Human Relations Theory of Management - Essay Example

Human Relations Theory of Management: Accenture as case study Management essentially means organizing the environment for the purpose of getting things done by others. A competent manager needs to implement strategies to make the employees of the organization to perform their duties efficiently and with minimum errors as possible and to make the production workers produce things at competitive cost. Management also means to inculcate a sense of responsibility among the employees. A manager needs to supervise that there is effectiveness and efficiency in the functioning of the organization with minimum time, cost or waste. He should see that the tasks accomplished are according to customer satisfaction (Williams, 2010, pp.7-8) In essence, there are five specified tasks of a manager. Managers “set goals, organize activities, motivate and communicate, measure performance, and develop people.” (Daft, 2011, p.5) There are different approaches to management. Some of the most influential ones are classical approach, the human relations approach and contingency approach. Each approach offers valuable insights for practicing managers in their efforts to define management problems and opportunities, and to develop ways to deal with them. This paper focuses on human relations approach of management with Accenture as case study. Human relations theory –the traditional classical theory The traditional classical theory of management was a drawback in many ways. It failed to comprehend the behavioral patterns of individual employees. This theory is a concept of rigid laws in management practice. This theory is based on the assumption that employees are motivated only by financial incentives, and ignored the human aspect of employees i.e. their social and psychological needs. This theory assumed that productivity is the only objective of an organizational body and ignored the multiple goals of the organization. Overall, the classical approach is more mechanical with no focus on motivation and inter-personal relationships between employees and management personnel (Agarwal, 1983, p.29) As a result a natural outgrowth of this management theory is the human relations theory also known as behavioral management theory. This theory came into practice in the 1930s (Griffin & Moorehead, 2009, p.85) and is based on the concept “satisfied workers will give more work.” (Daft & Marcic, 2010, p.30) The initial focus of the theory was on worker cooperation and thoughtful management, but gradually the focus shifted to the daily performance of workers. The concept of this theory was to integrate skilled and quality performance with motivation aspects. The objective is to prevent daily job seem like monotonous, dehumanizing and de-motivating by implementing strategies to extract full potential and attention of workers. Two of the best known contributors to human relations theory were Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor (Daft & Marcic, 2010, p.30). Abraham Maslow developed a theory of human needs based upon three assumptions – 1) humans can never be fully satisfied, 2) human activities can be motivated by means of satisfying their needs, and 3) needs can be classified according to their priorities. Figure 1 shows Maslow’s pyramid of needs. Fig 1: Maslow’s pyramid of needs (Source: Dima, Man & Kot, 2010, p.2) Physiological needs comprise of those that are needed for human existence like food, water and air. Security needs include being dressed, having shelter and adequate temperature. Affiliation needs mean that people are social beings and they prefer to work with other people in groups. The need of esteem is that a person needs to feel that he or she is valuable to an organization, and needs to be appreciated for good performance, for instance rewards and incentives. Need of self accomplishment means one has to feel that all his potential has been ultilized to reach the maximum level of performance. Since this level is difficult to define, the management needs to be open to new challenges (Dima, Man & Kot, 2010, pp.2-3). Mc Gregor based his management theory on X and Y concept of employees. Theory X managers believe that average employees are lazy and unambitious. These managers use coercive methods to control the employees and do not let them participate in decision making processes. They also define behavioral framework of employees. Theory Y managers assume that employees are committed towards work and can take responsibilities. These managers reward employees for good performance and give them independence to solve problems in their own way (Aydin, 2012, p.25). Human relations theory believes that workers need to feel important and that they are part of the organization, and they have more social needs that financial ones. This theory of management focuses on providing the workers a sense of direction and control when performing daily activities. This will induce the workers to give their full potential. Thus, the “illusion of involvement and importance are expected to satisfy workers’ basic social needs and result in higher motivation to perform.” (Griffin & Moorehead, 2009, p.85) For instance, a manager may permit a group of workers to engage in decision making process although he or she has already finalized what decision to be taken. This false gesture of making the workers feel important can motivate them to work more efficiently (Griffin & Moorehead, 2009, p.85). Human relations theory needs also to focus on retention of skilled employees for the benefit of the organization. In order to maintain satisfaction within employees and to make the organization attractive for potential employees, management must provide them employment benefits like health benefits. Employee benefits can also prove to be tax-effective as “a dollar spent on benefits gets more than a dollar of value for employees.” (Rappaport, 2013, p.9) There are various advantages of employee benefit programs. Firstly, health benefits can maintain a healthy work force and can reduce absenteeism and short-term disability claims. Secondly, retirement benefits can reduce the stress of workers as they do not have to worry about future financial stability. Thirdly, with employee benefit programs an organization can maintain competition with rival organizations (Rappaport, 2013, p.9). Case study Accenture: global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company In today’s economic environment, “organizations face a new level of complexity and risk generated by the ecosystem of employees, customers, business partners and regulations.” The focus of management of this company is to increase productivity of workers and enhance customer interaction for efficient business activities (Identity and Access Management: Services Overview, 2013). Accenture management stresses on Talent Management. Here skilled employees are appointed and then with proper and continuous training optimizes their talent resources as required to accomplish a business objective. The employees are provided incentives and rewards to attract them and enhance their performance. Their performance is guided towards maximum productivity in relation to strategic goals. Talent Management also finds “new sources of value in their performance through innovation and continuous improvement.” (Accenture Talent & Organization Performance, 2009, p.2) Accenture believes in creating a Talent-Powered Organization. To accomplish this, management does not stop at only filling vacancies with the right kind of talented people. To be an efficient manager in this company, one needs to enhance his or her talent by assimilating talents, knowledge and organization’s method of working. This will enable individuals, teams, groups of workers and entire team of employees to contribute towards enhancing their “adaptability, learning, flexibility, innovation and performance”. (Accenture Talent & Organization Performance, 2009, p.2) Such contribution can extract extraordinary performances from people. By diversifying talent, Accenture can maintain a competitive advantage for a long time and can also bring out high level performance from its workforce. By aligning the people with the organization’s policies, Accenture enables its people to become more engaged with the objective of the organization thus increasing their productivity margin. Accenture’s management policy regarding Talent Management is to clearly define the organization’s strategies and also clearly define what kind of talent is needed for the purpose of executing the strategies. Management also discovers and recruits appropriately talented people. It defines new working approaches in this world of changing technologies, and also recognizes and appreciates good performances with rewards. Accenture management also recognizes weak workforces and works towards increasing their productivity, skills and retention. For efficient Talent Management, an employee should be made to believe that he is required to perform or behave in a specific manner, and they should also be convinced that the organization has certain obligations towards him. This will be a psychological contract for the employee which represents his beliefs “regarding the terms and conditions of a reciprocal exchange agreement between the individual and the organisation.” (Accenture Talent & Organization Performance, 2009, p.3) Accenture chooses right kind of Talent Management practices for different generations which are Baby Boomers who are born between 1944 and 1967, Generation X who are born between 1968 and 1980 and Millennials who are born after 1981 (Accenture Talent & Organization Performance, 2009, p.5). Human relations theory of management is very well applicable to Accenture keeping in view the Talent Management practice of the organization’s management. The organization focuses on increasing productivity of employees by encouraging them to participate in the organizational strategies and policies. The main concept of Human Relations theory is to motivate people to give their optimum performance, the same view that Accenture adopts. Accenture is already following all the principles of Human Relations theory of management. It believes in retaining its skilled workers by providing them rewards and incentives. By integrating the employees’ talents with the objectives of the organization, Accenture enhances their adaptability and performance which is a basic element of Human Relations theory. Conclusion Multinational organizations have their offices in different nations and as such have to employ a diverse work force. It is therefore important that the HR department plans the organization’s working pattern in the way that diverse views and cultures of employees can be incorporated. HR needs to understand the employee perspectives before formulating any policies that will affect them. Management techniques need to be adopted with the changing relations between employees and employers. Employees need to feel their importance in the organization they are working and mere lucrative salaries and financial incentives do not act as motivators to perform with optimum efficiency. Human Relations theory of management is the most common approach adopted in today’s corporate world. This theory focuses on employee satisfaction and motivation by fulfilling not only their financial requirements, but also their social and psychological needs. Reflective journal I would like to simulate a situation where I am a manager of a top consultancy firm, a firm that believes in participation of employees in the organization’s objectives, strategies and policies. As a manager my goal is to create satisfaction among employees, who work under me, encourage them to perform efficiently, make them feel an integral part of the organization, thereby motivating them to enhance their productivity. In short my job is to create an all round employee satisfaction to extract optimum performance from them that will benefit the organization in respect to its aims and objectives. This can be achieved by creating a cordial relation between the employees and the management so that communication and exchange of views and ideas are done in an easy and convenient manner. I have applied the Human Relations theory of management as with this my objectives as a manager can be fulfilled. I do not only limit my activities to recruiting skilled people, but I also create training schemes to enhance their skills and increase their adaptability towards the constant technological change in today’s world. I attempt to identify people who are giving extraordinary performance and reward them accordingly. I try to make them feel their importance in this organization by encouraging them to participate in policy making processes, and also by aligning their performance with the objectives of the organization. I make employment benefit schemes to garner their interest in their work, and I also manage the work place in a way that workers will not feel their job as monotonous. For the purpose of this assignment I took an entire day to find appropriate online sources for my theory part. In the first part of the paper I focused on the concept and benefits of Human Relations theory of management. I have included theories as well as diagrams to explain Human Relations. In the next section I have selected Accenture which is a multinational consultancy company as a case study to explain how Human Relations approach can be applied to its management policy keeping in view its objectives in today’s global economic environment. Since the organization’s principle goal is to extract maximum performance from employees and to retain the skilled employees, this theory in my opinion seems a perfect managerial approach for Accenture. References 1. Accenture Talent & Organization Performance: How effective are talent management practices, (2009) Accenture, retrieved on March 6, 2013 from: http://www.accenture.com/nl-en/Documents/PDF/Accenture_TMreport_A4_ Brochure.pdf 2. Agarwal, R.D. (1983) Organization & Management, Tata McGraw-Hill 3. Aydin, O.T. (2012). The Impact of Theory X, Theory Y and Theory Z on Research Performance: An Empirical Study from A Turkish University. International Journal of Advances in Management and Economics, 1(5), pp.24-30 4. Daft, R.L. (2011) Management, Cengage Learning 5. Daft, R.L. & D. Marcic (2010) Understanding Management, Cengage Learning 6. Dima, I.C., Man, M. & S. Kot (2010) Use of Abraham Maslow’s Motivation Theory for setting consumers’ satisfaction-non-satisfaction, Polish Journal of Management Studies, Vol.2, 1-7 7. Griffin, R.W. & G. Moorehead (2009) Organizational Behavior: Managing People and Organizations, Cengage Learning 8. Identity and Access Management: Services Overview (2013) Accenture, retrieved on March 6, 2013 from: http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/service-identity-access-management-overview.aspx 9. Rappaport, A.M. (2013) Business case for employee benefits, Benefits Quarterly, 29(1), 8-14 10. Williams, C. (2010) Management, Cengage Learning Read More