hartley Act was introduced in the 1930s. The ambition behind introducing this act was to restrict employers to take unjustified actions against employees. Because of revolts by employees from different working industries, the influence of labor unions got improved. US federal government also started taking interest in the issues. The act also shows concern towards a consistent relationship between management and labor unions. The persecution of employees who are not part of the union, unacceptable membership charges, rejection of any deal with the management without considering its justness and unnecessarily suppressing of employers are some of the highlighted unjustified labor union actions in the act.

Hughes, Kapoor, and Pride (2009) inform that according to the act, the employers and management are authorized to inform the workers about the merits and demerits of being a union member by giving the right knowledge to the workers. The strikes, which are precarious in terms of the health and security of the nation, can be called off by the President of America according to the act. In addition, the workers are free to be a member of the union or reject it to their will.

National Labor Relations Act

National Labor Relations Act, also called the Wagner Act was introduced in 1935. This act gained existence during the period of the Great Depression. Due to Great Depression, employers have to minimize their functionalities, due to which, employees faced career uncertainty. Unions got active in order to support employees to get their rights. According to Jackson and Mathis (2007), collective bargaining was promoted by the US government under the Wagner act. The employees were not required to be a part of a labor union to get their rights as they had the right to just management because of the act.

According to Bohlander and Snell (2009), the Wagner Act highlighted certain unjust labor actions such as the persecution of employees in terms of using their rights, keeping bias against the workers, and rejection of the notion of a collective bargain for opting for the workers’ spokespersons.

Theorists

Mary Parker Follett informed in her theory that management should be authoritative with employees or not over them. Employees and employers should form a relationship in which, they share authority and make decisions likewise. In this manner, processing and business functions will be eased out. She introduced the term participative management in her essay, “The Giving of Orders”.  

Huston and Marquis (2008), inform about the theorist, Elton Mayo and his Harvard acquaintances who introduced the Hawthorne effect. According to Huston and Marquis (2008), productivity in a business increases in relation to the care provided to employees and in this process, the work environment is given secondary status. With consistent consideration towards employees, employees show positive attitudes towards management as they thought that they were observed by the management. Mayo and his associates also found a relationship between work groups and work environments in order to settle on the efficiency of the organization.

Kirst-Ashman and Zastrow (2009), inform about Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y that are associated with management. Employee contentment and managerial behaviors are linked to each other. According to Theory X, managers regard their workers as lethargic and inattentive towards their work and organizational needs and also think that they require to be controlled. However, according to Theory Y, managers regard their workers as efficient and attentive towards their assigned tasks and the organizational needs and also think that they are self-encouraged.

Like McGregor and Elton Mayo, Chris Argyris also claimed that authoritative behavior from the management’s side disheartens the employees and affects their performance. He introduced the employee participation theory. The management should take care of the self-respect and freedom of employees in order to make them work for the organization. The employees should be motivated and should be involved in decision-making processes.

Relevancy of the Humanistic Era to Current Management Practices

According to Mele (2003), the employees working in an organization are motivated on the basis of three reasons, which are materialistic gains such as income and associated profits, training and learning opportunities and rewards; job satisfaction or consideration of self-esteem because of linked to an organization and finally, faithfulness with the organization and comprehending organizational objectives as one’s own.  

The management can take support the above three reasons for employees’ motivation in order to make the workers loyal to the organization. These employee motives are a result of the theories presented by theorists after the 1900s. The management theories presented by the theorists are currently being used in many organizations and the acts that are formed for the betterment of employees and employers are also applicable still now. Therefore, no one can reject the notion that the humanistic era has no effect on current management practices as every associated concept with the humanistic era is used by the management of different organizations for fulfilling their business needs.