Scientific Management vs Human Relations

“Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life”(Levitt and Dubner 12). Levitt and Dubner once mentioned in their book “Freakonomics”. According to Oxford dictionary, incentives are something tends to incite to action or greater effort, as a reward offered for increased productivity (“incentives”). In business field, incentives are something given by bosses to encourage their employees to endeavour in bringing benefits to their business. For a simple example, the employee who hits the monthly or year sales target will get cash or prizes as incentives. Apparently, these incentives are something that motivates employees maintains their great performance and also to motivate other employee, whoever wants to get the incentives, work harder.

Human relations in the workplace are a major part of what makes a business work. Employees must frequently work together on projects, communicate ideas and provide motivation to get things done. Without a stable and inviting workplace culture, difficult challenges can arise both in the logistics of managing employees and in the bottom line. Businesses with engaging workplaces and a well-trained workforce are more likely to retain and attract qualified

Scientific management evolved into Fordism, which was established by the American entrepreneur Henry Ford. It basically involved mass production and an assembly line. Workers were attracted and motivated by higher wages, paid daily, which resulted in reduced staff turnover and productivity increase. Scientific management had many disadvantages, especially for the worker. Workers felt socially isolated, the work was exhausting, monotonous and stressful. As a result, in the 1930s, a movement, opposing Scientific management was created- the Human Relations movement. It emphasized on the cooperation of workers by treating them humanely and shifted the emphasis from utilitarian to normative control. Yet, it developed from Scientific management's principles. Post Tayloristic ideas influenced modern HRM, which unlike Taylorism, emphasizes on the commitment and individuality of

Scientific management theory is where the goal when it comes to managing an organization through this theory, is to provide proper facilities to the employees in order to maximize the total efficiency of all employees, and thereby leading on to an increase in productivity (Terry,

It is fundamental for human resources managers to understand labor relations due to the can need of making an environment peace and productivity of the organizations (Antoine, Craver & Crain, 2011). It is usually essential for human resources managers to inhibit crisis of conflicts and discrimination to make an excellent relationship between union and

This approach recognizes the importance of the individual as well as the organization in order to reach the desired goal. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is simply stating that people are motivated by an unfulfilled need and people will work extra hard to fill a need that has not been met. McGregor’s X and Y theory of human motivation is that the average person dislike work and will avoid it whenever possible therefore an organization need a leader that can use authority when necessary, but on the other hand make the job satisfying so the workers will be committed to the organization .Blake and Mouton’s managerial grid represents the production and performance goal as well as the concern for human feelings .An employer must have concern for the people as well as the job (Peak 2007)

The economic environment in nowadays dynamic, it is fairly important for organisations and managers to recognise the curtail of Human Resource Management. It is clear that Human Resource Management (HRM) has become one of the most recommend management strategy in the modern business (Leopold and Harris, 2009). Human Resource Management is a technique process of managing people in the workplace to enable and enhance organization performance (Leopold and Harris, 2009). This theory involved the responsible to attracting, selecting, training and managing people which make employees become more valuable to the organisations. It invests effect in learning and development at work. Also to communicate with all employees at each level to reward successful employee relations (Wilton, 2011). Human Resource Management plays a very important role in the operation strategy and management concerns in work organisations of all kinds (Leopold and Harris, 2009). In aim to justify this statement by evaluate the benefit and importance of Human Resource Management in contemporary work organisations. This essay will focus on analysis the advantages of use Human Resource Management in business also underline by explain more detail about the different HRM strategy brings benefits and give competitive advantages impact to the organisation success. Then summarise by a general conclusion on the importance of HRM in contemporary work organisations.

Scientific Management Theory by Frederick W. Taylor – Throughout the industrial world employees are the large part of the organisation and Fundamental interests of employees are necessarily aggressive. So as a manager it is necessary to arrange mutual relations with employees so their interests become identical. In case of any single individual the greatest prosperity can exist only when that individual has reached his highest state of efficiency and that is, when he is turning out his largest daily output (Frederick Winslow Taylor, 2007).

Fredrick W. Taylor developed the principals of scientific management in a book written in the early 19th century this changed how manufacturing organisations 
motivate their workforce. His motivational theory can be summed

Managers throughout history have been interested in studying ways to increase productivity. For example, Frederick Taylor began the movement of scientific management in the 1880’s. Scientific management looked to improve productivity through means of scientific analysis of worker’s tasks and work processes rather than the old “rule of thumb” (Taylor, 1914). Taylor believed that he could maximize worker efficiency and productivity through focusing on workers specific hand motions and patterns. After this period, beginning in about the 1930’s, managers looked to take productivity to yet another level by studying worker physiology and motivation. This new movement came to be known as the human relations movement.

There are a number of management theories that have changed the management business environment in the twentieth century. The theories have assisted managers to come up with better ways of management and organization of people. Managers have been able to increase profits, reduce costs and maximize efficiency. The purpose of this essay is to compare and contrast the contributions of scientific management and the human relations movement to the modern management. This essay will use Frederick Winslow Taylor’s theory on scientific management and Elton Mayo’s human relations theory. These two movements have been proven to increase productivity in the workplace (Mullins, 2005).

The main purpose of these following is similar for all three theories but the flow of work process will be different:

One of the most important activities of human being is ‘managing’. The twentieth century saw a rise of number of new theories in management which gave it a new shape and which are still used in todays business world. The two main theories were ‘scientific management' and the ‘human relation approach'. Scientific management was founded by F.W. Taylor which explained the systematic things of doing things in a cheapest way (Gupta,2016). “Scientific management is the art of knowing exactly what you want your men to do and then seeing that they do it in the best and cheapest way” (Gupta,2016). The human relationship management was an outcome of the ‘exploits' of the scientific management (Bruce & Nyland,2011). Elton mayo noticed the social person and their ‘centrality' in the working environment. Elton mayo’s theory explained that employees were not only motivated by the financial reward but also by a range of social factors such as praise and a sense of belonging.

Scientific management is a management theory developed by Frederick W Taylor. Its main purpose is to improve an organization’s efficiency in production through analyzing workflow systematically using quantitative analysis to improve task completion efficiency. Reducing waste, increasing methods of production and create a just distribution of goods are goals of the scientific management theory. On the other hand, human relations theory attributed by Elton Mayo counteracts with scientific management theory that ignored human issues of behavior. In human relations theory, a worker is treated as an individual and what motivates and cultivates them in their achievement is analyzed. Both scientific management and human relation theory aims to improve efficiency in the workplace and it still applies to the workforce in the modern days despite the opposing ideas of both theories.

The principles of scientific management focus on increasing employees’ productivity and efficiency. After joining the industry, Taylor identified three fundamental characteristics of the industry that contributed to its inefficiency. Their identification facilitated the development of the basic principles of scientific management, which guided Taylor in eliminating waste, increasing productivity, and efficiency. The elimination of waste functioned because of the systematization of production process, systematization of tools, standardization of work and the wage incentive all created to increase productivity (Tompkins, 2005). According to Tompkins (2005), monetary incentive remains a practicable option, which public agencies utilize to