Comparative Analysis Of Scientific Management And Human Relations

There are many different businesses that sell different products and/or services and have different goals but most businesses have similar interest and important things they would love to achieve e.g. maximising efficiency, reducing costs and increasing profits. In order for businesses to achieve such goals and maintain them, they have to organise and prepare methods of working that will suit the specific job role and are 100% efficient. The purpose of this essay is to explain, analyse and compare the theories of scientific management and human relations and link it to companies such as Forsyth Travel. Management has many different theories that are split up into two different outlooks; classical and Neo-classical. Classical theories include scientific management started by Fredrick Taylor, bureaucratic organisation by Max Weber and administrative management introduced by Henri Fayol. Neo-classical theories consist of Human Relations which was established through Hawthorne experiments by Elton Mayo and the theory X and theory Y conducted by Douglas McGregor. Other examples of Neo-classical theories are Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Hertzberg motivational theory, which I will also be touching on in this essay.

Scientific management is a theory brought about by Fredrick Winslow Taylor. F.W. Taylor was considered to be the ‘father’ of scientific management. It is a theory that analyses and creates workflows to maximise productivity. He believed that there was ‘one best way’ to perform each task. In order to find out what the ‘best way’ was he would break down the tasks into different sections, timed each part and then analysed which way was the most efficient method of working.

Taylor’s theory of scientific management argued that workers don’t enjoy the work that they do naturally; therefore they need to be supervised closely. Managers then break down production into small tasks so that workers can be given appropriate training and equipment so they can work efficiently on a set task. Taylor also argued that workers should be then paid according to the number of items they produce. This is known as piece-rate pay. This is said to result in workers being more motivated and encouraged to work harder and maximise their productivity. Taylor was a strong believer in motivation. He believed if management acted on his theory and ideas, work would be more beneficial and profitable for all involved. Workers would be motivated by sustaining the highest wages possible through working efficiently. In order for his theory to be successful he created five principles to guide management.

The principles summarised are; the development of a true science for each person’s work, the scientific selection, training and development of the workers, co-operation with the workers to make sure work is carried out in the given way, hierarchal structures of authority and close supervision and the last principle is clear division of tasks and responsibility between management and the workers.

Taylor applied his ideas on scientific management on one of his famous studies in Bethlehem. The study consisted of 75 men loading an average of 12 ½ tons of pig iron per day. By following detailed instructions on when to pick up the pig iron and walk , when to sit and rest, Schmidt (who Taylor selected Dutch labourer) increased his output to 47 ½ tons per day. Over the three years of the, study, Schmidt received 60 percent more wages compared to other workers. As time went on, other workers were selected and trained to follow in the footsteps of Schmidt and also receive 60 per cent more wages. Taylor concluded that only one in eight of the workers trained were physically capable of the efforts of loading 47 ½ tons per day, however, there was a significant increase in their level of output. This study was one of Taylor’s time and motion studies. From the studies he conducted he noticed that inefficiency was caused by the lack of standard tools or techniques, no match between skills and jobs and no motivation from management. Taylor knew the importance of a ‘fair day’s work’ and the productivity of workers but ‘systematic soldiering’ was a huge obstacle. This is workers deliberately promoting their best interests and keeping employers uneducated on how fast work could be carried out. Taylor’s work was mostly concerned with the organisation of labour. His theory declared managerial control over the production process and also abolished decision making from employees. It seemed that Taylor saw employees more like robots than human beings with feelings and he failed to acknowledge the feelings and other physical and emotional needs that employees need to be motivated and not just money. Even though Taylor’s scientific management approach increased the main aim of maximum efficiency, there were some criticisms.

Henry Mintzberg critiques that Taylor’s obsession with efficiency allows quantifiable benefits to overshadow less quantifiable social benefits and social values. Workers also felt that the work was boring because it was repetitive and required very little skill. Taylor believed in his theory so much that he did not accept input from managers. House of Representatives Committee investigated Taylor’s methods in 1912 and it was concluded that scientific management provided useful techniques and organisational suggestions; however, the methods gave production managers a significantly high level of uncontrolled power.

Henri Fayol is said to be the ‘father’ of modern operational management theory which is also under the classical approach of management. He developed 14 important principles of management which explained how managers should organise and interact with their staff. The first principle is Division of Work where employees become specialised in a certain area which promotes efficiency and increases productivity. The second principle is Authority which is along the lines of managers having the authority to give orders and gaining a lot of responsibilities. Discipline is another principle which is important because it must be upheld in organisations in order for it to run smoothly. Unity of command is the fifth principle which outlines that employees should only have one direct supervisor. If employees are given responsibilities by more than one manager, it could lead to confusion or maybe even conflict. The sixth principle is Subordination of individual interest. In order to have an organisation function well, Henri Fayol suggested that personal interests should not be allowed to become more important than those of the group. Number seven is Remuneration. This means that there should be fair remuneration to keep employees motivated and productive. The eighth principle is Centralisation which refers to how close employees are to the decision making process. In an organisation it is important that there is a balance. Principle number nine is Scalar Chain which outlines employees should be aware of where they are in the organisations hierarchy and chain of command. Number ten is Order which has to do with the facilities within the workplace being clean, tidy and safe for all staff. Equity is one more which means managers should be fair to all staff always whilst disciplining and handing out acts of kindness. Twelve is Stability of Tenure of Personnel. This principle suggests that managers should aspire to minimise employee turnover. Initiative is the second to last principle and it is Initiative. Henri Fayol argued that employees should be allowed to express new ideas and be innovative. This encourages involvement within the business. Last but not least, number fourteen is Esprit de Corps. This principle stands for unity within the organisation. It is there to encourage organisations to strive to promote team spirit. There are some obvious principles within these fourteen that Fayol is talking about, however, they are very important and some organisations need to take them on bored correctly in order to run a smooth business.

The last theory I will be talking about under the classical school of thought is Bureaucratic organisation by Max Weber. His aim was to structure an organisation into a hierarchy and have clear defined rules to help guide an organisation and its staff. He saw the development of bureaucracies as a means of introducing order into social life. Max Weber developed six principles of Bureaucratic management. He emphasised the importance of administration based on expertise and administration based on discipline. The first one is Proper Division of Labour where employees are specialised in specific sections of labour and there should be a balance between power and responsibilities. The second principle is Chain of Command. This is important because there should be a clear organisational hierarchy within a business and should be organised in a way that information flows effectively from top to bottom. Number three is Separation of Personal and official property. This indicates that there should be a separation between owner and organisation assets. Application of Consistent and Complete Rules is four out of six principles. This simply means that there should be clear rules and regulations that can help run the organisation smoothly.

Number five is Selection and Promotion Based on Qualifications. Workers should be based on equalisations and promotions should not be influenced by personal relations. The last principle is that only Bureaucratic or legal power is given importance. Weber’s concept of bureaucracy has several disadvantages and criticisms. One disadvantage of this concept is the emphasis on only rules and regulations. Bureaucracy also includes a lot of paperwork and levels of authority which leads to a waste of important resources such as time, effort and money. Lacking in this area could lead to a decrease in efficiency. It is critiqued that this theory restricts the psychological growth of the individual and can cause failure and conflict within an organisation.

The human relations approach pays attention to the social factors at work and the behaviour of employees within an organisation. The main theories under the Neo-classical school of thought are Mayo and the Hawthorne experiments and McGregor and theory X and theory Y. Elton Mayo conducted studies to see how work settings affected worker fatigue and performance and there are four main phases to experiment. The illumination experiments (Nov 1924), The Relay Assembly Test Room (1927-32), The Interviewing programme (1928-30) and The Bank Wiring observation Room (Nov 1931- May 32). The illumination experiment was the original investigation that was coordinated on the lines of the classical approach. The investigation was concerned with the effects of the intensity of lighting upon the workers’ productivity. There was two groups; an experimental group and a control group. The results were inconclusive because production within the experimental group varied but there was no correlation to do with the level of lighting. However, production did increase when conditions were made much worse. Production did increase in the control group even though the lighting remained the same. From this experiment it was concluded that production was influenced by other aspects in a work place other than the physical conditions. In order to find out what other factors effected production, other investigations were created.

The next investigation was conducted in the relay test room. In this room the work was boring and repetitive. The work consisted of putting together a telephone relay with a number of different parts. This investigation included six women transferred from their normal jobs to another area. Two of the women were friends, three were ordinary assemblers and a layout operator. The experiment was split into thirteen periods where the phone assemblers faced a series of planned and controlled changes to the work conditions. Examples of these changes were change in the hours of work, rest pauses and the availability of refreshments. During the experiment the observer had a warming and friendly persona, she spoke and consulted with the workers which meant she gave an interest to their needs and ideas and she also informed the workers of any changes. With these changes there was an increase in the level of production however, one of the changes which was the increase in breaks, did not help with the increase of productivity because it was said that it made the workers lose their work rhythm. It was concluded from this experiment that higher productivity was achieved by the workers getting extra attention from management. This conclusion was seen as the ‘Hawthorne Effect’. The Hawthorne effect summarised is when behaviour is altered due to the awareness of being watched and observed. One other experiment was the interviewing programme. This experiment was brought about to find out more about how the workers felt towards the people that supervise them and the working conditions. 20000 interviews were conducted was before work terminated because of depression. The interview style was changed to be more open-ended because when the workers were approached with prepared questions, the interviewer did not receive a lot of information that was useful but when they changed the style, interviews found out a lot more.

The last experiment was the Bank wiring observation. This observation consisted of fourteen men working in the bank wiring room. It was noticed that men formed their own cliques and they were natural leaders. Within these groups, it was noted that these individuals developed their own idea on what was proper behaviour and ‘normal’ within the workplace. It was said that group pressure on an individual had more of an impact rather that the financial incentives. The Hawthorne effect that came about from the development of these investigations has been criticised in some ways. For example, the investigators did not take into consideration environmental factors. A couple of the experiments did not have control groups to compare the findings with so the accuracy and conclusions could be improved and something else could have come about. The human relations approach is also very scientific which implies that the view is quite narrow. Other criticism of the experiments is that there was a ‘sex power differential’ between two groups.

In the bank wiring room experiment, the group was all male and in the relay assembly room experiment, it was all young unmarried women. This also could have affected the findings. McGregor’s theory X and theory Y idea is under the neo-classical school of thought and an example of human relations. In this theory, McGregor describes two different workers within a workplace. Theory X workers were described as individuals who dislike work and avoid any type of work when possible. They also need security but lack ambition and prefer to be told what to do and led rather than think by themselves and take on responsibilities. In order to control these individuals and keep them motivated to get the work done effectively and efficiently, a system of control and punishment would have to be implemented. Theory Y workers were described a slightly opposite way. These individuals were characterised as people who do not dislike work depending on the conditions. It could simply be a satisfaction to some or a punishment to others. They are also described as individuals who seek responsibilities and put a lot of effort into the work that they do. Theory Y is more of a structured environment and to some workers it may hard to share and show their creativity and ideas which could demotivate them and affect productivity and efficiency. As well as Human relations, there is Neo-Human Relations. The theorists under this umbrella that I will be talking about is Maslow and his hierarchy of needs and Herzberg’s motivational theory.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a motivational theory. It includes a five-tier model of the essentials that humans need in a hierarchical way. Maslow (1943, 1954) stated that the pyramid suggested different needs that people would be motivated to achieve. At the bottom of the pyramid is physiological needs which are basic things like food, water and shelter. Above that is safety needs such as security. Then we have belongingness and love needs. E.g. intimate relationships. Moving up, there is esteem needs which means having the feeling of accomplishment and then at the top we have self-actualisation which consists of achieving ones full potential and being creative. Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs changes with every individual. One person could strive and find the motivation to reach the love and belongingness stage because they do not have many intimate relationships and would love to change that. It may be harder to reach the top of the hierarchy pyramid of needs if the bottom needs are not fulfilled but that could lead to an increase in motivation in order to get there.

Hertzberg introduced a motivational theory also known as the two-factor theory (1959). This theory suggests that people are influenced by two factors; satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Hertzberg proposed that hygiene and motivational factors are two major elements. Even though Scientific Management was developed more than a century ago, it still has an impact on companies of today. An example of a company that uses the scientific management approach is McDonalds. McDonalds uses a systematic approach. McDonalds rewards their employees for achieving goals and objectives and they also follow a direct and specified method of doing their job. Employees were rewarded with a competitive wage and promotion program, so their work did not go unnoticed which increases motivation and therefore productivity and efficiency. Just like Fredrick Taylor encourages, McDonalds developed a routine of precise working procedures that ensures the food they offer is of the same high quality throughout every franchise. In every franchise, the machines and layout of equipment are very similar and are calculated to best maximise efficiency. TK Maxx is a good example of Human Relations theory. It has an opposite approach to McDonalds and their scientific management ways. TK Maxx has a more laid back and relaxed approach compared to McDonalds and their systematic approach. Even though there is a clear hierarchical of top to bottom, it is easy for the employees to get their ideas and concerns up to management.

From all the research I have conducted above, I have concluded that both management styles, Scientific and Human Relations have advantages and disadvantages. However, I think that Sunsoft and their Human Relation approach would be a better fit for Forsyth’s Travel because a more laid back aspect on the organisation could lead to a better output. Allowing employees easy access to get information up to management and also recognised for their good work could increase output and efficiency. Sunsoft have a more flexible management style. The company is more concerned about the results rather than the process of how things are done. Within a travel business, I think that it is important for employees to participate in decision making because it makes them feel more a part of the team. They have a more democratic style of management. A downfall of using an autocratic style of management is that communication could be lost since everyone has a voice within a business and may decrease some productivity. Taking on Kaye’s travel and using their autocratic style of management may have been a good choice too because it results in high coordination and less confusion within the organisation. However, constantly being watched by supervisors and managers and doing boring and repetitive work could lead to de-motivating the employees; therefore resulting in a decrease in production and efficiency.