The scientific management was developed by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 - 1915). It is a theory of management with the intention of increasing employee's performance by using scientific means. Taylor had observed that while employees were working in industries, even the most able and skilled worker would work at the pace of the slowest worker, as to him he had nothing to gain by working hard and nothing to lose by working less efficiently. Therefore the overall performance of these organizations was greatly handicapped. Taylor thus proposed four principles of management that greatly contributed to management of people. His suggestions were as follows, 1.) Develop scientific criteria of selecting individual, scientifically train them to specialize and develop their capacities to perform. 2) Enhance labor division that will see work breakdown to simple, easily repetitive tasks of an individual work. 3) Enhance mutual co-operation between employees and the management. 4) Each element of an individuals work was to be developed scientifically consequently replacing the thumb-rule method. This approach was not only developed for manufacturing entities but also for governments and university managements. In the previous thumb-rule method, employees were working very hard at the expense of their work satisfaction. In the scientific management, employees were provided with breaks away from work to reduce fatigue. For example, a group of workers was observed to be more efficient while taking breaks between works at other times. This approach also has seen the shift from human production to automated machine production eliminating labor unions. This is because Work is planned for to maximize the Productivity as well as fulfill standard procedures. "The labor should include rest breaks so that the worker has time to recover from fatigue."(Taylor 1911, 59).The main objective is to satisfy the worker while increasing the profits for the organization. Wage incentives for the hard working workers would form a rewarding scheme that would motivate all workers to aim for optimum performance.
However, this approach was limited as it overlooked the following factors, 1) that individuals are diverse and therefore one's perceived best way of working is not necessarily the best for other people. 2) Rarely do the interests of the management and the interests of the workers run unparallel. A 200 percent increase in productivity was ultimately realized after implementing the four management principles. Henry L. Gantt, an associate of Taylor also contributed to the management of people when he developed an incentive system that rewarded employee for completing their work before the laid down deadline.
The human relations theory approach edifies the value of persons who work for organizations, their economic and psychological welfare, as it is argued that there is no organization without human beings. Elton Mayo in the late1920's together with researchers from Harvard University initiated a study whose outcome described the Hawthorne effect. The experiment was done in Cicero Illinois at the Western Electric Plant. Some workers were evaluated in a work environment with enough lighting and later their work performance evaluated under conditions of dim light. It was observed that their performance improved though the work environment 'deteriorated'. To explain this phenomenon, Elton Mayo attributed the improvement of performance to the workers' awareness that they were being monitored. This aspect of human behavior as a result of recognition is what was termed as the Hawthorne effect. Mayo suggested that instilling a sense of recognition and importance in your work force would lead to increased productivity of the organization. The human relations movement is believed to have begun in 1800's. At the time, it was difficult to associate neither the working conditions nor the safety measures in the working environment with productivity of an organization. With the onset of industrial revolution, work was characterized with long working hours and less pay. Workers welfare had least priority. Work was deemed as being more physical oriented than it is social. The organizations goal was to make more profits at the expense of workers' satisfaction. However, the human relations approach has had significant contributions to how people are managed in present day organizations. One of the skills on demand nowadays in many organizations and which is as a result of human relations approach is interpersonal skills. It is regarded that one should have interpersonal skills in addition to their technical skills in order to encourage employees to work together harmoniously.
It is believed that this measure is part of solving conflicts whenever they arise in the workplace and forms the bulwark of good relationships. Most organizations emphasize the need for good relationships between them and their customers. This relationship is treasured more than the actual transactions that bring monetary benefit to the organization. As a result employees need to be more sensitive to their customers' needs which further calls for quality service and product delivery. To secure the safety of workers most organizations have extended insurance cover to their work force, in situations where they are prone to more risk of danger for example in electricity generation and distribution companies as well as building and construction workers. Team work has now become an embraced method f handling work in most organizations. Every person has a role to play. Hence if their relationship is constrained, this will negatively impair the organization's performance. Furthermore, communication between management and employees has been greatly improved. It s no longer one way, from top to bottom only, but also incorporates feedback channels for employees to interact with their managers. Excellent human relations are governed by sound communication. One aspects of human behavior such as attitudes or believes may be influenced by the organizations requirements of their work force in terms of conduct and ethics. To meet their goals, most organizations re now seeking the expertise of motivational speakers and workshop facilitator's in order to have a satisfied, confident and motivated work
force.
The United Kingdom's Cadbury Chocolate factory Bourneville plant is an example of an organization that found the value of human relations when it provided its work force with housing, worship place and other social infrastructure.
In conclusion there is no one perfect way. Both are complements to each other. "To think there is one best way in managing human resources is simplistic and wrong". (Stiles, 2009).
