Theoretical Foundations of Human Relations - Essay Example

?Articles Adam Smith delineates the division of labor in society by using the example of a needle making factory. He contends that the division of labor is necessary to increase the efficiency as well as the speed of the overall operations. Compared to manufacturing, agriculture has little division of labor available since one person manages all the functions. This makes agriculture nearly the same in terms of efficacy according to Smith. Finally Smith contends that the division of labor in his society has enabled common people to lead lives better than those of “African” kings. Taylor relates that scientific management is not concerned with measuring or quantifying physical phenomena. Instead, scientific management is about changing the mental attitudes of people involved in the production process. This involves both the line employees and the management. He contends that the root of current problems is how excess surplus should be divided between labor and management. Each side tries to maximize its benefit leading to strife. In order to avoid such a situation, it is necessary for both parties to work together to achieve more surplus than they can consume. Gulick expounds that organizational theory is essentially about the division of work in the structure. Division of work is required as more progress tends to make processes more complex thus requiring a larger degree of specialization. However, division of work is only fruitful when it fully engages the labor of a worker. Coordination is required when division of work is required. Controls have to be applied at different levels to ensure coordination in an organization. Only experts should be placed in positions of control to enhance results. The Western Electric Researches can be considered as the earliest attempts at discerning organizational behavior. The research was carried out by isolating a group of female workers responsible for assembling relays. These workers were subjected to physical changes in their working conditions including working hours, allowance for chit chatting etc. The other major physical variables such as temperature, humidity etc. were also kept under control. The results of the research showed that worker productivity was not strongly related to changes in physical variables. This indicated that worker productivity may have been affected by psychological factors as well. According to McGregor the conventional view on management centers around the maximization of production using a “firm but fair” approach. However, he contends that this theory is outdated and irrelevant anymore. He indicates that physiological needs such as safety needs, social needs, ego needs and self-fulfillment needs can be met using motivation through management function. McGregor suggests the utilization of the carrot and stick approach in order to provide incentive to workers. The management has to “create opportunities, release potential, remove obstacles, encourage growth, provide guidance” among other functions to boost output. While the conventional management theory relies on external controls, the new thinking favors internal controls. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs expounds a systematic arrangement of needs that a human being corresponds to. According to Maslow, the first stage is composed of physiological needs, the next stage of safety needs. This is followed by love needs which are followed by esteem needs. The next and the final stage is the need for self-actualization. He expounds that unless one stage of needs is not satisfied, a person cannot proceed to the next stage at all. Therefore, the lower stage is actually the pre-requisite of the next stage. In addition, a person can temporarily return to a lower order stage if need arises such as the stage for safety. Max Weber delineates his model of bureaucracy that is designated by their particular position in the hierarchy. Weber prescribes certain characteristics associated with bureaucracy and claims the bureaucratic structure to be the most well represented legal authority. Weber relates a number of characteristics for bureaucracy including their organization, positions, promotions, meritocracy etc. He also expounds that a monocratic bureaucratic structure tends to promote efficiency. French and Raven argue that influence stems from relationships in society. In order to exert influence, the influencer has a number of tools available at his disposable including psychological change, social influence and social power in order to influence the desired person. The relative influence being exerted depends on the bases of power being used. These bases of power could be composed of reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, referent power and expert power. The influencer can use these tools effectively to influence social relationships. Resistance to change is a chief problem especially in dynamic environments where work procedures and systems are continually changing. A systematic study of resistance to change was carried out at the Harwood Manufacturing Company which was a pajama stitching unit. The workforce was local and had little previous industrial experience. The majority of workers were female. Employees were transferred between different units to make them more open to change. The learning curves for the new units were slower than learning for the first jobs in the factory. The management at Harwood ensured that change was construed individually rather than as a group. Experiments were designed to gauge the connection between individual resistance to change and group support for resistance to change. The results indicated that individuals moved over to new sections were more acceptable to the change process compared to groups. Fiedler argues that effective leadership depends on what kind of situation the leadership attempt is made in. The resulting contingency model places a number of factors responsible for effective leadership in most given situations. These include leader personality and the leadership situation. These factors can also be improved through the utilization of experience and training. McClelland argues that most people can be classed as self motivated achievers and others who fail to care. People who have greater motivation derived from themselves and their environment tend to achieve more in life. Such people challenge themselves with attainable goals and tend to prefer professions where constant feedback is available. However, certain types of people tend to concentrate on achieving political control over people rather than improving their work performance. People who tend to concentrate more on achievement of goals through improvement often have impetus from their environment. Division of Labor – Adam Smith Adam Smith’s concept of division of labor has been used in modern economics to discern the various contours of the market. Smith clearly explains that in order for an economic market to advance, economic functions need to be specialized. In turn, the specialization requires that the economic workers performing these functions ought to be specialized as well. This concept has been utilized since Smith’s time to create new economic frameworks such as those presented by Karl Marx. Another issue of importance is the realization by Smith that the basic building block of the economy is the worker. This concept has been used everywhere else ranging from economic theories to management theories that assume the basic building block to be an individual. This concept has also been utilized to explain why workers come together under an entrepreneur to form firms and companies in the current form. The contention is that workers will come together to work in firms when an entrepreneur will employ them. The entrepreneur will thus lower his costs of transaction to the market and will thus increase surplus. Essentially modern management theories and approaches rely on the concepts of Adam Smith to apply effective control to organizations. Most theories of modern management attempt the problem by addressing the individual worker and his needs for specialization in an organizational environment. A Theory of Human Motivation – Abraham Maslow Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs delineates that motivation stems not on one plane but on several planes at the same time. The complex arrangement of needs presented in the hierarchy stipulate that one stage of needs serves as the prerequisite to the next stage. In progression, the final stage for these needs becomes self-actualization or a state where human needs are all satisfied. Maslow expounds that a human being’s true potential only comes about after they reach this stage by satisfying the needs for the other stage that fall lower in the hierarchy. Using Maslow’s hierarchy one can identify what level of needs a person is available at. This can then be used to search for the right motivators for the subject individual. In terms of management, this has several important consequences. For one thing, if management can tabulate the needs of the individual and address them, there is no reason to believe that motivation cannot be achieved. Also, there is a rising focus for modern management theories to focus on the individual and his needs to deal with motivation. This approach can partially be seen as dealing with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as an application to the modern management framework. Read More