In this essay I will argue that the human relations approach to management is better than the classical approach. I will do this by identifying 8 of the main key areas of the Human Relations approach and compare them against the classical approach but before I start the comparisons I believe that we should 1st define what each one is.
Human relations approach:
"Human relations pertains to motivating people in organisations in order to develop teamwork which effectively fulfils their needs and leads to achieving organisational goals."(wikianswers.com)
Classical approach:
"Classical approach of management professes the body of management thought based on the belief that employees have only economical and physical needs and that the social needs & need for job satisfaction either does not exist or are unimportant. Accordingly it advocates high specialization of labour, centralized decision making & profit maximization." (slideshare.net)
I also believe that the cartoon below shows the differences between the HR approach and the classical approach. (Dilbert.com)
The Official Dilbert Website featuring Scott Adams Dilbert strips, animations and more
In the 1st box the manager is taking a classical approach to change by wanting a manager to get the employees to embrace the changes that the company wants to make. The 2nd box shows some of the thinking behind the human relations approach and that is that if you have strategies that make sense and that the employees like then they are more likely to assist in making those changes which in turn is less likely to create conflict within the organisation.
As this is a Dilbert cartoon the manager naturally finds a reason to object to the idea.
Personal opinion
Having defined what the two approaches are I'm now going to explore 8 of the main key aspects of the Human relations approach to management in more detail
Staff aren't just motivated by money, they need to be shown recognition and appreciation.
Workers are Human and they need to be treated like humans
An organisation works not just through formal discussions but also informal discussions
Workers need a high degree of job satisfaction and security
Workers need good communication from managers
Workers want freedom when they are in work
Workers want to avoid conflict and misunderstandings
Employees want to participate in decision making
(Kalyan city blogspot)
Staff aren't just motivated by money, they need to be shown recognition and appreciation.
In this day and age people want more than money; their mantra is that you "work to live not live to work."(thirtysixmonths.com) The human relations approach recognises this and it shows its recognition through rewards and incentives, Recognition can be as simple as a good morning or a thank you and appreciation can be staff night outs or similar events. These simple measures can increase staff happiness which can then increase productivity and this will help achieve a company's main goal of making a profit. Also by showing staff that they are appreciated they are more likely to stay with the company long term, this in turn saves the company money as it doesn't have to look for staff as often as it otherwise would.
Another popular way is profit sharing, this means that if a company makes profit then it shares it with its employees, this offers a real physical way of showing staff they are appreciated.(Human resources.com)
Also if employees know that they are going to get some of the profit they will worker harder. Whilst it is a monetary reward it's something that the employees will work for and therefore it can be seen as a gift of appreciation.
This attitude is the polar opposite to the traditional model whose attitude is that you live to work
And once you are paid a decent wage then nothing else matters as money is the means to happiness. Whilst this traditional idea suits many young single employees once they start to settle down and have family's then they tend to move away from the classically managed companies and move to those whose general style is human resource led as it can offer a better work/ life balance.
Workers are Human and they need to be treated like humans
The days when workers were pawns in a bigger game of profit are gone, they no longer want to be treated like slaves or 2nd class citizens and if they aren't treated with respect and courtesy then they will leave and go to a company who will treat them the way they want to be treated and that is with respect.
The human relations approach recognises this and it strives to treat each employee with respect and many enshrine this right to respect in their employees charter of rights. If we take a look just one company's charter we can see that it says it very clearly
"EVE will treat you with a respectful, polite and considerate manner whilst protecting your
Dignity at all times (with a level of confidentiality) as per "Dignity at Work" guidelines." (eve.ie)
This is the complete opposite of the traditional model where staff were spoken down to and treated in a rude and uncaring manner. if we look the professional kitchen environment which from personal experience is a perfect example of the classic management style head chefs are having to treat their staff with respect and the days of pots and pans being thrown at staff or calling them unrepeatable names have gone or are getting less and less common and if a junior chef is bullied or treated inhumanly then a quick word with the duty manager or HR department normally gets the issue fixed pretty quickly.
In the classical approach a word with the duty manager or HR department would have led to more bullying and harassment which would have been over looked as it being abused/ bullied was considered part of your training.
An organisation works not just through formal discussions but also informal discussions
Even though a lot of work and decisions takes place in the meeting and board rooms of companies, many more will take place around the water coolers and smoking huts as people from different departments mingle and chat. Over time this social group gets to know each other and they can ask questions or raise concerns about issues that they might have in an informal off the record setting. Once again going on personal experience of being a chef for 10 years a manager would never ask me for a favour when I was working as he knew that the answer would be a short sharp no, but if they asked it during a coffee break then would more probably get the answer they wanted without anyone being seen to give way. Likewise if I wanted a piece of equipment fixed I would mention it to the engineer during one of these coffee breaks and it was done faster than if it had gone through the head chef. This method of communication is now being encouraged more and more by companies as they see can see the benefits and rewards of these informal meetings.
This fly's in the face of the traditional model where all informal breaks were frowned upon and any water cooler chats were treated with deep suspicion. In fact in some company's if you spoke to a person from another department your manager would want to know what you or they were up to.
Workers need a high degree of job satisfaction and security
With the traditional approach a person's job was never 100% safe so they were always looking over their shoulders wondering if they would have a job when they go into work, or like the employees of the UBS they only found out that they had lost their jobs when their swipe cards didn't work (independent.ie)
The human relations approach recognises that this way of working isn't productive to a company and it can result in a high staff turnover, low morale and inter departmental rivalry. The way that managers tackle this is to give their employees a secure job and one that is satisfying to them.
A classic experiment is to offer people a job of moving items from one conveyor belt to another, this job would offer good pay, good working conditions and decent holidays. But very few people would opt to do it on a day to day basis as it was classed as boring and unsatisfying. The human relations approach recognises this and it attempts to automate the repetitive unsatisfying tasks such as the one outlined above. The classical approach to the problem is to ignore it and not care what the employees thought because once they were paid then that's all that mattered.
Workers need good communication from managers
The human relations approach is to let employees know what's happening, the reason for this is that if staff know what's happening then they are more likely to embrace change and work with the company rather than resist change or new ideas. Communication can also open the way for discussions and new ideas to develop from the bottom up for its not just managers who have great ideas but also their employees and this can lead to increased productivity and staff morale.
The traditional approach scorns the idea of communications and believes that employees will do as they are told when they are told, this traditional method can lead to unrest in the company and a company whose employees are managed in this manner are more likely to strike or cause industrial unrest.
Workers want freedom when they are in work
The human relations approach embraces and accepts that people don't want to be watched 24/7 and that employees have their own quirks in their ways of working, these quirks whilst not the norm allow the worker to achieve maximum effiency. Also if an employee knows that aren't being watched and they don't have a manager breathing down their necks then they are more likely to get a job done faster.
This freedom can also include working hours, if you allow staff to start late or finish early or vice versa you are more likely to have happy staff who will stay longer as it could allow them to look after their family's needs whilst allowing a company to retain highly qualified and motivated staff. This can in turn lower the company's recruitment costs.
Google allows its engineers to work on their own pet projects for about 20% of the time (workhapptnow.com) and its through these personal projects that Google has come up with new products and ideas.
This idea is alien to the traditional model where freedom in work is seen as an absolute no. The Classical approach sees staff starting and finishing at exact times and they aren't allowed to openly express ideas. The staff are treated more as means to an end, rather than an end to a means.
Workers want to avoid conflict and misunderstandings
Very few people go to work wanting to have an argument with someone and most people will try to avoid misunderstandings as its by avoiding these kind of events that allows people to work together and to be more productive in work. The human relations approach embraces this avoidance and encourages employees to air any concerns or misunderstandings.
These conflicts can range from values where people with different values and beliefs clash to environmental values. These environmental conflicts can be local i.e. local rules and regulations to worldwide e.g. the current recession,
The important thing to remember is that the human relations approach embraces these challenges and tries to overcome them through dialogue with the respective staff members
The classical approach can be seen to encourage conflict because if 2 departments are in conflict with each other then they can't turn against management. A great example of this is chefs versus waiters.
Chefs and waiters are notorious for not getting on and always fighting and there never quite seems to be a winner, if you look closely you will in fact see that the winner is the management because there isn't a cohesive force to fight for change and management will continue to rule by the" do as I say or leave "mantra. This can be considered to classic management style and it's still prevalent in a lot of eating establishments
Employees want to participate in decision making
If employees are allowed to have a say in the decision making process of a company then they are more likely to stay with the company for longer, the company keeps valuable knowledge in house and they save on recruitment costs.
Also if you give employees a say in any changes taking place then they are also more likely to embrace those changes and they will go with the flow and indeed they will help the company implement them and at times improve the proposed changes.
The classical approach ignores such an idea and this can lead as it believes that the only ideas that employees have are those that benefit themselves and not the company.
Conclusion
Based on the 8 headings above Its my opinion that if a company wants to get the best out of its work force then it will use the human relations approach to managing its staff rather than the classical approach and by using the human relations approach they are better able to adapt to change.
Some people might argue that the classical approach is better suited for a yes sir no sir environment such as the armed forces or organisations where there is a clear hierarchal structure and while that may be true it's my own experience that these type or organisations stifle creativity and they suffer from a high staff turnover, once again I use my example of kitchens where the average length of service for a chef in one organisation is 18 months. The average time that an employee stays with a company is 4-6 years (linkedin.com). This long term staying power that's created through the human resource approach can only be a good thing for a company
