This school of thought focused on people as the center of productivity, not machines or technology.

The Human Relations School began as a response to way productivity was understood and studies during the latter days of the industrial revolution. Beginning with Elton Mayo and the Hawthorne Studies (Episode 9), this school of thought sought to put people at the center of productivity and not the assembly line. Over the course of ten years, Mayo and his followers complied significant research into how paying attention to member needs and desires fostered their greater personal interest and investment in their work. This contradicted the ideas of scientific management that sought to increase productivity through scientific rationalism.

Although the title of the Human Relations School is typically attached to the Hawthorne Studies, Elton Mayo, Fritz Roethlisberger and others closely connected to the Hawthorne Studies, its ideas span far beyond — to all those whose research supported two-way communication and member participation as essential elements of organizational success. For example, the socio-technical systems model derived by Eric Trist and Ken Bamforth which we covered in Episode 34. 

Seminal Works in “Human Relations”

<to be listed>

Literature Streams on “People” in Organizational Theory

Great Man Theories of Leadership (forthcoming)  <— Human Relations —> Organizational Development (forthcoming)