Theories of Management: Classical and Human Relations

This article discusses the classical and human relations theories of management and their impact on organizations. It provides a literature review of the two theories, identifies key themes and factors, and gives examples of their implementation in organizations. The article also discusses relevant practices, policies, and approaches of organizations, including the system approach to management and personnel practices such as training and supervision.

Running head: Theories of management 1
Theories of management

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Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Literature review.........................................................................................................................................4
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................5
References...................................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
Management is necessary to make sure the harmonization of individual endeavours. Group
efforts are important for the companies but large groups increase the complexity of the
managers. Management theories are helpful for the organization to understand the concepts and
implement the strategies within an organization. These are implemented in the organization to
amplify the productivity and the service quality (Suddaby, 2010). Managers of the company do
not use single theory or concept while executing strategies in the workplace. They generally use
the combination of various theories on the basis of demand of workforce, place and purpose. In
this assignment the discussion has been carried out on Classical and human relations theories.
These theories are important for making better understanding about the theories of management.
Classical management theories focus on emphasising the structure, thinking about what is good
for the firm or not. The system of management has become more human centred, highlighting
the ability of individuals to act unconventionally and creatively toward carrying out the potential
of the people they employ. Human relations management theories highlight the significance of
supporting the requirements of the workers with the needs of the company and implementing the
policies focused at their mutual advantages. The different conception of motivation, rewards and
incentives and way of working will be discussed in this assignment to insight the reflection of
them on the policies of the company.

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Literature review
There are various theories which can be used in the organization for enhancing the productivity
of the employees. The two theories of classical and human relations will be discussed below to
make clear understanding about the roles of theories in the organization.
Classical management theory
There are multiple levels of employees are involved in this theory to improve the productivity. It
has been analyzed that every level, employees of the organization are expected to increase their
productivity by applying the specific procedures. Moreover, the main focus of this theory is on
an impersonal side of business. However, cooperation is necessary for attaining the target of the
company but over friendliness and personal interaction can become the cause of conflicts
(Ashkanasy, Humphrey & Huy, 2017). Rules and policies of the organization must be followed
by each employee of the company and the hiring and firing of employees must narrate only to
the skills they acquire. Classical approach of management is considered as the first studies of
management which highlighted rationality and making organization and workers as effective as
possible. It provides a suitable framework for the training and education of potential managers.
There are three modules of classical theory that is scientific management, bureaucratic
management and administrative management (Clark & Neumann, 2016).
Scientific management
Scientific management theory is introduced by Taylor who believed to analyze the work in
scientific manner. As per Frederick Taylor, it was easy to find out the correct way to perform a
task. It has been analyzed that the best way of working can reduce the stress and increases the

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productivity (Waring, 2016). The main focus of this theory is to allow rewards and recognition
programs within an organization for encouraging employees.
Bureaucratic management
Bureaucratic management are controlled hierarchy in which one person control the entire activity
of the office. Qualifications and experience of the employee are considered appropriately while
selecting the employee. The employees of the organization get fixed remunerations in money
allowing ranking in the hierarchy of the organization (Shafritz, Ott & Jang, 2015).
Administrative management
Organization efficiency is considered as priority in the context of administrative management.
It is considered as the process of handling the information through people. It generally includes
performing the distribution and storage of information to those within an organization. There are
so many roles in the organization that require some element of an administrative management
(Green, 2016).
Human relations theories
Human relations theory is known as behavioural management theory which focuses more on the
individuals at a workplace in comparison of rules, processes and procedures. Human relations
theory allows employee and employers to interact with each other to communicate in good
manner so that the query and misunderstanding can be resolved in easiest way. The productivity
of the employees is increased by motivating them in this theory. The major focus of this
approach is building fulfilled and helping workers invest in a company. It is the belief of this
theory that employees of the organization have desired to be a part of a helpful team that help for

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progress and enlargement (Perry, 2017). Therefore, productivity of the employee is increased if
employee of the company gets special attention from the company. It allows them to get
participated in the decision making process and share their views and ideas which provide the
result of high quality work. It has been analyzed that classical theories is concentrated with
structure and mechanism of organization while the theory of human relation is concentrate on the
human activities (Swanson, Goel, Francisco & Stock, 2017). There are so many companies in all
over the world that has adopted human relations theory approach within an organization. Due to
efficiency of these theory employees of Google, Accenture, Wal-Mart and many more are more
satisfied as they are allowed to involve in the conversation of the company. It has been
categorized under this theory that rewards can be divided into two groups such as “Intrinsic” and
“extrinsic”. Equity theory, expectancy theory and process theory of motivation are involved in
this theory. Expectancy theory of human relations approach are focused on the perceptions of
people and in that case inputs and outcomes are included and it has shown that employees are
least interested to get rewards and favour in extrinsic rewards which has the comparative nature
(Bratton & Gold, 2017).
Identifying key themes or factors
Key themes of classical theory
The experts of management are using guidelines as principle of management in the organization.
One of the key factors of classical theory is a clear organizational hierarchy with three distinct
management levels. In these concepts, each group of management has its own objectives
(Waardenburg, 2017). Division of labour is the another key theme of the classical theory which
shows that projects are broken down into smaller tasks that can be completed in easy manner.

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The main strength of classical approach is that it provides the monetary incentives to the
employees for motivating them towards accomplishing the tasks (Beach & Lipshitz, 2017).
Leadership is another key theme of classical theory which states that the organization must have
the single leader to manage the activity of the organization in an effective manner.
Key themes of human relations theory
The key theme of human relation theory is good communication and being involved in the
decision making process. It is the belief of this theory that manager is required to pay attention to
each individual and involve them within the business decision. Group work is another key theme
of human relations theory which shows that workers of the organization should socialise together
because encouraged employees are encouraged group activities and social events of the company
(Albrecht, Bakker, Gruman, Macey & Saks, 2015). Teamwork is considered as vital motivator in
the company. It has been suggested under this theory that physical conditions and pay matter is
not that much important than social interactions when motivating or encouraging employee. The
involvement of managers in the activity of the employee are increased level of the attention.
Examples of theories in organizations
It has been analyzed that in the modern world, the classical theory is being utilized in a various
companies. The example of adoption of classical approach to management is Nucor steel
company is the major steel producer in the United States and adopted the classical approach to
management. As per this approach this company initiate to provide incentives and bonuses to the
employees who accomplish the task with quality. Another example of classical approach can be
seen in Wal-Mart in which incentives are linked with performance and the company offers the

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bonus package for hourly employees by paying bonuses which is on the basis of sales. Number
of workers gets huge incentives which managerial officials do not quality for (Albrecht, Bakker,
Gruman, Macey & Saks, 2015). This approach is well effective for Nucor because the attrition
rates of employees are reduced. It has been analyzed that Bureaucratic approach is being used in
number of libraries across the United States which is the major component of classical
management theory. There are various organizations in the engineering for instance Electricity
Supply Commission of Malawi train which comes under electricity sector. Their workers are
following the classical management theories who are mostly Electrical Engineering graduates.
Another influence of classical management theory has been seen in Total Malawi. It is the
company which has specialization in distribution of fuel. This company takes fresh graduates
annually for the purpose of undergoing a management trainee program for a period. These
trainings help the staff with efficient skills to start number of roles in various sections in the
company. It has been proven fact that trained employees can increase the productivity and make
sure that the goals of the company are attained satisfactory (Sarker & Khan, 2013).
Along with that the human relations approach is also effective and influence to modern
management. It has been analyzed that in human relations theory one contributor formulated that
organization can work as communities where managers of the company can perform together
and merge differences. There are so many contributors in the human relation theory such as
Maslow’s human needs theory. It categorizes the requirements of human into five basic
requirements which people want to get satisfied as they move ahead. The basic need as per this
strategy at the lowest level are what everyone wants to get and fight for; another need come as
one is content at every level until one do not realize self-actualization (Schermerhon, 2010). It is
considered as the human relations theory that has carried the aspect of enthusiasm in

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organization and made ready to company for competing with other company on the level of
motivation. It has been written by Jenifer in entrepreneur magazines that environment has the
capability to make employee feel like family. It shows that the section of the human relations
theory. It has been evaluated that in Malawai, various organizations have faced manifestation
because of the approach of working and relationship promotions of top managers. For removing
the unfair treatment, labour unions are built and fight for the rights of the workers. Many
corporations fought and faced law suits and have compensated workers widely for failure to grab
the opportunities that need fair treatment to the employees of the organization. It has been
evaluated that in the year of 2009, layoffs were not noteworthy in Walt Disney after merging of
its within of ABC television network. The human relations theory has kept influenced on those
who work with corporate social responsibility outside the organization where company decides
what can be given back to the communities. Walt Disney is one of them that fulfil the corporate
social responsibility in 2012 as per the report that it decreased the carbon emission.
Identify relevant practices, policies and approaches of organizations
The role of working style is major in the context of practices, policies and approaches of
organization. The classical and human relations approach theory to management are being used
by number of companies by adopting the incentives, bonuses, rewards and recognition program
and the by applying strategy to accomplish the task in an efficient manner (Miner, 2015). It is
vital for the organization to create the effective terms and policies for the company and provide
the training to the employees for making them aware about the benefits of established company
policies (Bryman & Bell, 2015).
System approach of organization

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The system approach to management is an approach that regards an organization as
encompassing three aims designed parts that are interconnected such as process, input and
output. The specific components of these three parts will be reliable on the nature of the
business. Inputs will comprise funds, raw materials and technology. The process may define the
operations of quality assurance and manufacturing in an industrial setting. Outputs will
encompass the consequences and the products of the undertaking. The system approach
principles highlight the response of feedback to help in reducing errors when implementing
certain operations.
Practices and policies of organization
The organization has written policy and procedures that control privacy and discretion of
customer information. This concept is not only affect to what it is revealed about the customers
or organization outside of task but it is also related to share things in meetings. It is vital for the
organization have the written policy and practices in the organization along with the training of
the staff in the following areas:
 A relevant policy
 A concise and clear process for recognizing and continuously informing a Community
Resource Index so that entire team are aware of what other services are ready to refer to.
 Communication should be done in proper manner with between employee and employer.
 The NSW disability services act is considered as the broad government policy which may
influence on developed policy by organization funded by NSW Ageing and health care
department.
 The procedures of complaints and disputes

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 Personnel practices such as training, promotions, self appraisal, holiday leave
arrangements and supervision.
There are some primary impacts on policy are:
Ideology
Ideology is considered as the value and trust that the company holds about the issue. The
influence on what the policy would focus on. For example, it is the belief of disability services
that people who have disabilities are in an unequal relationship with some members. They do not
get interacted with individuals who enlarge the policies and empower them to become more
independent and to live their life meaningful. Ideology is the concept which is also impact by the
attitudes of community.
Incidents
It has been seen that sometime the main reason behind generated policy by an organization to
amplify the range of incidents where people with disabilities are discriminated against in the
workplace.
Classical and human relations approach has different kind of conceptions such as motivation,
ways of organizing work and tasks and incentives and rewards.
Motivation
There are various ways to motivate employees within an organization. It is vital for the leader of
the organization to understand that every employee has different features and qualities and he or
she should delegate the work after analyzing the features of them. Working environment of the

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organization should be positive and it can be positive with the efforts of employee as well as
employer (Albrecht, Bakker, Gruman, Macey & Saks, 2015).
Ways of organizing work
However, the working style and the ways of working are different of every organization. It is
vital for the leaders of the company to manage the work in an appropriate manner. Activities of
the organization should be done in continuous manner for enhancing the coordination between
employees (Jaques, 2017).
Incentives and rewards
Incentives and rewards policy are the major motivation factors which increase the enthusiasm of
the employees towards accomplishing the task. It can be categorized into two terms such as
monetary or non-monetary terms (Shields, Brown, Kaine, Dolle-Samuel, North-Samardzic,
McLean & Plimmer, 2015).
Reflected in company policies
There are so many companies in all over the world that provide amazing perks and benefits.
Google is well known company that offers extrinsic benefits such as no-cost health, insurance,
flex spending accounts, vacations packages and many more. It is the company that is known for
its attractive perks and benefits which make employees continuously happy (Martin, 2014). The
company policies of Google are confidential and employees of the company are liable to take
care of the terms and policies of the company. The motivation, rewards and recognition, perks
and benefits for employees are reflected in company policies and the employees of the company
follow the policies and procedures because they are getting special attention from the company.

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Conclusion
In the limelight of above discussion, it has been concluded that theories of management is
necessary for the company to encourage employees for accomplishing the task. The assignment
has reflected the two major theories of management such as classical theory and human relations
management theory. The classical theory of management focuses on improving the productivity
of the employees for accomplishing the task. The three modules of this theory has been described
in this assignment which is helpful to get better understanding about the role of classical theory
in the management of the organization. On the other hand human relations theory allows
employee and employers to interact with each other to communicate in good manner so that the
query and misunderstanding can be resolved in easiest way. The key themes and factors of both
of the theory are discussed in this assignment. The classical and human relations approach theory
to management are using by number of companies which include the incentives, bonuses,
rewards and recognition program. These two approaches of classical and human relations theory
have differences because classical theory highlights the reasonableness and self control whereas
human relations theory emphasizes the communal demand and safety of human beings. The
nature of classical approach is independent whereas the human relations are organistic.

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