Description
This set of Briefing Notes examines Human Behaviour Theories and how their principles can be interpreted, into practice, enabling managers to apply them constructively, in the workplace.
Frederick Winslow Taylor (1856 – 1917)
At the turn of the twentieth century, Frederick Winslow Taylor was a foreman at the Bethlehem Steel Works, Ohio in the United States. This is where he carried out most of his research. He developed a discipline called scientific management, which included a technique called time and motion study, which revolutionized productivity in many Industries.
Taylor’s work, at the Bethlehem Steel Mills, ultimately, led to the publication, in 1911, of his paper:
The Principles of Scientific Management
Taylor’s theory postulated that:
- Workers do not, naturally, enjoy work and so need close supervision and control.
- Managers should, therefore, break jobs down into a series of small tasks.
- Workers should be given appropriate training and tools so that they can work on one set task.
- Workers should be paid according to the number of items that they produce in a set period of time; commonly known as a piece rate scheme.
Workers believed that Taylor’s recommended working practices made them little more than automatons. There was a clear need for a more human experience at work.
The Human Relations School
There have been a number of theories expressed that have endorsed the importance of good human relations in the promotion of staff motivation. Three, of the more prominent, are examined here.
The Hawthorne Experiments
The experiments were so named, because they were undertaken at the Hawthorne factory of the Western Electric company in Chicago. The work was undertaken by Elton Mayo (1880 – 1949). Mayo can be credited with the introduction of the Human Relations School.
He believed that workers are not just concerned with money, but could be better motivated by having their social needs met whilst at work. This had been, essentially, overlooked by Taylor. For his part, Mayo focused on managers taking more of an interest in the workers; treating them as people who have worthwhile opinions and realising that workers enjoy interacting together.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Human Needs
There is a school of psychology, which suggests that the whole of human behaviour can be seen as the means of satisfying needs. These needs may be physical, emotional, social or intellectual. They vary, in intensity and frequency, according to the situations, in which people find themselves.
Arguably, the most widely accepted theory, of human needs, is that of Abraham Maslow, who advocated a ‘Hierarchy of Human Needs’.
Herzberg’s Hygiene Theory
Frederick Herzberg (1923 – 2000) was a US clinical psychologist, who later became Professor of Management at Utah University.
His theory of Motivation was developed from research that he undertook with 200 Pittsburgh engineers and accountants. They were asked what pleased them and displeased them about their jobs. He concluded that man has two sets of needs.
The first set of needs that people have are, essentially, aimed at avoiding pain and deprivation, much in the manner of Maslow’s Hierarchy lower order needs. Herzberg recognised these to be conditions surrounding the job, both material and abstract, and so, collectively, could be described as environmental or contextual… He referred to these as ‘The Hygiene Factors’.
A second set of needs, that people have, enables the individual to grow, psychologically, by finding expression of the human experience at work. Herzberg describes these as ‘The Motivators’ (also referred to as ‘The Growth Factors’) and relates to what a person does at work rather than the context in which it is done. There are clear parallels with Maslow’s Hierarchy higher order needs.
