Lesson Two

Changing Concept of People at Work

        A persons attitude to work is not determined by genetic make up
        It is a learned behavior based on socializing agencies like home, school, community and the media
        opinions about work have changed over time;
            Greeks , Romans and Hebrews thought "work was a curse and nothing more"
            Early christians thought work was a punishment for man's original sin
            Later Christians thought work of value to provide a physical and mental health
                and prevent people falling into idleness and wickedness
            Luther thought all who could work should work as it was a basis of society and the best way to serve god
            Calvin thought work a religious duty and austerity a virtue
                For Calvin a good man worked hard and did not enjoy fruits of his labour.

Protestant Ethic

        The ideas of Luther and Calvin gave rise to the Protestant Ethic that one should work hard for the god of work and not    the  pay.
Self Improvement
        In the nineteenth century  enphasis was placed on rewards and the Protestant Ethic became a duty of all to use work to atchieve 'self help' and 'self improvement'

Mass Production

        Starting with James Watt's Soho foundry in 1790 mass production introduced a division of labour to increase economy that produced a separation of work tasks and the results of the labour
This separation was considered by Karl Marks and William Morris to destroy the intrinsic value of work. The worker became part of a machine and was not in control of his outcomes.

Time and Motion Study

       Introduced by Frederick Winslow Taylor, the 'scientific management"  approach using 'self improvement' time and motion study further 'dehumanized' work. Taylor thought that if a companies efficiency could atchieve economies and increase profitability then the worker would gain through increased remuneration.
Taylor assumed a worker could be studied in isolation and his output and efficiency could be increased by improving the his environmental conditions and methods of working and reducing fatigue. The improvement of these conditions could be atchieved through the application of 'time and motion study'  In his view Taylor refereed to a  worker as the 'rational economic man'

Human Relations Approach

In the 1920's and 30's Elton Mayo and others working for the Hawthorn Electric Company determined that workers responded to their social environment of their in addition and may be more important than economic and to ergonomic factors. This is referred to as the Hawthorn Effect and produce a view of the worker as a 'Social Man' the study of worker and management using the results of the Hawthorn studies became known as the "human relations school".

This human relations approach encouraged examination of a workers role as a member of a "small stable work group'
This enable the workers to interact and have joint responsibility for job outcomes. It gave rise to techniques like 'participatory management'

Self Actualizing Man (individual fulfilment).

Both the scientific management and human relations management approaches put certain factors as the main motivators foe effective worker outcomes and satisfaction. However they are both two simple. In fact there may be many interacting factors affecting a worker and not all individuals will share the needs or goals in different firms or even in one firm.
These interacting and variable influences were recognized by Maslow and later by Herzberg.
Maslow introduced a hierarchy of needs which placed the more urgent needs such as physiological and safety as mans first requirements then need such as social , self esteem, and self actualization as later considerations.
Herzberg developed the idea that satisfaction and dissatisfaction are independent variables. factors that contribute to dissatisfaction are mainly 'hygiene' needs such as pay, working conditions, and supervision. Satisfaction on the other hand was determined by "motivators" such as responsibility, achievement, recognition and the nature of the work it self.

These ideas have lead to modern job design using 'scientific management' techniques to improve these 'hygiene' needs and techniques of the 'human relations' school to improve the 'motivators'.