Human Relation School
The Human Relations Approach
Introduction The third strand in the development of modern management was the increase in attention to the human factors, which has become known as the 'human relations school of management. '
The UK was served by some remarkable men, both of high reputation as managers as well as impressive in theoretical presentation. The small group that surrounded B. S. Rowntree, who did much to set out the arguments for an ethical approach to management responsibilities, was declaring sturdily that it was good business to look after the worker also. The enlightened paternalism that they offered was attractive to many in management, particularly those who saw it as a continuation of the comradeship of First World War.
At the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, Dr C. S. Myers FRS, the Director until 1931, promoted empirical studies of industrial fatigue in particular, and employee problems in general. The inevitable professional body appeared, initially with the support of the ubiquitous cocoa manufacturers, who were so active in promoting that combination of humanity with profit for which they have been justly famous. After many metamorphoses, the Welfare Workers ' Association (1913) was eventually to become the modern Institute of Personnel Management (IPM).
But ideas from the United States were also influential. Elton Mayo 's detailed and continuing work in the Hawthorne experiments, widely publicized as it was, seemed to suggest that a new approach to motivation and employee care was both possible and sensible. Although aspects of this work were later to be questioned, they remained the largest and probably most influential work in this field into the 1960s.
Thus by the Second World War a level of good management practice was established in the UK, principally in the professional bodies, a limited educational establishment, the body of thoughtful managers who surrounded B. S.
Introduction The third strand in the development of modern management was the increase in attention to the human factors, which has become known as the 'human relations school of management. '
The UK was served by some remarkable men, both of high reputation as managers as well as impressive in theoretical presentation. The small group that surrounded B. S. Rowntree, who did much to set out the arguments for an ethical approach to management responsibilities, was declaring sturdily that it was good business to look after the worker also. The enlightened paternalism that they offered was attractive to many in management, particularly those who saw it as a continuation of the comradeship of First World War.
At the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, Dr C. S. Myers FRS, the Director until 1931, promoted empirical studies of industrial fatigue in particular, and employee problems in general. The inevitable professional body appeared, initially with the support of the ubiquitous cocoa manufacturers, who were so active in promoting that combination of humanity with profit for which they have been justly famous. After many metamorphoses, the Welfare Workers ' Association (1913) was eventually to become the modern Institute of Personnel Management (IPM).
But ideas from the United States were also influential. Elton Mayo 's detailed and continuing work in the Hawthorne experiments, widely publicized as it was, seemed to suggest that a new approach to motivation and employee care was both possible and sensible. Although aspects of this work were later to be questioned, they remained the largest and probably most influential work in this field into the 1960s.
Thus by the Second World War a level of good management practice was established in the UK, principally in the professional bodies, a limited educational establishment, the body of thoughtful managers who surrounded B. S.