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Organizational Theory

Question #1

"Despite the economic progress brought about in part by scientific management, critics were calling attention to the ‘seamy side of progress' which included severe labor management conflict, apathy, boredom, and wasted human resources to examine the discrepancy between how an organization was supposed to work versus how the workers actually behaved. In addition, factors like World War I, developments in psychology and later the depression, all bought into question, some of the basic assumptions of Scientific Management." (Internet) This is where the Human Relations School steps in. Its primary focus is the importance of attitudes and feelings of workers, while informal roles and norms influence performance. "At the most general level, human relations theory views humans as social creatures who have a need and desire for communication and interaction." (Internet) Numerous studies have been conducted over the years trying to come up with the most efficient form of workplace management. The most famous of these studies were those performed by the Hawthorne works (a.k.a. Hawthorne Studies) which should how work groups provide mutual support and effective resistance
to management techniques in order to increase production. This study concluded that workers did not seem to respond to the classical motivation approaches that were suggested by Frederic Taylor , but rather workers were interested in rewards and punishment within their own work groups. These studies, which were conducted in the 1920's, started as a straight forward attempt to determine the relationship between the work environment and productivity. The results of the study led researchers to feel that they were dealing with socio-psychological factors that were not explained by classical theory which in turn, stressed the formal organization and formal leadership. The Hawthorne Studies helped to show that an organization is more than a formal arrangement of functions but at the same...