HUMAN RELATIONS - Commack Schools



HUMAN RELATIONS

A business needs a foundation of good human relations – the interactions between employers and employees and their attitudes toward one another – in order to have a satisfied and motivated workforce.

Job satisfaction is the degree of enjoyment that people derive from performing their jobs.

Morale is the overall attitude that employees have toward their workplace.

Both job satisfaction and morale directly affect the level of employee turnover – the annual percentage of an organization’s workforce that leaves and must be replaced.

MOTIVATION

Motivation is the set of forces that cause people to behave in certain ways.

Frederick Taylor’s Classical Theory of Motivation states that workers are motivated solely by money.

• If workers are motivated by money, paying them should prompt them to produce more.

• Meanwhile, the firm that analyzed jobs and found better ways to perform them would be able to produce goods more cheaply, make higher profits, and thus pay and motivate workers better than its competitors.

(Scientific theory)

The Hawthorne Effect focuses on the tendency for productivity to increase when workers believe they are receiving special attention from management.

(Behavioral theory)

Behavioral scientist Douglas McGregor concluded that managers had radically different beliefs about how best to use the human resources employed by a firm. He classified these assumptions that he labeled “Theory X” and “Theory Y”.

Theory X Managers tend to believe:

• People are naturally lazy and uncooperative

• People lack ambition and dislike responsibility

• People are self-centered

• People resist change

• People are gullible

• Employees must be punished or rewarded to be more productive.

Theory Y Managers tend to believe:

• Employees are energetic

• People are ambitious and seek responsibility

• People are selfless

• People want to contribute to business growth and change

• People are intelligent

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Model proposed that people have different needs that they attempt to satisfy in their work.

• Once a set of needs has been satisfied, it ceases to motivate behavior

• Maslow’s theory recognizes that because people are different, they are motivated by different things

• The disadvantage of Maslow’s theory is that is provides few specific guidelines for the workplace and research has found that the hierarchy varies for different people and different cultures

The five stages of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs are as follows:

Self-Actualization: Accomplishing your goals and reaching your full potential.

Organizational Example: Challenging job

Esteem & Self-Esteem Needs: The need to have self-respect and confidence. To be respected by your family, peers and colleagues.

Organizational Example: Job title

Love & Belonging Needs: The need to feel loved and that you belong to your family, peer groups and at work.

Organizational Example: Friends at work

Safety Needs: The need to feel safe from physical and emotional harm.

Organizational Example: Pension Plan

Survival Needs: The need to have the items for survival -water, shelter and clothing.

Organizational Example: Salary

Frederick Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Motivation states that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction depends on two factors:

1. Hygiene factors

• Examples: Working conditions, supervisors, interpersonal relations, salary and job security, company policies and administration

• Hygiene factors affect motivation only if they are absent or fail to meet expectations. Hygiene factors relate to the environment in which people work

2. Motivation factors

• Examples: Recognition for a job well done, achievement, the work itself, responsibility, advancement and growth

• Motivation factors are directly related to the work that the employees actually perform

Hygiene factors must be present in order to avoid employee dissatisfaction. Managers must then offer motivation factors as a way to improve satisfaction and productivity.

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