What do mean by Human Relations Movement?

The human relations movement drew heavily in support of its findings on a series of famous experiments called the Hawthorne Studies which were conducted from 1924 to 1933 at the Hawthorne Plant of the Western Electric Company in Cicero, Illinois. The neglect of human aspect and over-emophasis machines, materials and abstract functions led to the development of this approach. Prof. Elton Mayo is considered as the initial profounder of the Human Relations or Behavioural Approach to Management

Management functions & processes are discharged by a number of individual (human beings) and successful management is one that gets the best from these individuals. Management therefore involves getting this done with and through peopel. Understanding worker response and inter-personal relations is essential in the development of any management approach. The core of human relations approach is "being nice to workers" and it focussed on the following six propositions:

1.   A focus on people, rather than upon machines or economics

2.   People exist in an organizational environment rather than an organized social context

3.   A key activity in human relations is motivating people

4.   Motivation should be directed towards team work which requires both the co-ordination and cooperation of individuals involved.

5.   Human relations, through team work, seeks to fulfill both individual and organizational objectives simultaneously

6.   Both individuals and organizations share desire for efficiency, that is, they try to achieve maximum results with minimum inputs

The human relations approach emphasizes on the individual and focuses on inter-personal approach. It studies the individual, his needs and behaviour. Its main concepts are motivation and job satisfaction.

The human relations approach neglected behavioral pattern of groups. Man is a social animal and her never thinks alone. He is greatly influenced by what others with whom he is associated thinks or behaves. Thus it is the group that sets the pattern of human behavior. It is necessary to study the organisational behavior as a whole, involving the study of the attitude, behavior and performance of both individuals and groups in organisational setting. This led to the more improved and modern approach called the Behavioural Sciences Approach to Management