Organizational Behavior: Definition, Theories, And Approaches

What is Organizational Behavior?

Question:

Grey (2013), amongst others, argues that the differences between scientific management and the human relations approach are ‘tactical’ and that both are pursuing the same ends. Critically compare and contrast these two schools of management thought?

Organizational Behavior can be defined as a discipline which is concerned with various aspects of human behavior in an organization. This field mainly highlights on group dynamics and forecasts how individuals participate in a team and should work together. In this type of environment individuals exercise leadership and organizational change is highlighted here. Sometimes Organization Behavior is also known as a theory which is directly specified by the management of an organization. Organizational Behavior have emerged since US Civil war in the early 20^th century (Processes, 2015).

The study Of Organizational Behavior is very challenging and interesting too. It depends on the behavior of the employees working that they are asked to deliver in terms of their behavior. OB is a social system that affects organization structure, group as well as individual behavior.

Organization Behavior studies each and every aspect of group as well as individual perspectives and compares it with other organizations. There are two aspects of Organization behavior, one is micro and the other one is macro. There are various responsibilities of management that is linked to tem building, decision making, leadership and strategies of an organization (Introduction to Organization Behavior, 2015).

Scientific school of management is a management theory that was developed by F.W. Taylor in the year 1880. This school helps to enhance labor productivity and thus increases the economy of the country. This model is also known seen from the classical perspective of Taylorism (Darwish, 2013).

In the year 1909, Taylor published “The Principles of Scientific Management”. In this school of management Taylor proposed that productivity could be increased if the jobs are more simplified and optimized. Here the workers and managers were asked to cooperate with each other. Workers did not earn any incentives from the work and there was no motivation at work. Taylor believed that money was the main motivator to work so he introduced the idea of “a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.” This means if a worker did not work enough then he was not entitled to pay (Cliffsnotes.com, 2015).

Human relations basically deal with the analysis of human nature, people’s issues that occur due to organizational and interpersonal relationships. This approach stands to be very critical part for an organization’s success. This approach was coined by Elton Mayo and his colleague Fritz Roethlisberger from Harvard University (Witzel, 2011).

This study constituted about Hawthorne experiments which were conducted at the Western Electric factory in Chicago. The study depicted that lighting levels would have an impact on productivity of the workers and they thought that more light would increase more productivity of the workers (Accel-team.com, 2015). Later on they realized that lighting had no impact on workers performance. Instead they saw that the presence of researchers on the field allowed more employee productivity. They also decided to evaluate on the rest periods and hours of work of the workers.

The History of Organizational Behavior

Later on they came up with a conclusion that it was because of the attitudes of the employees that there was an increase in the work productivity of the employees. The findings of the study were known as the Hawthorne Effect.

The Comparison and contrast is based on the workers thoughts and viewpoints that differs from individual to individual. The differences also depends on the way that how they control the workforce so that they can accomplish their task accordingly. If there is availability of proper coordination and effective on job relations then individuals can work even under high pressure. It is always believed that an organization always depends on mutual cooperation and coordination; there must be a two way interaction present in the organization. It is also necessary for the management to stay alert about the psychological needs of individuals. There should not be any dominancy by the higher authority (Bauer, 2015). Orders are meant for execution. It is to be clearly understood that the subordinates are to give them tasks and not orders and the workers are meant to execute them. The major differences can be illustrated in the following points:

Human Relations Model emerged in the social era on where there is involvement of government and the economy and the classical management theory of Taylor was developed to lower the efficiencies of large scale production which had availability of presence of immigrant workforce who were not so qualified. The human relations model had a stable environment while the classical management theory had mostly implicit assumptions. Human approach forwarded their work by building cooperative systems for efficiency.  While the scientific school had the control for efficiency. The human relations school had informal relations with their workers while the scientific school of management had structural organization design and job enrichment for workers were provided (Nature Of management, 2015).

The work of Elton Mayo was always considered to be supported by scientific management. Taylor applied science to his school of management so that economic efficiency could be achieved and that can also increase labor productivity. There were many arguments related to human relation approach. It was argued that the role that Elton Mayo played was controversial, and he depicted to be the founder of this management thought. Some experts believed that it was already used much before the Hawthorne experiments. Researchers like Nyland and Bruce identified a similar concept to that of human relations much before Elton Mayo did. It was also believed that there was another name that was pre attributed for human relation model and that is of Henry S. Dennison. There was a nexus that was created between Taylorism and human relation thought (Rose, 2015).

The scientific management and Taylorism, as explained by F.W. Taylor, was a complete mental revolution. This thought specified its managers to work with zeal of perfection to work so that all the organizational problems could be assessed. This study also used qualitative data to select employees at work. Secondly Taylor introduced work productivity through depicting the behavior of employees.

Scientific Management Theory

The management theories always supported the existence of organizations and also exercises control over other aspects in the organization as well. It also accounts to use the resources very effectively and in a coordinated manner so that maximum productivity can be achieved. There should also be minimization of waste for the resources.

It is also believed that strategic management and corporate strategy play an important role to determine the approaches of management. It is important to analyze the current business position in the environment and that should create a benchmark for better identification. To evaluate the external environment PESTLE analysis can be used to understand strategic decisions of an organization and how it affects the overall business (David, 2005). The approach of scientific school of management is trying to merge with other business functions. The human relations model was the main motivation for the employees apart from Maslow and Herzberg’s schemes of motivation. This also affected the remuneration system of the employees which made the task of the employees more challenging and strategic to endure high performance in the organizations.

Conclusion:

The early approaches to study management such as the scientific approach and human relations are said to be important sources of modern school of management. Scientific management theory states how efficient the workers should be in terms of the production process. It also focused to achieve employee satisfaction and other behavioral aspects of the employees in the organization. Modern school of management also provides insights to help them to be more effective and relevant in terms of the day to day work.

The scientific school of thought also allowed a leader to perform all the duties under him itself. It also focused to maintain coordination and cooperation to assist in developing the personal development of employees in an organization. Whereas in the human relations, Mayo depicted that workers were more comfortable with greater acceptance of work and that helped employees to attain motivation. The scientific school of thought also supported the organizational growth keeping view not to hamper individual growth as well. It provided more importance to the workers.

References:

Accel-team.com, (2015). Human relations school of management approach to improve productivity.. [online] Available at: https://www.accel-team.com/human_relations/INDEX.html [Accessed 20 Feb. 2015].

Bauer, M. (2015). GRIN – Compare and contrast scientific management and human relations theory. [online] Grin.com. Available at: https://www.grin.com/en/e-book/205705/compare-and-contrast-scientific-management-and-human-relations-theory [Accessed 20 Feb. 2015].

Cliffsnotes.com, (2015). Classical Schools of Management. [online] Available at: https://www.cliffsnotes.com/more-subjects/principles-of-management/the-evolution-of-management-thought/classical-schools-of-management [Accessed 20 Feb. 2015].

Darwish, T. (2013). Strategic HRM and performance. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Pub.

David, F. (2005). Strategic management. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall.

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INTRODUCTION TO ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR. (2015). 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.b-u.ac.in/sde_book/msc_organ.pdf [Accessed 20 Feb. 2015].

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Paauwe, J., Guest, D. and Wright, P. (2013). HRM and performance. Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley.

Processes, O. (2015). Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. [online] Elsevier. Available at: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/organizational-behavior-and-human-decision-processes/ [Accessed 20 Feb. 2015].

Rose, N. (2015). Human Relations Theory and People Management. 1st ed. [ebook] 3257-Grey-02.qxd. Available at: https://www.corwin.com/upm-data/9805_039184ch02.pdf [Accessed 20 Feb. 2015].

Rose, N. (2015). Human Relations Theory and People Management. 1st ed. [ebook] Available at: https://www.corwin.com/upm-data/9805_039184ch02.pdf [Accessed 20 Feb. 2015].

Witzel, M. (2011). A history of management thought. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.