short essay on human relations

Humans’ Relationship and A Good Society Essay

Introduction, aspects of humans’ relationship, benefits of good relationships in the society, qualities of a good society, works cited.

Research has shown that human beings are dependant in nature. We therefore depend on each other to survive and/or succeed in life. The interdependence of people therefore leads to development of interpersonal relationships that are built with the aim of making life better and building frameworks for success (Sayn 1).

Relationships are a common phenomena in the society and they are found everywhere in families, schools, work places, professional teams, etcetera. Each kind of relationship has its own requirements and unofficial rules and each individual relates with a second individual in a unique way depending on the characters of the two individuals. Since there is no perfect society, relationships are built under very strong foundations of mistakes and compromise (Sayn 2).

Other people may opt to conduct research on how they are supposed to relate to people but this has seldom worked for people. Therefore, the strongest relationships are built through people relating with each other and knowing each other with time.

Since the society is made up of people, they are the key determinants of how their society will be. Thus for a society to be a good one, the people living in it should relate well and solve differences with maturity and diplomacy. The achievement of this goal may prove to be evasive but with perseverance and goodwill, a good society is achievable. The people living in the society just have to wish each other well and be willing to help each other as humanly as possible.

The development of a good relationship among human beings living together is of great importance to both the people and the community. It is common knowledge that when individuals in a given community or organization fall out in public, it is the organization that suffers more than the people involved. With this kind of statement, one may even wonder why people have to disagree and bring disgrace to their society causing losses that may be financial or otherwise.

Another reason why the development of a good relationship among people living in a community is essential is the fact that building a relationship acts as an investment or even insurance against misfortunes.

This is because when one gets into a problem, the people he/she relates well with are mostly willing to give him/her a helping hand. On the other hand, a person gives a helping hand to other people in need when they also become unfortunate. As a matter of fact, maintenance of good relationships between and among people costs a lot of sacrifice (Harvey 390). This is because nobody is perfect and thus to maintain a good relationship with other people, there has to be compromises.

For instance, one may know a friend for a very long time as a trustworthy person but the friend may betray him/her one day. In such a case, a wise person will talk to his/her friend and seek to know the reason for the act of betrayal. This is because the friend may have a good reason for the act. Depending on the answer that the friend gives, the former is supposed to make a compromise and have serious dialogue with his/her friend to ensure that such an act will not be repeated.

The essence of this, even on selfish grounds, is the fact that the person, who betrays you today, may be the only one who will be able to help you in a very challenging situation in the future. To ensure that one gives the best contribution for the betterment of his society, there are a number of things that he/she has to ensure that he/she has done.

First of all, people should ignore their desire to live a separate and personal life. People usually tend to keep to themselves instead of including other people in their personal life, who may end up being a bother to them. If this feeling is not withdrawn, relationships will be difficult to come by.

Thus for good relationships among people to exist, people should learn to appreciate the aspect of society and shed off the independence drive that most people live under. This will be very instrumental in helping them cope with people and ultimately help them relate well with members of their society (Shane 300).

Another prerequisite for good relationships is the fact that people must learn the truth about life. Life is a journey that is made up of ups and downs. For one to succeed in life, they should be in a position to face the challenges and accept difficulties as they come. This is because, by passing through challenges, one has a lot to learn and therefore he/she gets valuable skills on how to relate with people.

Part of the challenges is created by the relationships people have with others. Therefore, for any relationship to be declared good enough, the parties must have accepted themselves and the other parties in the relationship as well. If this is observed, the society will be composed of people in good terms with their fellow human beings.

Additionally, people should take the lead in living the kind of life they wish their friends or relatives to live. This way, they will provide an example of what should be done to maintain a healthy relationship. This means that we should do to others what we would want to be done to us.

The fact is that, everyone always wishes the best for themselves (Shane 297). So, if what we wish for us is the same as what we would wish for our neighbours then no bad deeds would be done to other people. Living by this principle implies that the society will only have people who understand each other and who can relate with each other well. In such a case, there will be no law breakers like thieves, hijackers, rapists, arsonists and so on.

A good society is what everyone round the globe is crying for. This is because there are so many benefits that result once the people in a society are in good relationships. The greatest advantage is the presence of peace in the society. Peace is said to prevail when people are in good terms (Harvey 391).

When peace prevails in a society, the people living within the society are able to build stronger relationships since there will be less or no animosity between and among members of the society. On the other hand, a society that lacks peace will have an environment that is not conducive for building relationships primarily because members of the society will not have enough trust towards each other.

A society in which people relate well will be able advance economically. This is because there will be sufficient co-ordination and cooperation in undertaking the affairs of the society. Therefore, with good relationships, people will be able to work together in coming up with projects and also in implementing them. Such projects will be very useful to the community since with proper co-ordination, they will be set up such that they help almost all members of the society (McGinnis 1).

Another benefit of good relationships in the society is that of high productivity in all sectors. When people in the society are in good relationships they are able to combine their efforts and work together hence leading to increased output.

For instance, in a case where a project is to be implemented with limited funding, the community may provide labour and materials for the project to ensure that it is actualized. Such a community will therefore have tremendous growth in its economic welfare. This is because people will have less relationship problems and thus they will be able to give more time to work.

Last but not least, in a society where there are good relationships among people there are few instances of people suffering without help. People will only help others when they are in good terms such that one can freely express their problems and the other person is generously willing to help (Waxmberg 1). For instance, if a person who does not relate well with people gets into trouble, it will be difficult for him/her to get help from other people.

However, if people are in bad relationships, a disease may spread like bush fire as people will not be willing to take responsibility over sharing important information that could help in stopping the same (Shane 300). This leads to death of many innocent people, whose lives would be saved by just informing others. This gives a clear indication of the cost that comes with creation of good relationships among individual.

The society is made up of people and the people make the society. Therefore depending on the type of people forming it up, a society may either be good or bad. A good society is hard to create and find, though with people’s sacrifice and hard work it is possible. A good society is one that makes it comfortable for people to live in it and be associated with.

It is one that gives people the freedom of practicing their rights without being oppressed, it lacks violence and discrimination. It is also one that cares and provides for its inhabitants. The society does this by providing facilities, services and offers like educating the unfortunate students, provision of security and many others.

Research done by many philosophers indicates that a society that values cultural, religious, racial, language and ethnic diversity, and uses them to its advantage becomes a good society. In fact, the diversity should stimulate better relationships since an association between people from different background will be more exciting than that of people from the same background.

Defence on the society is also another essential aspect. Just as it has been discussed above, people will only defend a society in which they have good relationships with the people living therein (McGinnis 1).

Thus, the people’s relationships and the society are inseparable entities and thus the former should not be alienated from the latter. This is because of the mere reason that the two are closely linked and have high degree of correlation. Due to this, human beings are advised to avoid complaining, criticizing, or looking for escape points when they are working for their society.

In conclusion, human beings are the ones who make a society and thus they are also the ones who determine whether the society will be good or not. We should, therefore, appreciate the responsibility we have towards our society and work hard towards making it better.

This can be achieved through the use of the aforementioned approaches in maintaining good relationships with society members and ensuring that the society offers a favourable environment for good relationships. Some specific examples of how one may be of use to his/her society is being active in conflict resolution, coming up with strategies for ensuring that people in the society do not fall out easily and promoting unity within the society.

One may also care for the society by giving assistance in community work and rewarding, encouraging and motivating people working for the society (Waxmberg 1). This is only possible in circumstances where the people are in good relationships because when people are not in good terms most of the times they usually do not wish the best for their opponents. With this point, it is apparent that a good society is more or less self-sustaining because it provides frameworks that make people relate well.

Harvey, J. (2009). Relationship Connection . Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology: Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 385–392.

McGinnis, B. (2010). Twenty-One Greatest Ideas in Human Relationships. Web.

Sayn, M. (2002). How to have a good relationship. Web.

Shane, J. (2007). Positive psychology: the scientific and practical explorations of human strengths.” Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 297–321.

Waxmberg, J. (2007). Our Relationship with Society. Web.

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Bibliography

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Chapter 1 What Is Human Relations?

I present myself to you in a form suitable to the relationship I wish to achieve with you.

Luigi Pirandello

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.

Maya Angelou

No One Wants to Work with Her

Jenny is going to a BBQ at Monica and Harvey’s house this afternoon. Because it is a big annual event, it is usually a large party. She will likely know about half the people, as Monica and Harvey invite people from all aspects of their lives. As Jenny enters the backyard, she sees familiar faces, as expected, but also sees a lot of people she doesn’t recognize. Immediately she starts fidgeting, as Jenny isn’t good at making small talk. Instead of making eye contact and going over to people who are acquaintances, she drops her potluck dish down, grabs a drink from the cooler, and tries to find Monica so she will have someone to talk with.

At work, Jenny avoids interpersonal relationships and small talk because she is uncomfortable revealing too much of herself. When Jenny attends meetings at work, she sighs impatiently when someone is late and when people veer too far from the topic, and she makes sure to bring people back to reality. When choosing project teams, people rarely want to work with Jenny, even though she is very capable in her job. Some of the women from the office get together for lunch on Tuesdays, but Jenny is never invited. Needless to say, Jenny isn’t well liked at work.

We have all met someone like Jenny, who is seemingly uncomfortable with herself and unpleasant. We may even try to avoid the Jennys we know. Despite Jenny being good at her job, no one wants to work with her. You would think that success at work only takes talent at job-specific tasks. However, this isn’t the case. As we will discuss throughout this chapter and the book, successful people have the skills to do the job, but they also have the human relations skills to get along with others. The focus of this chapter will be personality, attitudes, self-esteem, and perceptions—all of these topics and more impact our ability to get along with others.

1.1 Why Study Human Relations?

Learning objectives.

• Be able to define human relations.
• Discuss why human relations skills are necessary in your future workplace.
• Explain how the progression of human relations studies relates to today’s human relations in your life.

The study and understanding of human relations can help us in our workplace, and as a result, assist us in achieving career success. The better our human relations, the more likely we are to grow both professionally and personally. Knowing how to get along with others, resolve workplace conflict, manage relationships, communicate well, and make good decisions are all skills we will discuss throughout the book.

Why Human Relations?

So, what is human relations? We can define human relations Relations with or between people, particularly in a workplace or professional setting. as relations with or between people, particularly in a workplace or professional setting. Merriam Webster Dictionary, accessed January 30, 2012, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/human%20relations From a personal perspective, there are many advantages to having good human relations skills. First, of the top ten reasons people are fired, several reasons relate back to lack of human relations skills—for example, the inability to work within a team, personality issues, sexual harassment, and dishonesty. Natalie Jones, “10 Most Common Reasons Why People Are Fired,” Wikinut article, February 28, 2010, accessed January 31, 2012, http://business.wikinut.com/10-Most-Common-Reasons-People-are-Fired/ggcsrftv/ Other reasons, perhaps not directly related to human relations, include absenteeism, poor performance, stealing, political reasons, downsizing, and sabotage. Second, people who are competent team players and have a good work ethic tend to get promoted faster. Jean Maye, “7 Steps to Getting Promoted,” Chicago Tribune , 2012, accessed January 31, 2012, http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/jobs/sns-jobs-steps-promotion,0,6989913.story In fact, according to guru on personal development Brian Tracy, 85 percent of your success in life is determined by social skills and the ability to interact positively and effectively with others. Brian Tracy, “Mastering Human Relationships,” Brian Tracy International, August 19, 2009, accessed January 31, 2012, http://www.briantracy.com/blog/personal-success/mastering-human-relationships/ Another reason to develop good relationships with others relates to your own personal happiness. According to psychologist Sydney Jourard, most joy in life comes from happy relationships with other people. Tracy, Brian, “Mastering Human Relationships,” Brian Tracy International, August 19, 2009, accessed January 31, 2012, http://www.briantracy.com/blog/personal-success/mastering-human-relationships/

Consider John, a very talented project manager but lacking in human relations skills. While he is easily able to plan and execute the finest details for a project, no one likes to work with him. He doesn’t make efforts to get to know his team members and he comes across as unfriendly and unapproachable. How successful do you think John will be in his workplace? While he has the skills necessary to do the job, he doesn’t have the people skills that can help him excel at it. One could say he does not have emotional intelligence skills—that is, the ability to understand others—therefore, he may always find himself wondering why he isn’t more successful at work (we will discuss emotional intelligence in Chapter 2 "Achieve Personal Success" ). While project management skills are something we can learn, managers find it difficult to hire people without the soft skills, or human relations skills. We aren’t saying that skills are not important, but human relations skills are equally as important as technical skills to determine career and personal success. Consider human relations skills in your personal life, as this is equally important. Human relations skills such as communication and handling conflict can help us create better relationships. For example, assume Julie talks behind people’s backs and doesn’t follow through on her promises. She exhibits body language that says “get away from me” and rarely smiles or asks people about themselves. It is likely that Julie will have very few, if any, friends. If Julie had positive human relations skills, there is a much better chance she could improve her personal relationships.

We can benefit personally and professionally from good human relations skills, but how do organizations benefit? Since many companies’ organizational structures depend upon people working together, positive human relations skills reduce conflict in the workplace, thereby making the workplace more productive. Organizational structures Refers to the way a company arranges people, jobs, and communications so that work can be performed. refer to the way a company arranges people, jobs, and communications so that work can be performed. In today’s business world, teams are used to accomplish company goals because teamwork includes people with a variety of skills. When using those skills in a team, a better product and better ideas are usually produced. In most businesses, to be successful at our job, we need to depend on others. The importance of human relations is apparent in this setting. If people are not able to get along and resolve conflicts, the organization as a whole will be less productive, which could affect profitability. Many organizations empower When an organization gives the employees freedom in making decisions about how their work gets done. their employees; that is, they give employees freedom in making decisions about how their work gets done. This can create a more motivated workforce, which results in more positive human relations. We will explore this topic further in Chapter 6 "Understand Your Motivations" .

Most organizations employ a total person approach This approach recognizes that an organization employs not just someone with skills but rather the whole person. . This approach recognizes that an organization does not just employ someone with skills, but rather, the whole person. This person comes with biases, personal challenges, human relations skills, and technical skills but also comes with experiences. By looking at a person from this perspective, an organization can begin to understand that what happens to an employee outside of work can affect his or her job performance. For example, assume Kathy is doing a great job at work but suddenly starts to arrive late, leave early, and take longer lunches. Upon further examination, we might find that Kathy is having childcare issues because of her divorce. Because of a total person approach perspective, her organization might be able to rearrange her schedule or work with her to find a reasonable solution. This relates to human relations because we are not just people going to work every day; we are people who live our personal lives, and one affects the other. Because of this, our human relations abilities will most certainly be affected if we are experiencing challenges at home or at work.

Joan Harrington, a blogger and life coach, says there are a few key things to getting people to like you. Joan Harrington, “Eight Persuasion Tips to Make Anyone Like You,” Joan Harrington’s True Successes, January 19, 2012, accessed January 31, 2012, http://joansblog.joantruesuccess11.ws/highly-recommended/8-persuasion-tips-to-make-anyone-like-you/

Evolution of Human Relations Study

Human relations, however, was not always central to the conversation on organizational success. In fact, until the 1940s, little thought was given to the human aspect of jobs. Many of the jobs in the early 1900s were focused on production and located in factory-like settings where the jobs themselves were repetitive. The focus in these types of work environments was on efficiency. We can call this time period of human relations studies the classical school of management A time period relating to the research of human relations that focused on efficiency. The time period for this school of thought took place from 1900 to the early 1920s. . This school of thought took place from 1900 to the early 1920s. Several theories were developed, which revolved around the idea of efficiency, or getting a job done with the least amount of steps.

Frederick W. Taylor was an engineer who today is known as the father of scientific management. He began his career in a steel company and, because of his intimate knowledge of the industry, believed that organizations could analyze tasks to make them performed with more efficiency.

Following his work, Frank and Lillian Gilbreth performed numerous studies on physical motions workers took to perform specific tasks and tried to maximize efficiency by suggesting new ways to perform the tasks, using less energy and thereby being more efficient.

While Taylor and Gilbreth’s research was more focused on physical motions and tasks, Henri Fayol began looking at how management could improve productivity instead of focusing on specific tasks and motions. Fayol created the Fourteen Principles of Management, which focused on management but also hinted to the importance of human relations: Girish Sharmaa, “Henri Fayol’s Principles of Management,” Publish Your Articles, no date, accessed February 1, 2012, http://www.publishyourarticles.org/knowledge-hub/business-studies/henry-fayols-principles-of-management.html

• Division of work. Work should be divided in the most efficient way. Fayol believed work specialization, or the focus on specific tasks for teams or individuals, to be crucial to success.
• Authority. Authority is the right to give orders and accountability within those orders. Fayol believed that along with giving orders and expecting them to be met, that person in authority also assumes responsibility to make sure tasks are met.
• Discipline. Discipline is penalties applied to encourage common effort, as a successful organization requires the common effort of all workers.
• Unity of command. Workers should receive orders from only one manager. In other words, reporting to two or more managers would violate Fayol’s Fourteen Principles of Management.
• Unity of direction. Everyone in the organization should move toward a common goal and understand how the team will achieve that goal.
• Subordination of individual interests to general interests. The interests of one person shouldn’t have priority over the interests of the organization as a whole. This focuses on teamwork and the importance of everyone acting toward the same goal.
• Remuneration. Many things should be considered when paying employees, including cost of living, supply of qualified people, and business success.
• Centralization. The degree of importance in the subordinates’ (employees’) role in their organization and the amount of decision making that occurs at a central level versus a decentralized level. For example, in many organizations decisions are made centrally (i.e., in the “corporate office”), which does not allow as much flexibility as decentralized decision making; this would mean each individual area can make its own decisions.
• Scalar chain. This refers to how authority is divided among managers. Specifically, Fayol said lower-level managers should always keep upper-level managers informed.
• Order. All materials and people related to one kind of work should be organized and neat. Things should be easy to find.
• Equity. All employees should be treated equally.
• Stability of tenure of personnel. Retention of employees should be a high management priority. The cost of hiring a new worker is expensive, so efforts should be maintained to keep current employees.
• Initiative. Management should take steps to encourage workers to take initiative. In addition, workers should be self-directed and not need a lot of management control to accomplish tasks.
• Esprit de corps. Managers should encourage harmony among employees. This harmony creates good feelings among employees.

Fayol’s research was some of the first that addressed the need for positive human relations in a work environment. As further research was performed into the 1920s, we moved into a new period of human relations studies called the behavioral school of management During the 1920s when employees had begun to unionize, researchers began to look at the human aspect of workers. . During this time period, employees had begun to unionize, bringing human relations issues to the forefront. Because workers demanded a more humane environment, researchers began to look at how organizations could make this happen.

One of the more notable researchers was Elton Mayo, from Harvard Business School, and his colleagues. They conducted a series of experiments from the mid-1920s to early 1930s to investigate how physical working conditions affected worker productivity. They found that regardless of changes such as heat, lighting, hours, and breaks, productivity levels increased during the study. The researchers realized the increased productivity resulted because the workers knew they were being observed. In other words, the workers worked harder because they were receiving attention and felt cared about. This phenomenon is called the Hawthorne effect Coined during the 1920s during a series of experiments where workers had higher productivity because they were being watched by researchers and felt cared about. (named for the electrical plant for which the experiments were conducted).

In the 1950s, researchers began to explore management techniques and the effect on worker satisfaction. This was called the behavioral science approach During the 1950s when researchers began to explore management techniques as opposed to earlier years where the focus was more on productivity. . These techniques used psychology, sociology, and other human relations aspects to help researchers understand the organizational environment.

Since the 1960s, research on human relations has been much easier to assimilate because of technology and a focus on statistical analysis. Hence, this is called the management science school During the 1960s when the research on human relations was more focused on statistical aspects, due to the increase in technology. . So while research today focuses on the human relations aspect, we are now able to use complex statistical models to improve efficiency and productivity while still focusing on the human relations component.

Human Relations, Technology, and Globalization

While we discuss the impact of technology on human relations throughout the book, it is important to mention here the immense impact technology has had on this field of study. Inability to see body language indicators make it more difficult to communicate using technology, creating conflict and misunderstandings. These misunderstandings can obviously affect human relations. Also consider that through globalization, we are working with people from all over the world in many time zones who have different perspectives. Between technology and globalization, humans have never had to work with such a diverse group of people—using diverse methods of communication—at any time in history.

Technology has allowed us to do this: e-mail, Skype, and instant message, to name a few. The impact on human relations is obvious—there is less face-to-face interactions and more interactions using technology. Add in the challenge of a global environment and this creates a whole new set of challenges.

Many organizations today are focusing on how to use technology to save workers time commuting to work. In fact, an estimated 26.2 million workers telecommute The practice of working from a remote location. , or work from a remote location at least once per month. Telework 2011, “A WorldatWork Special Report,” World at Work Organization, June 2011, accessed February 1, 2012, http://www.worldatwork.org/waw/adimLink?id=53034 Global Workplace Analytics cites the following benefits to telecommuting:

• Improved employee satisfaction
• Reduced unscheduled absences
• Increased productivity

However, Global Workplace Analytics also says there are some key drawbacks: Telework Research Network, “Costs and Benefits: Advantages of Telecommuting,” Telework Research Network, no date, accessed February 1, 2012, http://www.teleworkresearchnetwork.com/costs-benefits

• Social needs may not be met
• People must be self-directed
• Employees must be comfortable with technology or it won’t work

While technology has greatly impacted human relations at work, there are some common denominators for human relations success in today’s workplace—whether or not technology is used. These factors will be discussed throughout this book:

• Chapter 1 "What Is Human Relations?" . Understanding how personality, attitudes, self-esteem, and perception impact human relations. How we are, how we behave, and our belief systems all impact how we view ourselves and others.
• Chapter 2 "Achieve Personal Success" . Understanding the components to personal success, such as goal setting and emotional intelligence skills. Being able to achieve personal success is the first step in attaining career success.
• Chapter 3 "Manage Your Stress" . Managing stress and understanding how too much stress can negatively impact our human relations.
• Chapter 4 "Communicate Effectively" . Communication abilities. Everything we do at work and in our personal lives involves communication. Understanding how to communicate effectively is the cornerstone of positive human relations.
• Chapter 5 "Be Ethical at Work" . Ethical decision making is necessary because ethical decisions must be made all the time in our personal and work lives. Understanding how to make an ethical decision can help us become better employees and human beings.
• Chapter 6 "Understand Your Motivations" . Understanding what motivates you can help you know the right career path and can assist you in guiding your supervisor. Without an understanding of our own motivations (our own self-knowledge) we may not be able to complete tasks as efficiently. Of course, this skill is the key to successful human relations.
• Chapter 7 "Work Effectively in Groups" . Working in teams has become necessary in most every work environment. Understanding how teams work and how they achieve success together will provide you with the tools to be an effective team member.
• Chapter 8 "Make Good Decisions" . Good decision making, both personally and professionally, can help our human relations in that it provides a framework to make sure we are thinking about all aspects of the decision. We tend to be happier when we make better decisions, which means we relate better to others.
• Chapter 9 "Handle Conflict and Negotiation" . The ability to manage conflict is necessary in today’s workplace. Not everything will work exactly as we planned, nor will we get along with everyone we meet. Learning how to work through these challenges can help us become better at human relations.
• Chapter 10 "Manage Diversity at Work" . The ability to work with a diverse workforce. In a globalized workforce, we will work with people from all cultures and backgrounds. Understanding how to effectively work with people different from us can help us be more successful at work.
• Chapter 11 "Work with Labor Unions" . Understanding labor unions and their role in the workplace will help us understand how unions work, should we become employed in a union environment. Understanding the concepts in this chapter gives us the working knowledge to apply the human relations skills we have learned.
• Chapter 12 "Be a Leader" . Leadership and management skills can assist us in understanding how we can be leaders in our workplace, even if we do not have a formal title.
• Chapter 13 "Manage Your Career" . Managing one’s own career, such as etiquette, dealing with change, and networking. This capstone chapter will relate our discussion back to these key components to human relations.

We will focus on human relations in a work setting, but many examples will also relate to personal settings. The examples provided will give you tools to have positive relationships with coworkers, supervisors, and people in your personal life. These positive relationships—both at home and at work—help us become more rounded, happier individuals. This is good for everyone, including the company you work for.

Key Takeaways

• Human relations is an important part to our career success. It is defined as relations with or between people, particularly in a workplace setting. Because a company depends on good human relations through its organizational structure, developing these skills is important.
• Technology has greatly impacted human relations because so much of our communication occurs without the advantage of seeing body language. This can result in miscommunications. Many workers telecommute to work. There are advantages and disadvantages, more notably a disadvantage being the lack of human, face-to-face contact.
• There was an evolution in human relations study. In the classical school of management , the focus was on efficiency and not on human relations.
• Employees began to unionize in the 1920s due to lack of positive human relations, and therefore the behavioral school of management was created. During this time period, researchers began to focus on the human relations aspect of the workplace. One of the major theories developed was the Hawthorne effect , which determined that workers were more productive when they were being watched and cared about by researchers.
• During the 1950s, the behavioral science approach looked at management techniques as a way to increase productivity and human relations.
• In the 1960s and beyond, sophisticated tools allow researchers to analyze more data and focus on the statistical aspects of human relations and management data.
• Have you ever worked with anyone like Jenny (in the opening case), either in school or at a job? Discuss your experiences and how you handled working with this person. How could they have benefited from an understanding of human relations?
• Discuss two advantages to learning about human relations skills. Why do companies value good human relations skills?
• Would you be interested in telecommuting for work? What are the advantages and disadvantages to the employee? Discuss in small groups.
• Draw a timeline of human relations research. On the timeline, indicate the events that changed human relations thinking. Bring your timelines to class and discuss in small groups.

1.2 Human Relations: Personality and Attitude Effects

• Be able to define personality and attitudes.
• Explain how your attitude and personality has an effect in the workplace.

What Determines Our Personality?

Our personality A set of traits that can explain or predict a person’s behavior in variety of situations. is defined as a set of traits that can explain or predict a person’s behavior in a variety of situations. In other words, personality is a set of characteristics that reflect the way we think and act in a given situation. Because of this, our personality has a lot to do with how we relate to one another at work. How we think, what we feel, and our normal behavior characterize what our colleagues come to expect of us both in behavior and the expectation of their interactions with us. For example, let’s suppose at work you are known for being on time but suddenly start showing up late daily. This directly conflicts with your personality—that is, the fact that you are conscientious. As a result, coworkers might start to believe something is wrong. On the other hand, if you did not have this characteristic, it might not be as surprising or noteworthy. Likewise, if your normally even-tempered supervisor yells at you for something minor, you may believe there is something more to his or her anger since this isn’t a normal personality trait and also may have a more difficult time handling the situation since you didn’t expect it. When we come to expect someone to act a certain way, we learn to interact with them based on their personality. This goes both ways, and people learn to interact with us based on our personality. When we behave different than our normal personality traits, people may take time to adjust to the situation.

Personality also affects our ability to interact with others, which can impact our career success. In a 2009 study Angelina R. Sutin and Paul T. Costa, “Personality and Career Success,” European Journal of Personality 23, no. 2 (March 2009): 71–84. by Angelina Sutin et al., it was found that the personality characteristic of neuroticism (a tendency to experience negative emotional states) had more effect than any personality characteristic on determining future career success. In other words, those with positive and hopeful personalities tend to be rewarded through career success later in life.

Although there is debate between whether or not our personalities are inherent when we are born (nature) versus the way we grew up (nurture), most researchers agree that personality is usually a result of both nature and our environmental/education experiences. For example, you have probably heard someone say, “She acts just like her mother.” She likely behaves that way because she was born with some of her mother’s traits, as well as because she learned some of the behaviors her mother passed to her while growing up.

Nature and nurture factors determine our personality.

Another example might be someone who grows up with their parents constantly having parties. As a result, as an adult this person may end up organizing a lot of parties, too. Or the influence of parties may create the opposite effect, where the person doesn’t want to have parties at all. The environmental and educational experiences can create positive or negative associations, which result in how we feel about any situation that occurs in our lives. Alexandria Lupu, “Our Personality: Is It Genetically Inherited or Determined by the Environmental Factors,” Softpedia News, July 2, 2006, accessed February 3, 2012, http://news.softpedia.com/news/Our-Personality-Is-It-Genetically-Inherited-or-Determined-by-The-Environmental- Factors-28413.shtml

Our values help determine our personality. Our values The things we find most important to us. are those things we find most important to us. For example, if your value is calmness and peace, your personality would show this in many possible ways. You might prefer to have a few close friends and avoid going to a nightclub on Saturday nights. You might choose a less stressful career path, and you might find it challenging to work in a place where frequent conflict occurs.

We often find ourselves in situations where our values do not coincide with someone we are working with. For example, if Alison’s main value is connection, this may come out in a warm communication style with coworkers and an interest in their personal lives. Imagine Alison works with Tyler, whose core value is efficiency. Because of Tyler’s focus, he may find it a waste of time to make small talk with colleagues. When Alison approaches Tyler and asks about his weekend, she may feel offended or upset when he brushes her off to ask about the project they are working on together. She feels like a connection wasn’t made, and he feels like she isn’t efficient. Understanding our own values as well as the values of others can greatly help us become better communicators.

Examples of Values

What are your top five values? How do you think this affects your personality?

Source: http://www.gurusoftware.com/GuruNet/Personal/Topics/Values.htm

What about Our Attitudes?

Our attitudes Favorable or unfavorable feelings toward people, things, or situations. are favorable or unfavorable opinions toward people, things, or situations. Many things affect our attitudes, including the environment we were brought up in and our individual experiences. Our personalities and values play a large role in our attitudes as well. For example, many people may have attitudes toward politics that are similar to their parents, but their attitudes may change as they gain more experiences. If someone has a bad experience around the ocean, they may develop a negative attitude around beach activities. However, assume that person has a memorable experience seeing sea lions at the beach, for example, then he or she may change their opinion about the ocean. Likewise, someone may have loved the ocean, but if they have a scary experience, such as nearly drowning, they may change their attitude.

The important thing to remember about attitudes is that they can change over time, but usually some sort of positive experience needs to occur for our attitudes to change dramatically for the better. We also have control of our attitude in our thoughts. If we constantly stream negative thoughts, it is likely we may become a negative person.

In a workplace environment, you can see where attitude is important. Someone’s personality may be cheerful and upbeat. These are the prized employees because they help bring positive perspective to the workplace. Likewise, someone with a negative attitude is usually someone that most people prefer not to work with. The problem with a negative attitude is that it has a devastating effect on everyone else. Have you ever felt really happy after a great day and when you got home, your roommate was in a terrible mood because of her bad day? In this situation, you can almost feel yourself deflating! This is why having a positive attitude is a key component to having good human relations at work and in our personal lives.

But how do we change a negative attitude? Because a negative attitude can come from many sources, there are also many sources that can help us improve our attitude.

Changing Your Attitude

On the Motivation123 website, they describe the three things to consider when trying to change your attitude.

Reams are written about improving your attitude; not so when it comes to defining that thing you’re trying to improve. In this checklist, we’re going to fix that.

Though there are many ways to define attitude, I find the three checkpoints below to be the most helpful. They make it clear not only what your attitude is made of but also how it affects what you do.

1. How You Enter

Before heading down South for a vacation, I expected a relaxing and enjoyable time. This is the first piece of your attitude: it is what you expect before something happens.

For me, I expected good things. Someone with a more negative bent—at least in relation to traveling—would predict rough times ahead.

2. How You Live through It

The second piece of your attitude is the way in which you gauge progress. Do you notice what is going wrong? Going well? Somewhere in between?

I went to dinner the other night with a few friends. I’m always on the lookout for stories to use on the site, so when they started to comment on the place, I was drawn in. One friend noticed how noisy the restaurant was, how grumpy the waiter seemed, and how bad the food tasted.

On the heels of this cheery testimonial, the friend sitting next to me said she loved the atmosphere, the style of the tables, and her dinner. Two attitudes looking for very different things.

3. How You Exit

The last role your attitude plays happens at the end of a situation or experience. At this point, your attitude affects the way you sum things up.

I was watching a competition-based reality show the other night and, when two people were sent home, they were given the chance to talk to the camera one last time.

They were asked what they would take away from the experience. The first reflected on the friendships he had made and the good times he had had. The second was angry and vengeful. To her, the experience was a waste of time. Attitude strikes again.

Reprinted with permission: Motivation123.com. Get hundreds of simple motivation tips, along with your free Motivation123 Welcome Kit, at the Motivation123.com website. Visit http://www.motivation123.com today.

As Note 1.19 "Changing Your Attitude" points out, our attitude is ultimately about how we set our expectations; how we handle the situation when our expectations are not met; and finally, how we sum up an experience, person, or situation. When we focus on improving our attitude on a daily basis, we get used to thinking positively and our entire personality can change. It goes without saying that employers prefer to hire and promote someone with a positive attitude as opposed to a negative one. Other tips for improving attitude include the following: Richard Whitaker, “Improving Your Attitude,” Biznick, September 2, 2008, accessed February 3, 2012, http://biznik.com/articles/improving-your-attitude

• When you wake up in the morning, decide you are going to have an excellent day. By having this attitude, it is less likely you may feel disappointed when small things do not go your way.
• Be conscious of your negative thoughts. Keep a journal of negative thoughts. Upon reviewing them, analyze why you had a negative thought about a specific situation.
• Try to avoid negative thinking. Think of a stop sign in your mind that stops you when you have negative thoughts. Try to turn those thoughts into positive ones. For example, instead of saying, “I am terrible in math,” say, “I didn’t do well on that test. It just means I will study harder next time.”
• Spend time with positive people. All of us likely have a friend who always seems to be negative or a coworker who constantly complains. People like this can negatively affect our attitude, too, so steering clear when possible, or limiting the interaction time, is a great way to keep a positive attitude intact.
• Spend time in a comfortable physical environment. If your mattress isn’t comfortable and you aren’t getting enough sleep, it is more difficult to have a positive attitude! Or if the light in your office is too dark, it might be more difficult to feel positive about the day. Look around and examine your physical space. Does it match the mental frame of mind you want to be in?

Self-Assessment: What’s My Attitude?

People would describe me as unhappy.

I complain right away if there is something I don’t like.

Being positive most of the time is far too unrealistic.

If I have a bad morning, the rest of my day is sure to be ruined.

I tend to think more about my weak points than my strong points.

I don’t give out compliments because I don’t want someone to get a big ego.

In the past two weeks, I have called myself depressed.

I worry too much about things I can’t control.

It takes a lot to make me happy.

When I experience a failure, I usually just stop trying.

Now, count the number of true and false answers. The more false answers you have, the better attitude you tend to have. If you have many true answers, what are some ways to help you change to a more positive attitude?

When considering our personality, values, and attitudes, we can begin to get the bigger picture of who we are and how our experiences affect how we behave at work and in our personal lives. It is a good idea to reflect often on what aspects of our personality are working well and which we might like to change. With self-awareness (discussed further in Chapter 2 "Achieve Personal Success" ), we can make changes that eventually result in better human relations.

Our personality traits, attitude, and self-esteem have everything to do with human relations. When you are planting a vegetable garden, you wouldn’t fill the new garden with old soil that no longer has nutrients in it. Doing this will result in your plants not growing as large as they can or could even result in them not growing at all. If we look at our human relations ability, the same idea applies. Personality, attitude, and self-esteem comprise the nutrient-rich soil required for our human relations skills to grow. Our personality is how we see the world, either positive and full of hope or negative and full of despair. Without a positive attitude, it can be difficult to relate to others—because they may not want to be around us! Likewise, having a positive self-image can give us the confidence to nurture relationships, resulting in positive human relations as well. Just like the garden that needs soils rich in nutrients, our human relations skills are the same. To make our human relations skills grow, we need to look at our underlying personality characteristics, attitudes, and self-esteem that could be helping—or hindering—our ability to relate to others.

• Personality is defined as a set of traits that predict and explain a person’s behavior. Values are closely interwoven into personality, as our values often define our traits.
• Our personality can help define our attitudes toward specific things, situations, or people. Most people prefer to work with people who have a positive attitude.
• We can improve our attitude by waking up and believing that the day is going to be great. We can also keep awareness of our negative thoughts or those things that may prevent us from having a good day. Spending time with positive people can help improve our own attitude as well.
• Visit http://www.thecolorcode.com . Find the section that allows you to take the personality test for free, take the test, and then review the results. What color are you? How does this impact how you relate to others either at school or at work?
• Looking at Note 1.17 "Examples of Values" , which five are most important to you? Connect two to three personality traits you possess as a result of these values. For example, if you value practicality you might see this manifest through the importance placed on goods purchased or the type of wardrobe you have.
• In two or three paragraphs, discuss your attitude and name four specific strategies you will use to improve your attitude.

1.3 Human Relations: Perception’s Effect

Learning objective.

• Be able to explain influencers of perception that impact your ability to relate to others.

Why Does Perception Matter to Human Relations?

As we have discussed so far in this chapter, many things impact our human relations with others. Perception is no different. Perception The recognition and interpretation of sensory stimuli based upon our memory. is the recognition and interpretation of sensory stimuli based upon our memory. In other words, it is the way you interpret data around you. The data could come from sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing. For example, if you wake up in the morning to the smell of coffee, your perception is likely correct that your roommate is already awake. The challenge with perception in human relations is that we may not always understand someone else’s perception and/or assume their perception is our own. This is where disagreements and other communication issues can occur. For example, if you perceive that your significant other is too focused on spending time with friends, your interactions with her will be based upon this perception. For example, you could be frustrated and short tempered. In a workplace setting, perceptions can also cause miscommunications. For example, you may perceive your coworker to be lazy because he always arrives to work at 8:15 a.m. and the start time is 8 a.m. Suppose he has a child with a medical condition who needs special schooling, and the school doesn’t open until 8 a.m.? Perhaps he has made arrangements with your supervisor of which you are unaware. This perception can be a dangerous one, since we don’t have all of the facts.

How many legs does this elephant have? This section on perception is going to address the many ways we perceive things—and how these perceptions impact our ability to relate to others.

Source: http://www.moillusions.com/2006/05/elephant-optical-illusion.html

The Monkey Business Illusion

Researcher and professor Dan Simons provides a short video that looks at our own perceptions.

What Influences Our Perception?

We have defined perception and given some example to show how perceptions can be incorrect—negatively impacting relationships. But where do our perceptions come from? There are a number of things that influence our perception. Rita Baltus, Personal Psychology for Life and Work (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2000), 27–29. First, our heredity can be major influencers of our perception. Height, skin color, and gender influence the way we see the world. For example, someone who is 5’ 2” may perceive an object to be stored too high, while someone who is 6’ 2” may not have that same perception.

Our needs impact our perception as well. Physiological needs, such as food and water (or lack thereof), can influence how we feel about certain situations. Have you ever been in a social situation where you were very hungry? If so, you know this impacted your ability to socialize with other people. You may have found yourself less patient to listen because you were concerned about when you were going to eat! Or if you have ever taken a road trip and needed to use the restroom, your perception may be that the highway lacks a sufficient number of rest areas.

Our peer group can also impact our perception. Our peers tend to determine what is desirable or undesirable, thereby giving us information on how to interpret data around us. You have experienced this personally, no doubt. If you perceive a brand of clothing desirable, it is more likely your friends also feel similar. The same thing happens at work; for example, suppose a supervisor uses Skype to conduct meetings because her perception is that it is an efficient way to do business. It is highly likely that others in your workgroup will perceive it as a useful tool, also.

Our interests impact our perception. If you like running marathons, your perception on how much to spend on running shoes will be different from someone who prefers kayaking for fun and needs a pair of athletic shoes. Assume your interest at work is to be promoted. Your perception of work is very different than someone who can’t stand the job and is looking for a position with a different company.

Our expectations are another driver of our perceptions. For example, research performed by Ronald Melzack Ronald Melzack et al., “Central Neuropasticy and Pathological Pain,” Annals New York Academy of Sciences 933 (2001): 157–59. suggests our expectations about how much something will hurt alters our perception after the fact. For example, if you are dreading getting a flu shot because you believe it will hurt a lot (expectations), once you actually have it done, you may say, “That didn’t hurt at all” (perception), because your expectation prepared you beforehand. In other words, our expectations affect our perception after the fact. In this example, our expectation was extreme pain, but when that didn’t occur, our perception was quite the opposite. Our expectations and resulting perception can also be looked at in a work setting. For example, if you have high expectations that your workgroup will win the annual chili cook-off at your company picnic, but you don’t win, your perception could be one of unfairness: “The judges like the marketing department better.” Likewise, if your team wins the chili cook-off and you expected to win, your perceptions may be, “Of course we won, we knew ours was the best.”

A halo effect Assumes that if a person has one trait we like, that all traits must be desirable. or reverse halo effect If we find an undesirable trait in someone, we assume all traits are undesirable. can also alter our perceptions. The halo affect assumes that if a person has one trait we like, that all traits must be desirable. The reverse halo effect is if we find an undesirable trait in someone, we assume all traits are undesirable. Assume you don’t like the way your coworker, Mariette, speaks. You may then make an assumption that all of Mariette’s traits are negative. Likewise, if you believe Rhonda is a great dental hygienist, you may promote her to manage the other dental hygienists. Later, if the other hygienists complain about her management style, you may realize you promoted her because you thought her skill as a dental hygienist meant she also had good management skills. In this case, the halo effect occurred.

Awareness of our own perceptions and what drives those perceptions is a key component to being successful at work. If we know why we believe something to be good, right, fair, negative, or unfair based on our perceptions, we can begin to let go of some of our misperceptions. As a result, developing good relationships at work, respect, and mutual understanding can create a better workplace.

Old Women/Young Women

The classic optical illusion that shows our perceptions can be very different from other’s perceptions. Do you see an old woman or a young woman in this picture?

• Personality is defined as a stable set of traits that can explain or predict a person’s behavior in a variety of situations. Our personality affects the way we interact with others. Our personality comes from both environmental factors and some factors we are just born with (nature).
• Values are the things we find important to us. If our values conflict with another’s, there may be a miscommunication or other issues.
• Attitudes can be favorable or unfavorable feelings toward people, things, or situations. Our attitudes have a great impact on each other. If one person has a bad attitude, it is likely to be contagious. We can do many things to change our attitude, but all include making a conscious effort to be aware of our negative thoughts and feelings.
• Perception refers to how we interpret stimuli such as people, things, or events. Our perception is important to recognize because it is the driving force behind our reaction to things.
• Heredity, needs, peer group, interests, and expectations all influence our perception. A halo effect or reverse halo effect can also influence our perception.
• In groups, discuss a situation where you have experienced the halo or reverse halo effect. What was the outcome of the situation?
• Think of at least five perceptions you had today. What influenced those perceptions? Were your perceptions correct?
• In groups, discuss a school, personal, or work situation where your perception was wrong. What was the outcome?

1.4 Human Relations: Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence Effects

• Be able to define and explain the importance of self-esteem in your career.
• Define and use the Johari window as a tool for self-discovery.

What Is Self-Esteem, Self-Image, and Projection?

Self-esteem The opinion you have for yourself and your value as a person. is the opinion you have of yourself and your perception on your value as a person. Low (negative) self-esteem can cause people to be negative, lack motivation, and be moody. Those with higher (positive) self-esteem like themselves, so they expect others to like them, too. They don’t harshly judge themselves and are comfortable with who they are.

Self-confidence Your belief in yourself and your abilities. , on the other hand, is your belief in yourself and your abilities. Often, people with high self-esteem also have self-confidence, although this may not always be the case. Both self-esteem and self-confidence can translate to positive human relations because if a person feels good about himself or herself, it is more likely he or she will be more comfortable communicating and working in teams—key components for success. According to researchers George Hollenbeck and Douglas Hall, George Hollenbeck and Douglas Hall, “Self-Confidence and Leader Performance” (technical report, Boston University Executive Development Roundtable, 2004). self-confidence can come from several sources:

• Actual experience. When you have accomplished something and succeeded, it is likely you will have the self-confidence to be successful at the task again.
• Experiences of others. If you watch another person perform a task, you may know you can do the same thing.
• Social comparison. When we see others with similar abilities able to perform a task, we may feel more confident in our own abilities to perform the same task.
• Social persuasion. A boost in self-confidence can come from the encouragement of someone we trust.
• Emotional arousal. This refers to our inner feelings of being adequate or inadequate when it comes to accomplishing a certain task. This can come from negative or positive self-talk.

Self-efficacy The confidence you have to carry out a specific task. is the confidence you have to carry out a specific task. Someone may have generally lower self-confidence but have self-efficacy in certain areas of his or her life. For example, Michael may have low self-esteem in general, but he is a computer whiz so he has self-efficacy in his ability to rebuild a computer.

Self-image How an individual thinks others view him or her. is a bit different than self-esteem in that it means how an individual thinks others view him or her. One’s self-image may not always be in line with what people actually think, but you can imagine the impact this can have on human relations at work. If someone’s self-image is that people think they are stupid, they may not try as hard since they believe this is what people think of them anyway. Obviously, this can be an unproductive and unhealthy way of working with others.

Projection Refers to how your self-esteem is reflected in the way you treat others. refers to how your self-esteem is reflected in the way you treat others. For example, if Cheng has low self-esteem, he may project this by putting down other people or belittling them. Likewise, if Cheng has high self-esteem, his projection onto others may be positive.

Improving Self-Confidence

Even if our self-confidence needs improvement, the good news is that there are many ways we can improve it. The following are examples:

• Use positive self-talk and visual imagery. Self-talk refers to the things we tell ourselves in quiet moments. It could be, “I did a really good job on that project” or “I am not good in math.” We constantly have an internal dialogue and our subconscious does not know the difference between truth and reality. So when we use negative self-talk, our subconscious actually starts to believe whatever we are telling it! This is why it is important to use positive self-talk. Visual imagery is focusing on a positive outcome and imagining it. By focusing on a positive outcome, we begin to believe it, thereby making it more likely to happen. For example, before you swing a golf club, you may imagine yourself hitting it perfectly with the ball going in just the right direction. This helps get us mentally ready to perform.
• Take risks. Risk-taking is an important source of gaining self-confidence. Of course, not all risks work out the way we want them to, but until we take risks, we are unable to accomplish tasks.
• Accomplish. Accomplishing something important such as earning a degree or a promotion can help us gain self-confidence. Of course, as mentioned earlier, often it involves risk taking in order to accomplish.
• Know your strengths and weaknesses. Everyone has a set of things they are good at. Knowing what you are good at and focusing on those things can improve self-esteem. Also, knowing what you are not good at and working to improve those skills can build self-confidence, too.
• Choose to spend time with people who boost your self-esteem. There are many negative people who do not want anyone to succeed because it makes them feel bad about themselves. Choose friends who boost your self-esteem and limit the time with people who harm your self-esteem.

Everyone can continue working on their self-esteem and self-confidence throughout life. The Johari window A tool that can help us determine how we see ourselves and how others see us. is one tool that can help us determine how we see ourselves and how others see us. This can serve as a good starting point and self-assessment tool to help us become better at human relations.

The Johari window was created in 1955 by Josephy Luft and Harry Ingham. When it was created, the researchers gave people fifty-six adjectives they could use to describe themselves. The subjects picked five or six adjectives and then had someone who knew them well pick six for that person as well. Then, the adjectives were placed in the appropriate place in the grid. The grid consists of four windows. The first window is the open area In the Johari window, the area that the person knows about themselves and others know about them. . In this area, these are things that someone knows about themselves and others see in them too. The second window is the blind area In the Johari window, the area the person doesn’t know about themselves but others know about them. . In the blind area, the person does not know it about themselves, but others see it in them. In the hidden area In the Johari window, the area the person knows about themselves, but others do not know about them. , the person knows this about her- or himself, but others are not aware of it. In the unknown area In the Johari window, the area that neither the person nor others know. , neither person knows what exists there. Through time and as we change and grow, we may have more self-awareness and aspects of ourselves once in the unknown area may go into one of the other windows.

Figure 1.2 The Johari Window

Having higher self-esteem and higher self-confidence can improve our projection, meaning we can better accept criticism, learn from our mistakes, and communicate more effectively. This can result in better human relations at work and, ultimately, higher productivity and higher profitability.

• Self-esteem is defined as the opinion one has about their value as a person. This is different than self-confidence , which refers to the belief someone has in themselves. Both are important determinants to career and human relations success.
• Self-efficacy is the confidence someone has to carry out a specific task. Self-confidence and self-efficacy can come from a variety of sources.
• Self-image is how you think others view you, while projection refers to how your self-esteem is reflected in others.
• The Johari window is a tool to look at our own self-esteem and learn how others view us. The Johari window involves the open area , hidden area , blind area , and unknown area .
• Write down the five words that describe you the best. When you look at these words, are they positive? If they are not positive, what steps can you take to improve your self-esteem? How will the steps you take improve your human relations skills?
• Take the self-esteem quiz at http://testyourself.psychtests.com/testid/3102 . What were the results? Do you agree with the results?

1.5 Summary and Exercise

Chapter summary.

• Technology has greatly impacted human relations because so much of our communication occurs without the advantage of seeing body language. This can result in miscommunications. Many workers telecommute to work. There are advantages and disadvantages, a more notable disadvantage being the lack of human, face-to-face contact.

Chapter Exercise

Using the following adjectives, please select five to six that best describe you. Once you have done this, have someone who knows you well select five to six adjectives. Compare those you selected to those your friend selected, and then place in the appropriate window of Johari’s model, the open area, blind area, unknown area, or hidden area. Then answer the following questions:

• What surprised you most about the adjectives your friend chose?
• What are some ways you can make your hidden area more open? What are the advantages to doing this?
• How do you think this exercise relates to your self-esteem?
• How can the information you gained about yourself apply to positive human relations?

The Johari Window

Essay on Human Relations: Interpersonal and Organizational Applications

Week 1 Assignment

     It is known that human relations play a significant role in the life of any individual because any human activity is focused on providing services, and in some cases, relationships are more important for individuals than products. The term human relations can be defined as all types of interactions between human beings, including social and interpersonal relations (conflicts, cooperative work and group relationships), according to Barry L. Reece, Rhonda Brandt and Karen F. Howie (4).

The study of human relations can help to better understand how to achieve success in career. It has been found that it is very difficult to develop and apply the appropriate human skills needed in today’s workplace which is characterized as diverse workplace, based on teamwork.  The employees have to work with clients, customers, co-employees who vary in their age, values and beliefs, communication styles and cultural background, gender and social status. The study of human relations is associated with such behavioral sciences as sociology, psychology, anthropology, etc. However, the field of human relations not only defines problems, but helps to anticipate and resolve these problems, or avoid these problems. The study of human relations is important in personal and professional life because “this field emphasizes knowledge that can be applied in practical ways to problems of interpersonal relations at work and in our personal life” (Reece et al. 9). The major issues that can be discussed in the study of human relations include communication, motivation, self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-disclosure, trust and conflict resolution, according to Reece et al. (16). These issues can help in personal growth and development and in achieving the major organizational goals. Effective human relations combine the appropriate knowledge, personal experience, skills, and attributes.

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Human Relations

(16 reviews)

Laura Portolese Dias, Central Washington University

Copyright Year: 2012

ISBN 13: 9781453349755

Publisher: Saylor Foundation

Language: English

Formats Available

Conditions of use.

Learn more about reviews.

Reviewed by Ben Bryan, Adjunct Faculty, Social Science Department, Rogue Community College on 1/2/22

This text has 13 chapters and appears to adequately cover the subject of Human Relations in the workforce. There are no relevant content areas missing. However, there are references to material not included. Consider the below section, even though... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 3 see less

This text has 13 chapters and appears to adequately cover the subject of Human Relations in the workforce. There are no relevant content areas missing. However, there are references to material not included. Consider the below section, even though ‘White Male Bashing’ is in quotes, it is not further explained anywhere in the chapter:

Another important aspect of power and privilege is the fact that we may have privilege in one area and not another. For example, I am a Caucasian female, which certainly gives me race privilege but not gender privilege. Important to note here is that the idea of power and privilege is not about “white male bashing” but understanding our own stereotypes and systems of advantage so we can be more inclusive with our coworkers, employees, and managers.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

This book covers Human Relations in the workforce accurately and without error. Each section includes real-world examples, all of which accurately reflect the associated theory.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The content in this book is completely up to date, and refreshingly, uses APA format to reference online sources, such as ‘Accessed this day/year’ which gives credibility to its contemporary nature and will be easy to update for future editions.

Clarity rating: 2

Unfortunately, the prose is in this book is difficult to follow and distracting from the content. There are frequent run-on sentences and comma splices which make sentence structure awkward. In addition, the in-text citations are thorough to the point they pollute the content. A glossary or works-cited section would remedy this. As you can see, five of the eight lines of text below relate to the source of the material, but not the subject.

The original researchers of EQ, John Mayer and Peter Salovey, Mayer, J. D., Salovey, P., & Caruso, D. R. (2000). Models of emotional intelligence. In R. J. Sternberg (Ed.). Handbook of intelligence (pp. 396–420). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press. provided the first hint of emotional intelligence in their research, but much of the later research on emotional intelligence was done by Daniel Goleman.Goleman, Daniel. (n.d.). Emotional intelligence. Accessed February 26, 2012, http://danielgoleman.info/topics/emotional-intelligence/ According to Goleman, there are four main aspects to emotional intelligence, which we will discuss later in this section. First, why is emotional intelligence necessary for success?

Consistency rating: 5

This text is consistent, both with its reference to material as well as included researchers. It doesn’t contradict itself or inadvertently provide counter-examples.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is easily and readily divisible into smaller reading sections that can be assigned at different points within the course. In addition, the material in this text does not build on itself, and units could therefore be used out of order to match existing content or required course learning outcomes. Although it references itself from other chapters, it does not do so that prior review of the course is required to understand each chapter’s content. One advantage to not using a glossary or bibliography is that all source material is included in each section and therefore could be divided into very small units and used as a supplement to other courses without the entire textbook.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 2

The 13 chapters are presented with clearly differentiated subjects and themes. However, they are not organized in a clear or logical manner. There appears to be no intentional or thematic order to the material (they aren’t organized illogically). Although this supports modularity, it would be helpful if the chapters were delineated into groups, or themes. Something simple like ‘Working with yourself, working with other individuals, working with groups, working with organizations, etc.’ would address this gap.

Interface rating: 5

The text format and technology is relatively simple and doesn’t include a lot of non-text content, embedded media or interactive features. Therefore, the interface works perfectly and there are no concerns.

Grammatical Errors rating: 1

The grammar, sentence structure and word choice are awkward, distracting and undermines understanding of the material. For example, the item below is listed as a learning objective for Chapter 6. The negative tense of implies the material covers work dissatisfaction, and not what makes people satisfied with their employment (which it does):

‘Be able to discuss why you or others may not be satisfied at work.’ ‘Be able to apply work satisfaction theories to yourself and others.’ would better capture the content in the chapter.

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The text is not culturally insensitive nor dominant majority centric. The majority of cultural references are to agency or career area culture, and not race/ethnicity/gender/socioeconomic differences. Other than the ‘Manage Diversity at Work’ chapter, the word culture is rarely included in other sections. A fascinating and engaging addition would be to include culture of working in businesses in other countries. For example, the challenges a Caucasian male would face in a Muslim agency in Dubai.

Overall, I liked this book and it has a lot of potential. As is, I would include content and small sections in my existing courses. It was mentioned above, but the number of in text references is both helpful and distracting. A good application of this writing style would be a small topic area focusing on something counter-intuitive or controversial could be exported and students could easily identify the sources for further follow up.

Reviewed by Marcie Van Note, Associate Professor, MBA and MSL Programs Director, Mount Mercy University on 12/31/21

The textbook is thorough in the subjects covered. While some of the information is dated, there are case studies that can be adapted at the beginning of each chapter to prepares the reader the opportunity to begin thinking about the chapter... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The textbook is thorough in the subjects covered. While some of the information is dated, there are case studies that can be adapted at the beginning of each chapter to prepares the reader the opportunity to begin thinking about the chapter material. The index is helpful, there is no glossary but the, Chapter Summary does a good job reinforcing key concepts and explaining terminology.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The content was accurate for the time it was written.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 3

Some of the content is out of date with statistics, those statistics will be difficult to update.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is clearly written with many case studies, exercises and key takeaways for beginners. I will not be able to use the text in graduate classes, which I was hoping to be able to do.

Terminology is consistent throughout the book.

Modularity rating: 4

There are good case studies that can be assigned to help solidify key concepts discussed. I thought the chapters were divided in such a way that were helpful to the reader. These sections could be easily used with other readings.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text has a good flow and builds on concepts of the previous chapters.

Interface rating: 3

I was not able to link to the videos suggested in the book. Many of the resources and links to article were available.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any grammatical errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I did not see any issues.

The book was well written with good graphics and case studies. I hope that the book is updated, soon.

Reviewed by Nicole Berger, Adjunct Professor, Barton Community College on 5/18/21

This text focuses on the practical side of human relations. The textbook focuses on 13 different areas in the human relations area. There are many practical applications throughout the textbook that students may appreciate more than studying... read more

This text focuses on the practical side of human relations. The textbook focuses on 13 different areas in the human relations area. There are many practical applications throughout the textbook that students may appreciate more than studying theoretical approaches to the subject matter. The students should be able to apply the concepts to not only their professional environments but also their personal life.

No glaring errors and no biased content from what I can tell.

The concepts presented in this book are relevant to many issues that we see today. The text book includes videos, cases and exercises which can be applied to real world scenarios. I teach an online course and feel that this textbook could be relevant for both in-person and online courses.

The textbook is easy to follow and vocabulary seems to be clear and to the point. Key terms are bold throughout the text which would make it easy for students to determine what the takeaways are for the chapter and throughout the textbook. I also think that the format of the chapters will make it easy for the reader to apply the concepts to life situations.

The book seems to be consistent throughout. As I look back through the textbook, I can easily find the terms and/or concepts that I am looking for. A student can also easily click back through a chapter or certain section of the textbook.

I only teach this course online, but I feel that this textbook would fit well with that format as well as other formats. The introductions and explanation of key terms in the introduction at the beginning of each chapter make it easy to adjust the content to different types of delivery methods.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

I love the way the textbook is set up, as mentioned in several sections above, it is set up to make the textbook easy to follow as well as to determine what the key points are throughout the text. The 13 areas that the textbook focuses on don't tend to flow into the next subject very well.

The interface of this textbook is simple but makes the content easy to understand. There are clear visuals throughout the content of the textbook.

I did not encounter any grammatical errors throughout the text.

This textbook is not offensive or insensitive in any way. The examples given in the textbook could be applied to any reader.

The textbook is good quality for being a free source. The content is also easy to read and is formatted to make it easier to read.

Reviewed by Marva Solomon, Instructor, Lane Community College on 6/24/20

This textbook is an easy read for first year college students as well as students in their senior year. As a matter of fact hight school students can also benefit from studying this textbook. this book is relevant to the world of work. Students... read more

This textbook is an easy read for first year college students as well as students in their senior year. As a matter of fact hight school students can also benefit from studying this textbook. this book is relevant to the world of work. Students can learn how to navigate their work environment with professionalism.

The sources referenced in this book is accurate. The content in each chapter is accurate it provides reference to real life business and how they operate. this textbook also provides strategies for being successful in the work of work.

Because can be updated to include current trends in the world of work, it will be relevant for years to come. This is the beautiful thing about using OER.

This textbook has a great quality of transparency. It provides real work life scenarios that allows one to think about how to function in healthy ways in the workplace.

Each chapter of this textbook is consistent and uniform. One of the main themes in each chapter is Emotional Intelligence. Each chapter asks; Why Human Relations? Each chapter has Key Takeaways and Exercises.

The chapters in this textbook can be easily arranged into smaller sections while staying focus on the topic of each chapter.

Indeed the topics are presented in a clear and logical fashion. The first chapter gives an in depth understanding of the topic Human Relations. The following chapters flow well. If the order of the chapters were rearranged this book would still be comprehensive.

for the most part interface was reasonably good. there are some broken links in each chapter that will need updating. Illustrations were good and comprehensible.

Overall there were very few grammatical errors in the chapters of this book.

This textbook is not culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. Students from all races can benefit from this book.

Reading the chapters the on Being Ethical at Work, Working Effectively in Groups, Handle Conflict and Negotiation stood out for me. I was impressed with the information given in these chapters. The information in these chapters as well as the others chapters are tools each student should keep in their tool box and use on a regular basis.

Reviewed by Reina Daugherty, Instructor, Linn-Benton Community College on 5/30/20

This text covers 13 different important and relevant topics. read more

This text covers 13 different important and relevant topics.

This text provides information from quality sources and is substantially error free. Concepts are presented in an informative way that is educational and does not persuade the reader to take a certain perspective.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Many of the foundational concepts that are covered cite the original contributor(s), so while dated are necessary for introducing the topic. Other examples and definitions could be from more current perspectives. The book could be easily updated.

It is well written in common language that can be easily understood by most.

The chapters are structured consistently with few exceptions.

Topics are divided into 13 chapters and each chapter has 4-6 sub-topics. Text is broken up with headings, boxes, and images.

The order of the chapters doesn't totally make sense, but is otherwise well organized.

The book is aesthetically appealing with clear visuals and a modern look.

Text is well written without grammatical errors.

The text is inclusive of all backgrounds.

Great quality textbook for a free option.

Reviewed by Douglas Swanson, Coordinator for Labor Studies, University of Missouri St. Louis on 5/21/18

By focusing this textbook on the practical side of human relations the authors have provided a good text that can be used as a foundation for beginning human relations classes. I agree with some of the other reviewers that an index or glossary... read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

By focusing this textbook on the practical side of human relations the authors have provided a good text that can be used as a foundation for beginning human relations classes. I agree with some of the other reviewers that an index or glossary would have been helpful.

Content Accuracy rating: 2

I felt that a few of statements in chapter 11 (A union has two goals, to add new members and to collect dues.) create a bias, which is unfortunate. The fact that it is repeated in two places raises concerns given that the authors also point out in the chapter that at some point during their careers students may have cause to join unions. Elsewhere in the chapter the authors provide more positive statements regarding working with unions which made these statements standout all the more.

The rest of the book appears to be free of any biases and to be accurate.

The book is laid out in such a way that it should be easy to update when new census date or technology for example become available. I hope that the authors plan an update soon, it would be a shame for this textbook to become outdated so quickly.

The writing was clear and easy to follow. The layout of the pages and chapters was done in such a way that helped the delivery of the material flow well. The limited use of technical terms and jargon were well explained when the jargon or technical terms were needed.

The format of this textbook flowed well, is clear and well written. The consistency in formatting between chapters makes it easy for the reader to follow.

By dividing chapters into easily identifiable units the authors were successful in trying to make a textbook on a vast subject easier to utilize. The units or sections create a great deal of instructional flexibility.

The textbook has an easy flow and is well organized. With the authors tone appearing to speak so directly to the reader the text is easy for students to follow.

As other reviewers have noted some of the tables/charts/graphs are missing, or did not open, which creates a distraction and a loss of clarity at times. This coupled with the lack of an index and/or glossary created some challenges.

I did not note any grammatical errors.

No cultural, racial or sexual offensive references were noted.

This is the first open source reference textbook I have reviewed. With the exception of the problems noted regarding not all of the graphics downloading it presents as professional and topical as traditional textbooks. I believe this textbook well suited for a entry level human relations course.

Reviewed by Ben Bryan, Adjunct Faculty, Rogue Community College on 4/11/17

This book seems appropriately comprehensive for a Human Relations textbook related to work and a career. All of the relevant theories are covered in a thorough manner and related well to the context of employment. There was no areas that were... read more

This book seems appropriately comprehensive for a Human Relations textbook related to work and a career. All of the relevant theories are covered in a thorough manner and related well to the context of employment. There was no areas that were missing related to employment.

This doesn't seem to be a gap but perhaps a direction for future versions, but...

The topics are introduced as how the relate to work, but they overlap in people's personal lives. Having consistent formatted examples of how the same theory applies to people's personal lives and then spills over to their job would be helpful.

Overall the accuracy of this book was terrific and I did not notice any errors. One thing I did notice that seemed slightly biased is the section 5.1 An Ethics Framework did not address or refer to any profession specific codes of ethics which apply to any licensed position.

This book has terrific longevity. The self-reflective questions are timeless as they could apply to any career at any time. In addition the sections that provide guidance on incorporating the theories into your life would remain up to date as well. For example, section 4.4 Public Speaking Strategies discusses the "Speaker's Triangle" which will be relevant regardless of year or context.

This book is completely clear. Part of what makes this true is the consistently formatted chapters which are also clearly labeled in a manner that covers the topic of the chapter very well. The introduction explains the formatting and then each section is consistent. For example, the beginning of each chapter includes an example of how the topics relate to you as the reader while the end includes a case study on a specific individual. This makes it possible for students to know what to expect and to skip to that part if they need help with real world examples.

As mentioned above, this book is very consistent. Even during this review online, I was able to quickly find relevant information in each chapter because I knew where to look and how to access it. As is true with any online textbook, being able to click on each chapter or heading makes for consistent access.

This book has great modulatory. Having taught Human Relations in many settings (traditional, online, in seminars and using parts in psycho educational groups) this book would work well for any of those settings. This is true because of the universal introductions and easy to understand explanations of key terms and theories in the introduction or first part of each section. I may use part of this book in my Human Relations class as it is modular (my class is non business human relations).

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 3

As mentioned several times before, the structure of this text is consistent and easy to navigate. One comment is that there does not seem to be a closing for the book as a whole. In addition, there are not many sections which tie into the rest of the book. Although that contributes to the modularity, it reduces the flow.

Interface is terrific. Simple yet effective. I had no questions at all about how to find the information I wanted and I am only using it for a short time period.

Excellent. No grammatical errors nor problems with sentence structure noticed in any of my reading.

This book did a good job of making itself culturally relevant. For example in the Communicate Effectively chapter, the first cultural examples were all generic "people from different cultures would have different standards for personal space". However, this changes and in the end of the chapter the cultural differences are explained through different countries.

This book was terrific! I may ask to teach a Human Relations of Business class just because it seems to user friendly!

Reviewed by Linda Davenport, Program Lead, Business Administration, Klamath Community College on 8/21/16

This textbook appears to cover the content area fully, especially compared to similar texts. It was awkward to not have an index or glossary (though that may be common with open source materials?) and figures did not show up correctly or load... read more

This textbook appears to cover the content area fully, especially compared to similar texts. It was awkward to not have an index or glossary (though that may be common with open source materials?) and figures did not show up correctly or load properly. I am new to open source materials, so, again, this may be typical. Regardless of the reason, those missing components do impact the overall image of the textbook a bit.

This textbook appears very accurate. I spot-checked different points and also compared several references to other textbooks and found them to be completely accurate.

Content appears very up-to-date and has a "contemporary" feel to it. The use of modules or "chunks" within the chapters should allow for easier updating when needed.

Clarity rating: 4

This textbook demonstrates clarity using several effective strategies. For example, the use of bold for key terms is very effective and eliminates the need for word definitions in the margins. The word choice is effective (jargon and technical terms appear to be very well explained), and the prose is easy to follow. There is a comfortable amount of "white space" on most pages, which causes the reader to not feel overwhelmed with content. Again, the lack of supporting figures is a frustration.

This textbook appears to be presented in a very consistent manner. The overall layout of the book creates a consistent flow from the first chapter through to the last using a format that is easy to follow.

The chapters are long, so the use of smaller modules represents an effective design choice! The modules are easy to read and follow, and the related questions help to reinforce the "modular" intent of this text.

The topics are presented in a very effective flow...the layout of each chapter with the consistency of personal examples, clarity of learning objectives and key takeaways, and examples of questions and activities is very sound and would work well in a face-to-face classroom or online setting. The personal tone in which the author appears to be talking directly to the reader is, I believe, especially engaging for this topic and that tone also helps with the structure and flow of the text.

The actual text appears to come through in a very clean and useful manner....unfortunately, as noted earlier, the figures are missing and that is a significant distraction (and reduces opportunity for clarity of particular topics). In regard to navigation, the lack of a glossary or at minimum an index also creates a bit of a challenge as I attempted to look particular terms up and was unable to find them without moving through the entire text.

I could find no issues with grammar in my review of this textbook.

I reviewed several specific examples and did not locate any instances of inappropriate cultural relevance or references.

This is the first open source resource that I have reviewed and it appears as professional and relevant as any traditional textbook that I have used (with the exception of the figures and index). Pending resolution of those concerns, I am anxious to use this book in my upcoming BUS 285 Human Relations in Organizations course!

Reviewed by Genevieve Klam, Instructor, Rogue Community College on 8/21/16

The textbook covers a wide variety of human relations issues and is useful not only for workplace relations but interpersonal as well. The focus of the text is practical rather than theoretical, perfect for a beginning human relations class. Case... read more

The textbook covers a wide variety of human relations issues and is useful not only for workplace relations but interpersonal as well. The focus of the text is practical rather than theoretical, perfect for a beginning human relations class. Case studies are presented throughout, giving the book a relevant, real-world feel.

Content of the book is accurate and unbiased.

Content is relevant to prevailing human relations topics and could be easily updated with additional information.

Text is unambiguous and well organized. Case studies, learning objectives, key takeaways and exercises embedded in each chapter made the book clear and concise.

The framework and terminology of the text are consistent throughout.

This text is easy to read and can be divided into smaller sections to be used for assignments. The learning objectives are clear, headings and sub headings can be utilized in various settings. Questions at the end of each chapter are excellent for review.

The topics are presented in a coherent and logical manner.

Interface rating: 4

Some of the boxes appeared blank but other than that I had no issues with the interface. Video links were functioning fine.

There are no grammatical errors.

The text is culturally sensitive and could be used in multicultural settings.

This textbook will be excellent as supplementary material for my ESL classes. It addresses many topics that will be useful for immigrant students in their transition to a new culture and occupational environment.

Reviewed by Jane Krump, Professor, North Dakota State College of Science on 1/7/16

The text covers all of the relevant topics in human relations as they relate to career success. Today's students will especially appreciate it's practical application focus, rather than theoretical focus. As presented, the concepts will be seen... read more

The text covers all of the relevant topics in human relations as they relate to career success. Today's students will especially appreciate it's practical application focus, rather than theoretical focus. As presented, the concepts will be seen as applicable to the work setting, but the reader will quickly see their usefulness in personal relationships, too.

The content is accurate and unbiased.

While covering the relevant topics in human relations, the author keeps the content up-to-date with links to YouTube videos, exercises, and chapter-ending cases that the instructor could easily use to encourage large or small group discussions. The format of the textbook also lends itself to be useful in the online classroom.

The text is written in concise sentences, using vocabulary appropriate to the discipline, while at the same time drawing in the reader with interesting examples and even occasional humor! Today's students will appreciate that the author swiftly gets to the point, and does so with some flair! Students will also appreciate that key terms are in bold within the text, and are identified in the "key takeaways" at the end of each section within the chapter.

The textbook is consistent in its format and terminology.

Each chapter is divided into "units" that have their own learning objectives, key takeaways, exercises, and references. This allows the instructor to select parts of the textbook to use, or allows the instructor to reorganize topics if they wish.

The topics are presented in a logical order. As I consider the usual preference for teaching introductory topics first in a course, and using them to build on more complex topics, I do agree that stress management and effective communication need to be early in the textbook.

I did not find any navigation issues that would distract the reader.

The text contains no grammatical errors.

I did not find anything culturally, racially, or sexually offensive in the textbook. The examples draw from a variety of backgrounds allowing most readers to find something they can identify with.

This textbook would work well for a wide variety of curricula, both in the career and technical fields and in the liberal arts transfer programs.

Reviewed by Debra McCarthy, instructor, Central Lakes College on 1/7/16

As described in the preface, the textbook is a practical guide to Human Resource Management. The information covered in the textbook is similar to other Human Resource Management textbooks. This is the first Human Resource Management text I... read more

As described in the preface, the textbook is a practical guide to Human Resource Management. The information covered in the textbook is similar to other Human Resource Management textbooks. This is the first Human Resource Management text I have reviewed that has a chapter dedicated to communication. Chapter 9 "Successful Employee Communication" was a good addition.

The author uses credible sources including the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Harvard Business Review. The Fortune 500 boxes were a credible addition.

The sources that are used in the text are 2012 and prior. In some of the cases, there may be more current, relevant data available.

The text was clear and concise.

The text had a consistent layout through all fourteen chapters.

In other textbooks, learning objectives are stated in entirety at the beginning of each chapter. In this textbook, learning objectives are arranged by sections within each chapter. Using this format, makes it easier for the reader to comprehend and retain concepts.

The organization of the text was easy to follow and understand. The booked followed the processes used by Human Resources in an organization.

The text was free of interface issues. The display features enhaned and in many cases clarified information for the reader.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

The only grammatical error I found was in chapter two

Chapter 3 is devoted to "Diversity and Multiculturalism". Section 3.1 defines and explains power and privilege which I have not seen included in other textbooks.

This book was a practical guide to Human Resource Management as stated by the author in the preface. I thought the examples in each chapter clarified chapter concepts and kept the text in a "real world" approach. I thought it was a great idea to break chapter objectives into sections within the chapter. The videos also aid in the clarification of chapter concepts.

Reviewed by Fayetta Robinson, CMA(AAMA) MA Instructor, Treasure Valley Community College on 1/7/16

The text book appropriately and effectively covered numerous topics in regards to human relations and is suitable for a wide variety of audiences. read more

The text book appropriately and effectively covered numerous topics in regards to human relations and is suitable for a wide variety of audiences.

From my perspective, the book was accurate and unbiased, without any noticeable errors.

The content is up to date with todays society without appearing to need updated on a regular basis. If and when they are needed, the could be done without disrupting the majority of the content.

Content is clear, concise, and easy to read. The average student should easily understand any jargon or technical terminology encountered in the text.

The text is consistent throughout, with each chapter being laid out in the same manner.

The text could easily be divided into separate sections without losing valuable information. If an instructor chose to present the information in a different order than it is presented, it could be reorganized without disruption to the content or readability.

The topics are presented in a clear fashion which seems very logical when looking at the whole text. Although the table of contents/index might be better at the beginning of the book rather than the end of the first chapter, it was useful.

While most of the video links and tables were without issues, I found that some of figures and tables were unable to be viewed, even with a different device. Although some of the boxes appeared as blanks, it did not detract from the content.

The text did not have any noticeable grammatical errors.

The text was not offensive or insensitive to race or gender. It could be used for an audience that included a variety of ethnicities and backgrounds.

The variety of examples and scenarios made the text interesting and enjoyable to read. There are several types of exercises at the end of every chapter that could be utilized for different projects or individual needs. These would simplify any customization that may be needed for various settings or abilities.

Reviewed by Ken Kompelien, Academic Dean, Social & Behavioral Sciences Instructor, North Dakota State College of Science on 1/7/16

I found this book to be appropriately comprehensive for an introductory level course on human relations, organizational behavior or or work-place communications. In reviewing this textbook, I compared it to the textbook currently used in our PSYC... read more

I found this book to be appropriately comprehensive for an introductory level course on human relations, organizational behavior or or work-place communications.

In reviewing this textbook, I compared it to the textbook currently used in our PSYC 100: Human Relations in Organizations Course Description. The focus of this course is an examination of human relations in business and industry with emphasis on how people can work effectively in groups to satisfy both organizational and personal goals. Motivation, emotion and mental health, communication techniques, and coping with stress are explored.

I found this book by Linda Dias to effectively cover all of the essential content and student learning outcomes we would expect in our class and then some!

The content of this textbook is accurate and generally error free. I especially liked the focus placed on Emotional Intelligence. EQ is a concept that isn't often covered well (if at all) in most org behavior of human relations classes. Dias does a nice job of infusing EQ into this book.

The content is up-to-date and covers the expected areas of human relations but does so in a way that will not make the text obsolete within a short period of time. The text is written and arranged in such a way that future updates would be relatively easy and straightforward to implement.

I found this textbook to be written at an appropriate reading level of college students and generally avoided the overuse of technical jargon. The writing style and reading level of this text would be accessible to most first year college students - especially those in a career and technical education program of study. The writing style is easily understood and accessible.

Consistency rating: 4

This textbook is internally consistent in terms of terminology and framework. The text is well-written and easy to understand. I also found that adequate context is provided when introducing new concepts and numerous real world examples are given.

This textbook was broken up into easily readable sections. Also, chapters are an appropriate length and are broken into reasonable lengths. It would be flexible enough to allow instructors to easily subdivided chapters into smaller reading sections – instructors could assign particular sections within a chapter if they did not wish to cover the entire chapter.

For example, chapter 4 is entitled, "Communicate Effectively." This chapter then is subdivided into subsections such as "4.1 Verbal and Written Communication Strategies" and "4.2 Principles of Nonverbal Communication." Each subsection begins with clearly identified "Learning Objectives" which I have found to be particularly helpful in enabling students to focus on big picture concepts of each subsection. Further, each subsection also concludes with "Key Takeaways" which serves to summarize key concepts and content. In addition to this, each subsection ends with a section entitled "Exercises" which lists several well written and practical discussion questions and/or group or individual activities for further study - nicely done!

i found the topics to be presented in a fairly logical progression. The flow is coherent and would flexible to allow instructors to use alternative orders of chapters and sections. The organization is logical and well laid out, however so an alternative pattern of usage would not be necessary.

For the most part, I did not see any problems in this regard. I did note however that several charts, graphs, or illustrations did not render online or when I printed the pdf. Not sure if this is a glitch in my system or if this is an area to correct in the textbook.

I did not find any spelling or grammatical errors.

This textbook is inclusive and comprehensive and is written in a respectful tone.

I found this textbook to be very well written for use in a first year college human relations course or in an introduction to organizational behavior course. It is clearly written and is well organized. In particular, I believe adopters will appreciate the "Learning Objectives" and "Key Takeaways" provided in each sub-section of the text. Nicely done!

Reviewed by Mercedes Santana, Instructor, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee on 1/7/16

This book provides a good overview of human relations with incorporation of personal self-awareness. It does not have a comprehensive glossary, however all terms and main points are outlined throughout the chapters in an organized and easy to find... read more

This book provides a good overview of human relations with incorporation of personal self-awareness. It does not have a comprehensive glossary, however all terms and main points are outlined throughout the chapters in an organized and easy to find fashion.

The books appears to be unbiased with accurate content. All citations are provided at the end of each chapter.

Since this book focuses heavily on career and labor trends, new census data will require updates to cited information in the near future. Updating information would not seem to interfere with the main points of the text. The book incorporates updated technology and culturally relevant examples.

The text is written with concise clarity of topics. There is a lack of jargon and technical terminology used. This book provides readers with universal definitions.

The format for each chapter is consistent in the opening and closing of each chapter, which provide ease to the reader for following. The language is friendly and invites the reader into each chapter.

Modularity rating: 3

This text is easily and readily prepared for use with modulation.

The topics could use some rearranging. It seems to jump around relevant topics. Instructors should be advised to review chapters before assignment for better flow. The presentation of topics is not completely clear, nor is the layout presented in the beginning of the text.

The interface is clean and information is presented without distractions. Self-assessment questions are highlighted and presented at the end of each chapter.

The text contains no grammatical errors. The text uses language that is appropriate for undergraduate students.

This book does an great job at reviewing relevant contextual factors. It assist the reader to understand fundamental terminology and continues with diversity throughout the text.

I think this book would complement a career exploration course for undergraduate students.

Reviewed by Michele Barber, Faculty Counselor/Instructor, Lane Community College on 1/7/16

The text covered all of the elements of human relations and provided contemporary and useful subject information that can be used in the real world. read more

The text covered all of the elements of human relations and provided contemporary and useful subject information that can be used in the real world.

The content appeared accurate and free of errors. The author used a broad and comprehensive list of resources.

I found the content not only relevant to current human relation issues but also providing appropriate and useful historical background information to the subjects and also incorporating contemporary case studies that reinforced the chapter topic.

The chapters were very clear and well organized. Each chapter provided the reader with a case study, learning objectives, key takeaways and exercises that tied all of the subject information together and enhanced and reinforced the chapter content. The level of diction is readable and appropriate for the chapter topics.

The flow of the textbook was very consistent and provided a clear and easy to read framework for the reader to follow.

I found the chapters to be concise and well organized and therefore, I think an instructor could easily teach chapters in the order they feel most appropriate for their respected classes.

Overall, I think the textbook is very well organized and has a natural flow of the content. The chapters are consistent and provide a clear and understandable framework for the student to follow.

I did not find any problems or interface issues. The graphics were consistent and were easy to understand.

I found no grammatical errors.

I found the text to be culturally sensitive and inclusive; using a variety of appropriate and relevant examples.

I am excited to use the textbook for the first time in my online Human Relations at Work course. I think my students will enjoy and find the textbook useful and easy to understand.

Reviewed by Katie Barwick-Snell, Associate professor, University of Oklahoma on 1/12/15

The text covered all of the organizational side of human relations read more

The text covered all of the organizational side of human relations

The content is unbiased accurate and I did not see any glaring errors .

The content is relevant because it works in many of today's issues. The text looks like it can easily be updated and many of the video clips can be updated if needed.

Very clear and concise I liked the key takeaways. The vocabulary sidebar helps the student remember the technical jargon.

The text is consistent with terminology and framework. Every chapter have the same layout and end notes.

I feel the chapters can be moved easily so that the instructor can make it useful for their classroom. Each chapter has headings, learning objectives and key takeaways that can be moved without disruption.

The chapter topics are presented in a logical and clear manner. Every chapter had learning objectives content key takeaways and exercises.

I did not find any interface issues. I liked the way the sidebar on the right vocabulary words and definitions. This was consistent among the chapters.

I did not spot any grammatical errors.

The booked seemed inclusive for race,gender and sexuality. It did not talk down to The reader.

I was impressed that the chapters had summaries and case studies and the ins and outs were quite helpful.

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: What Is Human Relations?
• Chapter 2: Achieve Personal Success
• Chapter 3: Manage Your Stress
• Chapter 4: Communicate Effectively
• Chapter 5: Be Ethical at Work
• Chapter 6: Understand Your Motivations
• Chapter 7: Work Effectively in Groups
• Chapter 8: Make Good Decisions
• Chapter 9: Handle Conflict and Negotiation
• Chapter 10: Manage Diversity at Work
• Chapter 11: Work with Labor Unions
• Chapter 12: Be a Leader
• Chapter 13: Manage Your Career

Ancillary Material

About the book.

Human Relations by Laura Portolese-Dias addresses all of the critical topics to obtain career success as they relate to professional relationships.

Knowing how to get along with others, resolve workplace conflict, manage relationships, communicate well, and make good decisions are all critical skills all students need to succeed in career and in life.

Human Relations is not an organizational behavior; rather, it provides a good baseline of issues students will deal with in their careers on a day-to-day basis. It is also not a professional communications, business English, or professionalism textbook, as its focus is much broader — on general career success and how to effectively maneuver in the workplace.

From communication challenges to focusing on one's own emotional intelligence, the examples throughout Human Relations will help students understand the importance of the human side in their career.

This book's easy-to-understand language and tone is written to convey practical information in an engaging way. Every chapter opens with a realistic example which introduces a concept to be explained in detail later. Each chapter contains relevant examples, YouTube videos, figures, learning objectives, key takeaways, exercises, and a chapter-ending case that offer different ways to promote learning. Many of the end-of-section exercises offer self-assessment quizzes, so students may engage in self-understanding and development.

About the Contributors

Laura Portolese Dias holds a master of business administration from City University and a doctorate of business administration from Argosy University. Laura teaches at Central Washington University in the Department of Information Technology and Administrative Management, part of the College of Education and Professional Studies. 

Before beginning her teaching career, Laura worked for several organizations in management and operations. She’s also an entrepreneur who has performed consulting work for companies such as Microsoft. She is the author of Human Resource Management with Flat World Knowledge and two other textbooks with McGraw-Hill.

Personally, Laura does lots of hiking and backpacking with her two dogs and husband, Alain. They reside in Peshastin, Washington, a small eight-hundred-person town in the Central Cascades of Washington State. When Laura isn’t in Peshastin, she travels extensively, usually wherever there is good scuba diving!

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Human Relations In The Workplace

Psychologist William Menninger explains the importance of human relations in the work environment:

The only hope for man to be fulfilled in a world of work is that he get along with his fellowmen—that he tries to understand them. He may then be free to contribute to their mutual welfare—theirs and his. Insofar as he fails this, he fails himself and society. 1

Human relations are increasingly important in today’s workplace for three reasons: 

• More people are employed in service occupations, where success depends on how well the customer is served. Writing in Liberation Management, Tom Peters states: “All business decisions hinge, ultimately, on conversations and relationships; all business dealings are personal dealings in the end. 2
• To build superior work teams, people need greater competence in human relations skills. In the 1980’s, the National Science Foundation reported that Japanese companies of the period were more productive than American companies primarily because of collaborative work relationships. 3
• In his essay “Building Community,” John Gardner describes the modern workforce as composed of a varied mix of personalities and cultures, thus the necessity—and challenge—of building strong human relations with all kinds of people. It is interesting to note that the most common cause of supervisory failure is poor human relations. 4

Basic Beliefs about People

The quality of human relations in any workplace reflects its members’, particularly its leaders’, views of the essential nature and value of humanity itself.

• Human Nature:  It makes a great deal of difference whether one views people in general as good or bad. If we assume that people are basically good, we can believe that misbehavior is a reactive response rather than a manifestation of character. This positive view of people will lead to a search for causes in experience rather than in nature. If, on the other hand, we assume that people are inherently bad, then we are prone to assume that misbehavior is caused by something within the person that cannot be altered directly.  Accordingly, our attention will focus on limiting freedom to choose and act through external restrictions and controls.
• Human Value: What is the basic value of human beings? This is a question as old as written history and probably as old as society itself. It stems from the debate as to whether people are ends in themselves or merely means to ends. In simple terms, we treat people as ends when we allow them to establish their own purposes and to choose for themselves. When we view people as ends, we reflect a humanistic view. In contrast, when we treat people as means, we limit their choices and use them primarily as instruments for our own purposes. In 1785, the philosopher Immanual Kant prescribed a categorical imperative: always act in such a way that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of another, as an end and never simply as a means. 5
• Where do you stand?: Personal history draws each of us toward a primary tendency that determines the general pattern of our relations with others. Small changes may occur to accommodate the various roles we play, but there is typically a core pattern that represents our basic beliefs concerning human beings. Is your own view of people primarily positive or negative? What experiences and factors have influenced your view? As a result, what principles and practices do you follow in your relations with others?

Principles of Human Relations

Dale Carnegie’s well-known book How to Win Friends and Influence People belongs in every personal and professional library. Five principles for good human relations are drawn from this tried and true source. 6

• Help People Feel Important Every person feels special in some way, and a sure way to the heart is to let people know that you recognize their importance. Give honest and sincere appreciation, and people will cherish your words years after you have forgotten them. A word of thanks, a comment on how well a task is done, and a handwritten note of sincere appreciation—these are “priceless rewards” that satisfy a person’s need to feel important.
• Avoid Arguments In his biography, Benjamin Franklin tells how he conquered the habit of argument. One day when Franklin was a youth, an old friend took him aside and said, “Ben, your opinions have a slap in them for everyone who differs with you. Your friends find they enjoy themselves better when you are not around. You know so much that no man can tell you anything. Indeed no man is going to try, for the effort would lead only to discomfort. So you are not likely ever to know any more than you do now, which is very little.” Franklin was wise enough to realize that this was true, and he changed immediately. Carnegie quotes Franklin on his new attitude:  For fifty years past no one has ever heard a dogmatical expression escape me. And to this habit I think it principally owing that I had early so much weight with my fellow citizens when I proposed new institutions, or alterations in the old, and so much influence in public councils. I made it a rule to forbear all contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all assertion of my own. I even forbade myself the use of every expression that imported a fixed opinion, such as “undoubtedly,” and adopted, instead, “I conceive a thing to be so,” or “it so appears to me at present.” 
• Don’t Be a Complainer People don’t like complainers and will avoid them if at all possible. Associating with complainers will bring you down in the minds of others and in your own as well. Negative thinking puts one in a negative mood and this can result in negative behavior. It is a destructive cycle that begins with complaining. Instead of complaining, look for the positive. Be an optimist. As a practical matter, develop the habit of smiling. A smile shows interest and appreciation for others. The adage, “smile and the world smiles with you; weep and you weep alone” has truth to it. Complainers go around looking for the negative and putting people down. Don’t be a complainer.
• Show Interest in Others People are interested in you, but they are interested in themselves as well. If you want to improve your relations, do things for other people—things that require time, energy, and thoughtfulness. This is the secret of success in both personal and business dealings. Remember that the person you are talking to is usually more interested in himself than in any other subject. The ache in his tooth can mean more to him than a famine in China. If you want good human relations, be a good listener and encourage others to talk about themselves.
• Remember People’s Names One of the simplest, most obvious, and most effective ways of gaining goodwill is to remember names. Yet so few people do it. Many times we are introduced to a person, talk a few minutes, and can’t even remember the person’s name when we say good-by. Most people don’t remember names for the simple reason that they don’t expend the effort necessary to concentrate and repeat and fix names indelibly in their minds. It takes effort, but “good manners,” said Ralph Waldo Emerson, “are made up of small sacrifices.” Remember that a person’s name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in the world.

As a review, if you want good human relations view people as basically good and treat others as valuable ends, in and of themselves, not merely means to achieve personal goals.  Also follow five principles of human relations: Help people feel important, avoid arguments, don’t be a complainer, show interest in others, and remember people’s names.

For related reading, see:

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

The Human Side of Enterprise by Douglas McGregor

How Starbucks Saved My Life by Michael Gill

References:

• W. Menninger and H. Levinson, Human Understanding in Industry (Chicago: Science Research Associates, 1956).
• T . Peters, Liberation Management (New York: Ballantine, 1994).
• Macher, “The Politics of People,” Personnel Journal (January 1986): 50.
• J. Gardner, “Building Community,” prepared for the Leadership Studies Program of the Independent Sector (Washington, DC: American Institute for Research, 1991).
• I. Kant, Kant: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (Renaissance Classics, 2012). See also Three Critiques: Critique of Pure Reason, Critique of Practical Reason, Critique of Judgement by .I Kant, J.M. D. Meiklejohn, et al, 2021. (Note: Categorical imperatives are commands or moral laws all persons must follow, regardless of personal desires or extenuating circumstances).
• D. Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People (New York: Simon & Schuster,  

      1936).

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Human Relations Essays (Examples)

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Human relations in schools and communities the.

Human Relations in Schools and Communities The relations between humans are an absolutely imperative concept, both historically and in present day. The subject of human relations in schools and communities is something to be explored more in depth, in an effort to find out what it is, how it works and ultimately, the value and impact that it has on the schools and communities where human relations are being cultivated and fostered. Adam and Eve, arack Obama and the United States, Oprah and her television viewers, friends, family- relationships between individual, entities, communities and things are fundamentally what fuels and propels life forward. The relations between humans are an absolutely imperative concept, both historically and in present day. The subject of human relations in schools and communities is something to be explored more in depth, in an effort to find out what it is, how it works and ultimately, the value and….

Bibliography

Carpenter, Lori. (2011, May 11). Human relations. Retrieved from  http://www.fcps.edu/DHR/employees/oec/humanrelations/ 

City of Denver, . (2011). Human rights and community relations. Retrieved from  http://www.denvergov.org/Default.aspx?alias=www.denvergov.org/humanrights 

Wisconsin State Tribal Initiative, Initials. (2011). Wisconsion state tribal intiative: tribal intiative . Retrieved from http://witribes.wi.gov/section.asp?linkid=284&locid=57

Human Relations Seven Themes of

Burnout manifests itself in a number of ways, including depleted physical energy, emotional exhaustion, lowered immunity to illness, less investment in interpersonal relationships and an increasingly pessimistic outlook (Ibid). Burnout can be alleviated, however, by eliminating many of its causes. In the workplace, burnout often derives from poor communication. For example, if job requirements are unclear or if mistakes are punished severely or if praise is lacking. Leadership at the company must ensure that its workers do not face these types of situations, or they risk having their employees burn out. From the personal perspective, part of avoiding burnout is to recognize the factors that contribute to burnout, and to recognize some of the symptoms of the onset of burnout. hen these symptoms and causes are recognized, burnout can be avoided if they are dealt with. This is what is known as the Three R. Approach -- recognize, reverse, resilience….

Works Cited:

Reece, B. & Brandt, R. (2006). Effective human relations: Personal and organizational applications. Cengage Learning.

Smith, M.; Jaffe-Gill, E.; Segal, J. & Segal, R. (2008). Preventing Burnout. Helpguide.org. Retrieved January 23, 2010 from  http://www.helpguide.org/mental/burnout_signs_symptoms.htm 

Wagner, M. (no date). Elements of an effective apology. Columbia University. Retrieved January 22, 2010 from  http://web.mit.edu/ombud/self-help/apology.pdf 

Scott, E. (2006). Stress and burnout: Burnout symptoms and causes. About.com. Retrieved January 23, 2010 from  http://stress.about.com/od/burnout/a/stressn_burnout.htm

Human Relations in the Field

These actions are likely to be challenged by employee unions if they are in place, or they may prompt previously non-union employees to join a union. Unions cannot prevent outsourcing, and they cannot one-sidedly require that companies neither increase costs for health insurance nor reduce the benefits gained for the same amount of money. However, a union can negotiate for a group of employees in the way that individual employees could not. ut perhaps the best way to view whether or not unions are still relevant, that is, whether they bring anything useful or productive regarding their jobs to their members, one might look at whether publishers will spend money to print books about unions. Quorum ooks made that decision in 1998 with its book Managing Tomorrow's High-Performance Unions. This book specifically provides advice to union officials regarding ways to act effectively on the behalf of their members (Roberts, 1998). In fact,….

Bonoir, David. 1997. "Unions in the Twenty-First Century." Challenge, Vol. 40.

Roberts, Markley. 1998. "Managing Tomorrow's High-Performance Unions." Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 122.

Human Relations According to Maslow's Hierarchy Which

Human elations According to Maslow's hierarchy, which basic needs did Shank's old boss fail to meet? Explain why the needs have not been met. What could be done to meet these missing needs? There are five levels of basic needs set up by Maslow which are: physiological needs; safety needs; needs of love, affection and belongingness; needs for esteem; and needs for self-actualization (Goble, 1970; Simons, 1987). Among these needs Shank's old boss only met the first two needs in the hierarchy and failed to meet the rest. Shank's old boss did not get involved with the store and the feeling was that the owners did not care about the workers in the store. This made Shank feel that they were not loved and therefore lost the sense of belongingness, the third level in the Maslow's hierarchy is therefore not met. The third level is the needs for love, affection and belongingness….

Goble, F., (1970). The third force: The psychology of Abraham Maslow, Maurice Basset

Publishing: Richmond, Ca

Management Study Guide. (2011). Equity theory of motivation, retrieved on June

8, 2011 from  http://www.managementstudyguide.com/equity-theory-motivation.htm

Human Relations Explain the Significance

e. expeiencing a nevous beakdown, beaking off a elationship, o even committing suicide). As with mateials, a peson will be able to adjust and adapt to inceasing stess as long as they ae within thei elastic ange. Howeve, if enough stesses ae piled on within a shot enough amount of time, all human beings eventually each a yield point, afte which continued subjection to the situation(s) will lead to some pemanent emotional scaing. Theeafte, if stess continues to escalate, the peson will each a place whee thei psyche simply cannot toleate any moe -- this is the cacking point, beaking point, o uptue point. Thee is no tuning back fom the uptue point -- pemanent and iepaable damage has occued. In human elationships, a yield point will also be eached when the amount of tauma, pain, betayal, o geneal disaccod becomes unbeaable. Some pemanent damage will occu at this stage,….

Human Relations

Behavioral Management Human elations List and describe the characteristics of behavioral management Behavioral management, which is at times referred to as 'behavior modification' has the main goal of guiding and motivating individuals towards modifying or rather changing their actions or relations with respect to particular settings. Behavioral management can be employed by a wide number of professionals, employers and even parents in order to initiate rules against certain habits or alter habits that are not desirable. This approach has been observed to work not only on human beings, also on animals. Generally behavioral management can be described as a process eliminating behavior of undesirable nature while encouraging behavior which is considered to be appropriate thereby promoting order in a particular setting and creating an environment that is healthy for the operations there in. Characteristics of behavioral management Behavioral management is applied through various techniques, which may be categorized as either positive or negative, and it….

Barkley, A. et al. (2008) Your defiant teen: 10 steps to resolve conflict and rebuild your relationship, The Guilford Press: New York.

Gardner, I. (1971) Children with learning and behavior problems: Aldine Publishing: Chicago

Peterson, S.K. & Tenenbaum, H.A. (1986) Behavior management: Strategies and techniques,

University Press of America: London.

Human Relations Theory and Organizational Performance

KELLY Youth Services is a non-profit organization that operates group homes in Ohio. It was founded by a former NFL player, Joe Kelly, a first-round pick for the Cincinnati Bengals. The organization focuses on providing support and empowerment for youths and the community as a whole. The mission of the organization is “to educate, stimulate and motivate youth into becoming self sufficient, responsible and employable citizens in the community” (KELLY Youth Services, 2016). KELLY Youth Services is designed “to assist in the rehabilitation of its residents by providing a structured disciplined environment based upon basic behavioral principals, educational standards, counseling, treatment care and role modeling” with the goal being to “increase each resident’s likelihood of becoming successful independent productive adults” (KELLY Youth Services, 2016). Organizational Theories Human Relations Theory and Social Exchange Theory can explain KELLY Youth Services by focusing on the motivation of employees (inspired by a social good, as identified….

Cultural Differences Human Relations and

Cultural belief can shape and integrate "the expectations that pattern the relationships among a social structures constituent and statuses and roles" (Schooler, 1996:323). Conclusions Culture includes the attitudes, values and beliefs an individual or group adopt and consider normal in everyday society. Within and given society, differences in culture exist, and these differences impact human relations. Also within a society of different cultures, assimilation occurs, where ethnic groups adopt what are considered to be aspects of the cultural norm, but also retain aspects of their own culture of origin (Wortham, 2001) a process that creates even more diversity. Cultural homogeneity on the other hand occurs when complete assimilation occurs, however cultural homogeneity is rarely seen because typically cultural differences lend themselves to diversity, and most people consider cultural diversity in a positive light (Wortham, 2001). Every aspect of human relations, including the manner in which people conduct business, interact, communicate and work….

Corley, K.B. (2004). "Defined by our strategy or our culture? Hierarchical differences in perceptions of organizational identity and change." Human Relations, 57(9): 1145-1177.

Henderson, G. (1996). Human relations issues in management. Westport: Quorum

Scarborough, J. (1998). The origins of cultural differences and their impact on management. Westport: Quorum Books.

Culture in Human Relations in

At the antipode of the model earlier described, he mentioned individualist cultures that gave top priority to personal goals and duties and enjoyed a high degree of independence (Zhou, 2002). Moreover, the theorist asserted that the cleavage between the two poles impacted ethical decision making and that the two extremes could coexist within the same race, nation, region etc. As an eloquent example, Triandis mentioned USA, a country which despite its individualistic fame encourages collaboration and teamwork especially in the corporate and art world (Husted, 2001). However, even though they play a major part by challenging psychological theories, Individualism - Collectivism theories have their own limitations that derive from depicting cultural communities as displayers of stable and common perspectives. Consequently, little attention is paid to the discrepancies between the individuals belonging to the same group and to the common points shared across groups (Cooper, Denner, 1998). To conclude with, culture is the….

Cooper, C.R., & Denner, J. (1998). Theories linking cultures and psychology: Universal and Community - Specific Processes. On the Internet at www.bridgingworlds.org/pdfs/1processes.pdf

Retrieved October 3, 2007.

Hofstede, G., & Hofstede, G.J. (2005). Cultures and Organizations. Software of the Mind. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Husted, B.W. (2001). The impact of individualism and collectivism on ethical decision making. On the Internet at: egade.itesm.mx/investigacion/documentos/documentos/4egade_husted.pdf Retrieved October 3, 2007.

Analyzing Human Relations in Business

Conflict Management in Business Communication Building communication bridges in conflict Communication barriers and conflict: Gender Linguistic politeness Speech styles Interruption and topic control Biological structure Effective conflict resolution communication Conflict Communication Control Options One of the most important determinants of success in any organization is the relationship between the management and staff. Human relations in business is the process of building a strong workplace culture, training employees and resolving conflicts between different parties in the workplace (Buddhodev Sinha, 2011). Simply put, it is a process that involves taking actions or making decisions that can make employees as comfortable as possible. Understanding the different ways through which human relations can affect sustainability, profitability, competitiveness and revenue can help improve organizational performance. However, it is important to note that there will always be issues where many people are working together. It is how such issues are handled that will determine the success of a business. Furthermore, it has only been several decades since….

Aula, P. & Siira, K. (2010). Organizational Communication and Conflict Management Systems A Social Complexity Approach, Nordicom Review 31, 1, pp. 125-141

Buddhodev Sinha, A. (2011). Conflict management: making life easier, The IUP Journal of Soft Skills, 5 (4), pp. 31-43.

Finucane, M.L., Slovic, P., Mertz, C.K., Flynn, J. & Satterfield, T.A. (2000). Gender, race, and perceived risk: the 'white male' effect, Health, Risk & Society 2 (2).

Hener, G. (2010). Communication and conflict management in local public organizations, Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences, No 30E/2010, pp. 132-141.

Legal Issues in Human Relations

A person's religion is in almost all employment contexts an entirely private issue and asking a job candidate about her religion suggests that that religious affiliation is one of the criteria on which she is being assessed. Again, even if this is in fact not the case, the manager has opened up the process to the suggestion of religious bias. If, however, the person conducting the interview is the director of a religious school, then he does have the right to inquire about the candidate's religious affiliation and beliefs. A teacher at a religious school must be able -- arguably -- to be able to instruct students in religious tenets (even if her formal position is as a math teacher, for example) and to serve as a model for the religion's tenets. However, unless religious beliefs and practices are central to the carrying-out of a job, a job interviewer may….

Avoiding discrimination based on race and national origin. Retrieved from  http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/avoid-race-discrimination-national-origin-29870.html .

Handling racial discrimination in the workplace. Retrieved from  http://www.blackcollegian.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=185:chaz-kyser&catid=48:workplace-issues&Itemid=124 

Jolls, C. & Prescott, J.J. (n.d.). Disaggregating Employment Protection: The Case of Disability Discrimination. Retrieved from  http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/Faculty/Jolls_and_Prescott_2_11_052.pdf .

Religious groups push for faith-based hiring. Retrieved from  http://www.opposingviews.com/p/bias-religious-groups-push-for-faith-based-job-hiring .

Leadership in Human Relations What

According to Blass, et al., writing in Human Resources Management, the best way to acquire political skills, is through the mentoring process. The inexperienced individual who has a desire to become a leader in the HR field must have a mentor who is "…armed with organizational experience" that is borne of "vicarious and firsthand experience" and is willing to share "insights and cues with proteges on what it takes to be successful in the organization" (Blass, et al., 2007, p. 6). Mentors must be able to have an "adaptive capacity" to teach the political skills necessary to lead, Blass continues. Politically skilled individuals generally possess "greater adaptive capacity," Blass continues, which can result in "positive and strong leader reputation" (p. 6). Moreover, Blass argues that individuals with well-honed political skills gain "influence" because they are socially astute, have learned adaptability, and adjust behaviors "to meet situational demands" (p. 11). A third….

Works Cited

Blass, Fred R. And Ferris, Gerald R. (2007). Leader Reputation: The Role of Mentoring, Political

Skill, Contextual Learning, and Adaptation. Human Resource Management, 46(1), 5-19.

Choo, Ho Geok. (2007). Leadership and the Workforce in Singapore: Evaluations by the Singapore Human Resources Institute. Research and Practice in Human Resource

Management, 15(2), 104-114.

Human Resource Management & Workplace

The U.S. Supreme Court has given employers "little choice" in the matter, Boyd explains. If a company "can prove" they took "reasonable care" in order to prevent or to correct inappropriate behavior, under the law they have (in many cases) "safe harbor" from punitive damages (Boyd, p. 332). The author states that sexual harassment training "…has evolved to become an ornate administrative display which has the appearance of concern…" but which in fact is "expedient in that it mitigates employer liabilities in any future court cases" (p. 332). Charles a. Pierce, Professor of Management at the University of Memphis, offers another approach for HR managers in his article published by Human Resources Management. He asserts that "nearly 10 million workplace romances develop annually" in the U.S. And "about 40% of employees" have had a workplace romance (Pierce, et al., 2009, p. 448). The reasonable and logical point of Pierce's article is….

Appelbaum, Steven H., Marinescu, Ana, Klenin, Julia, and Bytautas, Justin. (2007). Fatal

Attractions: The (Mis) Management of Workplace Romance. International Journal of Business Research, VII (4), 31-43.

Boyd, C. (2010). The Debate Over the Prohibition of Romance in the Workplace. Journal of Business Ethics, 97(2), 325-338.

Mathis, Robert L., and Jackson, John H. (2007). Human Resource Management. Florence, KY:

Human Resources International Human Resource Management International

Human esources International Human esource Management International Business H: Vital and Pivotal During the 20th century, the human resources (H) function has become quite skilled at managing human capital which is frequently defined as the skills, knowledge and experience of individual workers within a company. Human resources management has never been more vital to organizations than it is today as more and more businesses are going global. For globalizing companies, experienced, informed and effective Human esource people skills are becoming a strategic asset. In order to maximize the competitive potential of employees across global markets many multinational companies will need to revise their H policies and programs. Table of Contents Introduction Background and Significance Discussion and Implications eferences Introduction During the 20th century, the human resources (H) function has become quite skilled at managing human capital which is frequently defined as the skills, knowledge and experience of individual workers within a company. But just as H was gaining competencies in….

Adeleye, Ifedapo. (2011). Theorizing the diffusion of International Human Resource

Practices:Towards an Integrated Conceptual Approach. International Journal of Business andManagement, 6(12), 254-269.

Baughn, C. Christopher, Neupert, Kent E., Anh, Phan Thi Thuc, and Hang, Ngo Thi

Minh.(2011). Social capital and human resource management in international joint ventures inVietnam: a perspective from a transitional economy. The International

Human Resources as the Global Business Environment

Human Resources As the global business environment continues to grow and flourish, the field of international human resources management is emerging as a vitally important area of study and competency. Managing the resources -- and hiring the best people -- that are available has become pivotal to success in the highly competitive world. Understanding the critical role that international human resource management (IHRM) dynamics can bring to an organization is the first step, and implementing that knowledge base is the second step. This paper reviews and critiques the literature on IHRM and presents the needs for changes in the field of IHRM. IHRM -- Challenging Organizations to Grow in Global Sophistication hat is the key to understanding the challenges that IHRM presents to organizations when they prepare to go international? In approaching this question, some of the terms and jargon need flushing out. "Expatriate" is a person that is working in a foreign….

Agarwal, Ajay. (1993). Learning Organization. Retrieved May 26, 2011, from  http://www.hrfolks.com .

Lavigna, Robert J. (2004). Recruitment and Selection of Public Workers: An International

Compendium of Modern Trends and Practices. Public Personnel Management.

The Multinational Context. Chapter 1.

Could you offer some ideas for titles for my essay examining Imagination

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3 Human Relations

Kyle Bruce is a Senior Lecturer in the Graduate School of Management, Macquarie University, Australia. He has published papers on the historiography of Scientific Management and Human Relations, institutional theory in economics, organization studies and international business, US interwar business history, the history of US economic and management thought, and evolutionary economics, strategy, and the theory of the firm.

Professor of International Business, Monash University

• Published: 05 April 2017
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As ritualistically conveyed in management and organization studies textbooks, the Human Relations ‘school’ of management (HRS) is understood to have emerged from investigations into human association in the workplace by Elton Mayo and his associates between 1924 and 1932 at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric. The HRS is said to have brought people’s social needs into the limelight and thereby increased their capacity for ‘spontaneous collaboration’ at work. This perspective, however, has been challenged by a growing body of scholars who have demonstrated that HRS provided employers with an authoritarian management model that held employees are irrational, agitation-prone individuals whose demand for better wages and working conditions was symptomatic of a deep psychosocial maladjustment. This perspective enabled employers to monopolise authority in the workplace and justify this monopoly on the grounds that workers lacked the rationality required to participate in management decision-making.

As ritualistically conveyed in the ‘habitual revelatory narrative’ in management and organization studies textbooks ( Hassard, 2012 ), the Human Relations ‘School’ or model of management (HRS hereafter) is understood to have emerged from the investigations into human association in the workplace by Elton Mayo and his Harvard Business School associates between 1924 and 1932 at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric. Mayo and members of HRS are construed to be humanists who developed a model of management based on the assumption that workers are complex psycho-social beings who are at once individuals with diverse (‘high-level’) needs and members of social groups where congregation modifies their individualistic impulses to make collective action possible. HRS is said to have brought people’s social needs into the limelight and thereby increased their capacity for ‘spontaneous collaboration’ at work. Employees, exponents of the human relations’ model argued, obtain identity, stability, and satisfaction if managed in ways that provide for these needs thus rendering them more willing to cooperate with each other and management and contribute their efforts towards accomplishing organizational goals ( Wren, 2005 ; Duncan, 1999 ; Wren and Greenwood, 1998 ; Kaufman, 2004 , 2008 ).

This favourable perspective, however, has been challenged by a growing body of scholars ( O’Connor, 1999a ; Bruce and Nyland, 2011 ; Nyland and Bruce, 2012 ) who have demonstrated that Mayo’s model was far more sinister than the conventional wisdom concedes and spoke directly to conservative business concerns. In short, it is charged that HRS provided employers with a management model that held employees are irrational, agitation-prone individuals whose demand for increased wages and improved working conditions was symptomatic of a deep psychosocial maladjustment, and so, unfit for ‘voice’ in the workplace. This situation precluded the need for employers to bargain with workers; however, it did necessitate that they draw on behavioural and social psychology to ‘scientifically’ determine how employee maladjustment might be managed to ease workers’ ‘non-logical’ concerns and abet them to work in ways that benefited themselves and organizations. In this context, the purpose of this chapter is to provide a steadied account of HRS. We begin by providing contextual background to Mayo and the Hawthorne investigations and then proceed to problematize the received wisdom. We conclude with an assessment of the significance of HRS for contemporary organizational behaviour and human resource management theory and practice.

Mayo, Hawthorne, and HRS

Born in Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, on 26 December 1880, George Elton Mayo failed to complete medical school and only found his niche as a mature-age student studying philosophy at the University of Adelaide, graduating in 1911. 1 Thereafter, he lectured in philosophy at the University of Queensland but subsequently sought to gain the work experience in England that he deemed requisite for a senior academic position in Australia. Accordingly, he set sail for England in July 1922, travelling via the west coast of the USA where he had been led to believe he would be able to generate the funds needed to remain in England for an extended period. This was not to be, for even though he had procured ‘official’ documents that falsely claimed he was a professor of psychology and physiology at the University of Queensland, he was unable to gain a visiting position at the University of California, Berkeley, which he understood had been arranged. Following some rather desperate networking with leading social scientists and grant and philanthropy officials, Mayo landed what initially was a six-month research fellowship at the Wharton School in Philadelphia in 1923 ( Trahair, 1984 ).

What made Mayo’s Wharton appointment possible was the fact that numerous employers and intellectuals were attracted to his claim that much ‘abnormal’ industrial behaviour was a consequence of unhealthy ‘reveries’. This conviction enabled him to attract public attention when he first arrived in the USA because he told reporters that this factor explained the ‘flapper’ phenomenon. Shrouding his beliefs in the language of medical psychoanalysis and applied psychology he likewise insisted that workers’ daily experiences, domestic life, and employment conditions caused them to experience pessimistic or obsessional reveries and reduced them to the equivalent of ‘shell shocked’ soldiers in need of serious psychological/psychiatric attention. Mayo postulated that workers’ mental health problems were not innate but rather were the product of the industrialization process and hence a cost that society and working people had to bear if they were to realize the benefits made possible by modern production methods. Even before leaving Australia he had dismissed suggestions that workers might be dissatisfied with their work experience because of poor wages, employment conditions, and lack of voice suggesting such claims were manifestations of ‘socialistic radicalism’ and symptomatic of deep psychosocial maladjustment.

Mayo’s position at Wharton enabled him to undertake studies in Philadelphia factories that sought to address excessively high labour turnover ( Bulmer and Bulmer, 1981 ). These studies involved in-depth interviews with workers and marked his initial effort at counselling employees to determine what needed to be done to resolve their concerns. His major recommendation was not improved wages and conditions and workplace democracy, as was being urged by progressive members of the scientific management movement, but to address unhealthy reveries induced by excessive fatigue, the solution for which was increased rest pauses, a proposal that that was reportedly effective in reducing turnover and increasing output ( Trahair, 1984 ; O’Connor, 1999a , 1999b ).

‘Discovering’ a correlation between workers’ productivity and their mental health won Mayo the enthusiasm of John D. Rockefeller Jr. (JDR Jr. hereafter) and coalesced with the latter’s concern with improving industrial relations following the infamous 1914 Ludlow massacre in which striking miners and their families were killed at the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron company ( Gitelman, 1988 ; Rees, 2010 ). JDR Jr. became Mayo’s financial and professional benefactor, underwriting Mayo’s salary initially at Wharton and subsequently at Harvard, arranging access to companies for his research (including Hawthorne), and assuring him a receptive audience for his ideas ( Bulmer and Bulmer, 1981 ; Fisher, 1983 ; Trahair, 1984 ; Harvey, 1982 ; Gillespie, 1991 ; Magat, 1999 ; O’Connor, 1999a ). Mayo arrived at Harvard in 1926 and remained there until his retirement in 1947. During this time he utilized his Rockefeller connections to hire young acolytes who collectively became famous as the ‘Harvard human relations group’.

In October 1927, Arthur H. Young, the head of Rockefeller-backed, conservative think-tank, Industrial Relations Counselors, arranged for Mayo to address a group of industrialists at to what his variant of industrial psychology might offer them. In his address Mayo spoke directly to the concerns of his audience explaining that his research had revealed how to calm the irrational, agitation-prone mind of the worker and how a curriculum could be developed to train managers in the required techniques. He advised those gathered to approach him directly if they wished to discuss the possibility of having the Harvard HRS researchers provide their firms with advice and/or training. Auspiciously, the personnel director of Western Electric was in the audience and invited Mayo to become involved in ongoing studies that were being undertaken at the firm’s Hawthorne plant, thus precipitating the most public and enduring aspect of the diffusion of his knowledge-claims. His involvement with the Hawthorne studies was attractive to many industrialists because this research promised ‘a technology of social control that could confront problems of industrial unrest and individual maladjustments among workers’ ( Gillespie, 1991 : 112–13). It was also attractive to HBS because it raised its reputation from its initial ‘low status as a trainer of money grabbers into a high-prestige educator of socially conscientious administrators’ ( Hoopes, 2003 : 141; O’Connor, 1999a ).

Conducted between 1924 and 1932, the Hawthorne studies are ‘the largest, best known and most influential investigations in the history of organizational research’ and ‘synonymous with stimulating the most notable “paradigm-shift” in the history of organizational research: scientific management to human relations’ ( Hassard, 2012 : 1432–3). In brief, 2 the studies consisted of the Illumination Tests (commencing in 1924 investigating whether workplace lighting and labour productivity were correlated), the Relay-Assembly Tests (commencing in 1927 designed to evaluate the impact of rest periods and hours of work), and finally, the Bank Wiring Tests (commencing in 1931 designed to observe and study social relationships and social structures within work groups). The results of these investigations were so inconclusive and confusing to management at Western Electric that outside assistance was sought from HBS researchers ( Gillespie, 1991 ). Mayo first visited Hawthorne for two days in April 1928, then for four days in 1929, and then began a deeper involvement in the ongoing experiments in 1930 ( Trahair, 1984 ).

Mayo’s interpretation of the data purported to demonstrate that once the irrationalities of workers are removed, or ameliorated, they will respond positively to non-economic incentives and be motivated to increase their productivity. Though there were several sets of independent ‘experiments’, this finding was actually based entirely on the study of six women (two of whom were replaced) at a workbench—the Relay-Assembly studies—over some five years. In November 1928 Mayo reported his interpretation of the preliminary findings of the Relay-Assembly studies to members of the Special Conference Committee, another Rockefeller-backed think-tank. They were very impressed, especially now that his theories were cloaked in facts and figures and emphasized that changes in supervision could solve worker maladjustment and improved productivity and enhance the firm’s objective of keeping trade unions out of plants ( Trahair, 1984 ; Gillespie, 1991 ). The study of six unrepresentative staff whose numbers had been purged when this was deemed necessary was sufficient for big business to accept Mayo’s theory and be ‘enrolled’ in his research programme: such was business desire for an explanation of worker behaviour that exonerated management for any blame for workers’ dissatisfaction and that promised a means of control that did not require improved wages and employment conditions ( Bruce and Nyland, 2011 ).

In 1933 Mayo published his Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization ( Mayo, 1933 ) and in 1939 used Rockefeller funding to have Roethlisberger and Dickson’s Management and the Worker published by Harvard University Press. The latter work argued that the employees studied in the bank wiring room ‘possessed an intricate social organization in terms of which much of their conduct was determined’. It was this social code rather than individual malady that resulted in output restriction, the code serving as a ‘protective mechanism’ insulating the group from outside changes in work conditions and personal relations ( Roethlisberger and Dickson, 1939 : 525). In sum, and in a much cited stanza,

(t)he study of the bank wiremen showed that their behavior at work could not be understood without considering the informal organization of the group and the relation of this informal organization to the total social organization of the company. The work activities of this group, together with their satisfactions and dissatisfactions, had to be viewed as manifestations of a complex pattern of interrelations. In short, the work situation of the bank wiring group had to be treated as a social system ; moreover, the industrial organization of which this group was a part also had to be treated as a social system ( Roethlisberger and Dickson, 1939 : 551).

So it was, that organizations came to be viewed as social systems wherein we find a number of individuals working towards common goals but each bringing to the work situation different, personally and socially conditioned goals or aspirations ( Roethlisberger and Dickson, 1939 ). The aim of the organization, or more realistically its management with the assistance of industrial psychologists, is to temper these individual goals so that they become congruent with those of the organization. These notions, along with an embryonic discussion of organizational or corporate culture, can be found in Management and the Worker and they infuse any meaningful contemporary discussion of OB and HRM, a point to which we will return in the final section of this chapter.

Problematizing the Received Wisdom Regarding HRS

There are several problems with the orthodox understanding of HRS. First, Mayo’s precise place in the evolution of HRS is the subject of significant debate. His role in the Hawthorne investigations has been variously conceived, with substantial contention both as to his function and his scientific credibility. There is doubt, for instance, as to whether Mayo’s interpretation of the Hawthorne experiments was more reflective of his preconceived personal views than of the actual empirical results, and whether this shaped Roethlisberger and Dickson’s ‘official’ 1939 account ( Carey, 1967 ; Gillespie, 1991 ; Smith, 1998 ; Wren and Greenwood, 1998 ). In this context, Mayo’s personal contribution to the Hawthorne studies has been construed as little more than a scientific populariser for Western Electric, particularly given the main series of experiments were well under way when he arrived in 1928 (Smith, 1976 , 1998 ). Indeed, Trahair (2001) maintains, ‘Mayo was never responsible for doing any research as such at the Western Electric works, all he did was make the magic run, others did the work.’ Sofer (1973) similarly has maintained that Mayo’s main contribution was handling the relationships between the research team and the company and assisting with the design of research projects, whilst O’Connor (1999a) argues his major function in the investigations was that of legitimizing the academic rigour and the practical industrial relevance of the Harvard Business School. Above all else, it is charged that Mayo’s theory of human relations was based almost entirely on his personal political interpretation of worker motivation and that the tests were fabricated in ways that were consciously designed to hide the fact that the primary influence motivating the workers studied to increase their work effort was the promise of increased wages. Highlighting this last point at the Academy of Management a few days before his death, Charles Wrege (2014) summarized a lifetime of research on HRS when he unequivocally declared there was no ‘Hawthorne Effect’ and that what motivated the workers at Hawthorne was not the salving of their social needs by psychologists or the welfare capitalism of the firm. Rather it was the fact that they were offered the change to increase their income, in short” ‘It was the money!’

The second problem with the received wisdom is that many thinkers preceded Mayo and his associates in discussing ‘the human problem in industry’, and not all exponents or writers on scientific management ignored the human element. These points are well understood in the history of management thought, though seldom so in management or organizational behaviour textbooks. Indeed, the term ‘human relations’ was used frequently before the Hawthorne investigations, both by academic and practitioner writers on personnel management (Kaufman, 1993 , 2001 ) and it has been said that Mayo and his HBS colleagues did not actually ‘discover’ anything that was not already widely known by Western Electric officials or in American industry more broadly ( Gilson, 1940 ). In this context, Wren (2005) has chronicled the contributions of pivotal figures in the progressive faction of the Taylor Society—Ordway Tead, Henry Dennison, Mary Parker Follett, Mary van Kleeck, and Whiting Williams—as laying the path for the development of human relations. Similarly, Bruce (2006) has demonstrated that Mayo’s perceived contributions to HR, namely a critique of the conventional, individualistic, and hedonistic view of human nature, and the importance of the informal work group and its impact on worker performance, were actually ideas forwarded by Boston businessman and scientific manager, Henry S. Dennison, long before Mayo and his followers arrived at Harvard. In fact, both Boddewyn (1961) and Locke (1982) have argued that much of the Hawthorne conclusions regarding informal norms and output restriction were identified by F. W. Taylor several decades before the Hawthorne studies. In a similar vein, Duncan (1970) has noted that many of the early scientific management engineers appreciated human and social elements in industry. This would make sense, for as Wren and Greenwood (1998) have argued, Taylor himself did not provide solely for economic incentives, but made important contributions to modern thinking about human motivation and inspired Hugo Munsterberg to found the discipline of industrial psychology.

The third problem with the conventional wisdom is that Hawthorne and Western Electric have been treated as an ‘anonymous actor’ in a ‘closed system’. In other words, little is known of the socio-political context shaping Hawthorne and its workers. In fact, Hawthorne was long a role-model for ‘welfare capitalism’ (albeit as part of hard-edged paternalism and tough-minded anti-unionism) and its ‘family’ and ‘home’ culture and positive work relationships predated the Hawthorne studies and were founded largely if not entirely on both innate ethnic and gender bases, as well as the ensuing social bonding that emerged from the collective trauma following the sinking of SS Eastland in January 1915 in which 841 Hawthorne employees and/or family members drowned ( Hassard, 2012 ).

Finally, the real motivation behind Mayo’s theory was arguably that of psychological control over workers. As we will demonstrate below, while Taylor and his followers were supportive of improvements in workers’ pay and conditions and was eager to enable them to gain a ‘voice; in managerial decision-making, Mayo and HRS promised to eliminate such calls entirely. Mayo’s conceptualization of managers as a natural elite, possessing the ability and so the right to rule workplaces (and indeed, the nation), is especially problematic. Mayo and HRS accorded this elite vastly enhanced potential for authoritarianism than any alleged Taylorist ideas or measures. In brief, the school offered a new model for inducing workers to accept less while claiming that they needed the psychological counselling that only managers and their technicians could administer ( Bruce and Nyland, 2011 ). We will explore these ideas in greater depth in the following two sections.

Puncturing the Popular Historical Myth of HRS: Taylor, Mayo, and Workplace Democracy

That Mayo was an advocate of elitist management systems went understated for many years, even by scholars who recognized his antipathy to workplace democracy. However, O’Connor ( 1999a , 1999b ) and Bruce and Nyland (2011) have documented both Mayo’s conviction that ‘therapy’ could substitute for workplace democracy and his efforts to promote this message to the ‘rulers’ of society. Critical to this line of argument is Mayo’s claim that workers do not have the mental capacity to participate in management activity and consequently must be managed by those whose background and training has provided them with the emotional and mental capacities required to address the complexity of management processes. Mayo’s portrayal of workers as individuals with minds that are unsophisticated and motivated primarily by custom and emotion and who consequently need to be managed by elites was very attractive to corporate America. It was attractive, not least, because it was a powerful counterweight to the growing popularity of claims being promoted by the trade unions and scientific managers which insisted workers do have the mental and emotional capacity to comprehend and apply scientific laws participate in management activity ( Taylor, 1914 ; McKelvey, 1952 ).

That the interwar Taylorist movement rejected the HRS claim that workers could not and should not participate in management is well captured by Jacoby (1985a : 103), who notes that Morris Cooke of the Taylor Society and Phillip Murray of the miners’ union together ‘advocated “tapping labor’s brains” by which they meant making organized labour an active participant in determining production procedures and administrative policies designed to increase the output and distribution of goods and services’. Similarly, Nyland, Bruce and Burns (2014) demonstrate that the Taylor Society sustained an ongoing collaboration with the ILO through the interwar years that aimed to globalize industrial democracy. The latter argue that rather than supporting employer hegemony, the Society shared with the ILO a commitment to codetermination, both in the workplace and in wider society more broadly.

The overt hostility that surfaced between the Taylorist democrats and members of the HRS because of their divergent views is reflected in Mary Gilson’s 1940 review of Roethlisberger and Dickson’s Management and the Worker . Gilson came to this task with twenty-seven years’ experience as practitioner and scholar and an abiding commitment to the principles advocated by the Taylor Society. She began her commentary by noting that the work was the product of extensive funding by the Rockefeller Foundation and, not mincing her words, proceeded to make clear her disdain for the volume. Her contempt was based partly on her conviction that what the HRS researchers claimed they had determined would have been clear at the outset to any individual with knowledge of the relevant literature or practical experience of the industrial workplace. She noted, for example, that the notion that employees’ practices and beliefs at work are influenced by what happens in their wider world she personally had documented as early as 1916. As for the ‘science’ that allegedly underpinned the work she observed that all the paraphernalia and statistical tools utilized had not produced anything as sophisticated as what was already available to any intelligent person who had worked on a factory floor. Accordingly, she advised that rather than generating information that anyone in the ‘kindergarten stage of industrial knowledge’ knew already, the researchers might have better utilized their time training foremen on how to elicit and handle complaints from workers and that they should have embraced Taylor’s advice that before seeking to modify workers’ practices and beliefs the scholar-practitioner should first do everything possible to improve plant and work practices.

Warming to her message, Gilson proceeded to note that in his preface Mayo had asked how humanity’s capacity for spontaneous cooperation could be restored. She advised that the answer was not to be found in Management and the Worker and suggested that if Mayo really wanted an answer to this question, he would be wise to look to a book that pointed far more significantly to what should be the way forward:

It is organized Labor and Production by an industrial engineer, Morris Llewellyn Cooke, and a labor organizer, Philip Murray, and it spells out simply and clearly the effects of union-management co-operation. It does not stop with ‘two-way communication’ from management to worker and worker to management as does this book, but it shows what can be done by management taking labor into its confidence and working shoulder to shoulder on operational processes and industrial policies at every level of production and supervision. ( Gilson, 1940 : 100)

Drawing her review to a close, Gilson noted that in Management and the Worker almost no reference is made to organized labour, this omission being justified on the grounds that interviewed workers had made no reference to unions. Why this would be, she pondered, might possibly have something to do with the fact that Western Electric workers were aware the firm was spending tens of thousands of dollars on espionage aimed to identify union sympathizers and added that the existence of industrial spies might also help explain why in 20,000 interviews the workers are reported to have ‘criticized the company in no instance’. Finally, Gilson advised that she was willing to make one concession to the authors, for she fully agreed with one of their observations:

Someday a study should be made of ‘researches in the Obvious, financed by Big Business.’ But maybe that too will turn out to be a set of tables and charts and mathematical formulas to prove what we already know. In any case the originator of the Western Electric experiment, Elton Mayo, modestly states that the authors of Management and the Worker do not claim that the enlightenment the many collaborators of the scheme got from their researches was ‘either very extensive or very profound.’ With this I am in complete agreement. ( Gilson, 1940 : 101)

Mayo responded to Gilson’s review by advising his collaborators that she was insane. However, the ability of the HRS theorists to dismiss their Taylorist critics in such a cavalier manner was almost immediately undermined when, in mid-1940, Roosevelt appointed Sidney Hillman, the leader of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America as commissioner of employment on the Council of National Defence. This was a critical development for as Fraser (1991) has documented, Hillman had maintained a close working relationship with the Taylor Society from before the First World War. Roosevelt charged Hillman with the task of building the workforce that was needed to support the allies in Europe and prepare America for possible entry into the war against fascism. To further this objective, the latter sounded out industrialists and the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organization, and subsequently appointed Channing R. Dooley, a personnel manager with Socony-Vacuum, as Director of the Training within Industry (TWI) organization and appointed Walter Dietz of Western Electric as his assistant. These twin appointments reflected the views of the trade unions and corporate heads respectively. Dooley had the support of the trade unions largely because he was endorsed by the Taylor Society of which he was long-term member while Dietz had the support of corporate heads who were attracted to the ideas of Mayo and his colleagues at Harvard with whom he had collaborated when employed at Western Electric ( Nyland and Bruce, 2012 ).

In this context, Breen (2002) has provided a detailed study of how Dooley and Dietz interacted through the years they remained with the TWI, noting in particular how initially the Taylorists dominated the training effort. Aware that there was an acute shortage of skilled craftsmen, these technicians focused on job redesign, expanding the number of tradesmen but with the latter being trained to undertake tasks that required long-term training and removing tasks that were relatively unskilled and that could be undertaken by workers with relatively little training. To ensure this did not become an exercise in deskilling, the scientific managers insisted that unions must actively participate in making all decisions relating to policy and practice. By incorporating the unions into the management process in this manner, the Taylorists were able to achieve a great increase in the quality of the training available to both the trades and workers who were formerly unskilled. They were also able to gain union support in this effort (only a very small minority of craftsmen resisted and their resistance was based not on a fear of deskilling but on fear that increasing the number of skilled workers would undermine their bargaining position). Employers, by contrast, found the Taylorist job training programme very much to their distaste both because unions were intimately involved in the management of the process and because it involved a great increase in the resources they had to commit to training.

If the training programme reflected the dominant influence of the Taylorists within the TWI, the existence of Dietz’s commitment to the HRS became increasingly influential over time. Reflecting the suspicion if not hostility of the unions and the Taylorists, those trying to develop an HRS input into the training agenda found progress difficult. This was despite the fact that employers were much more supportive of the notion that foremen should be trained as counsellors than they were of enhancing the skills of workers. Important in overcoming the Taylorist-union resistance was the great influx of women with no experience of industrial life into the nation’s workplaces. Also of significance was the fact that Roethlisberger began to distance himself from Mayo from 1940 ( Trahair, 1984 ). This was a process that involved an attempt by Roethlisberger to build a positive relationship with the trade unions and the Taylorists, as is evidenced by a positive, if not enthusiastic, review of Cooke and Murray’s Organized Labor and Production ( Roethlisberger, 1940 ).

With these developments, the advocates of the HRS were able to convince both the scientific managers and the trade unions that the techniques they advocated need not necessarily be mere tools for consolidating elite control of the workforce. This enabled the two groupings to collaborate in implementing a joint programme of personnel training and industrial democracy in over 5,000 workplaces ( Jacoby, 1985a ). Jacoby (1985b : 274) has observed that the programme developed by the TWI was the last spasm of the continuing campaign that Taylorist democrats had sustained over many years as they strove to build management as a science rather than as a tool for promoting elite interests. This effort, he adds, had embodied the best attributes of the ‘scientific, neutral approach to personnel management [and the] independent profession that Brandeis and the Taylorists had hoped it might prove to be’. The war years revealed on a mass scale that ‘science and the democratic way of life’ can flourish within industry and the wider community. Reflecting the appreciation of what was achieved, in 1945 the Taylorists awarded Dooley and Dietz the Taylor Key, the highest award given by the Taylor Society (by now renamed the Society for the Advancement of Management) for their work in promoting human relations in the TWI programme. This was, however, a pinnacle that having been scaled was compelled to be abandoned in the immediate post-war years once corporate America mobilized to win back the gains won by labour and those who had dare to hope that management might be developed as a science and not merely as a tool available to the rulers to whom Mayo had successfully appealed for support.

The Taylorists’ unrelenting efforts to combat business insistence that profit accumulation must be the primary driver in both industry and society made them aware that the war years were extraordinary times and that eventually the corporate rulers of America would seek to restore what they saw as their ‘right to manage’ ( Harris, 1982 ; Fones-Wolf, 1994 ; Phillips-Fein, 2006 , 2009 ). Similarly, they were aware that when this period of reaction came the commitment of the industrial psychologist and the personnel administrator to science would be seriously tested. In an effort that harked back to Taylor’s attempts to convince the engineering profession that knowledge should trump profit in industry and wider society, they prepared for the post-war years by urging personnel professionals to embrace a code of conduct that maintained that their field must be ruled by knowledge and not by the whims of employers. As Ordway Tead, the long-time editor of the Bulletin of the Taylor Society , observed in 1943 when seeking to further this position in an extended discussion on employee counselling:

In a democracy it is peculiarly true that those responsible for the labor and laboring welfare of other self-respecting individuals should gladly hold themselves to standards of dealing which reflect the rights of persons as such along with the recognition of their responsibilities to the organization for which they work. ( Tead, 1943 : 103)

Promotion of this perspective, however, proved to be in vain. For corporate America simply refused to allow the industrial psychologist and the personnel administrator the freedom to prioritize knowledge over profit accumulation. If the Taylorist-union alliance was able to at least partly overcome employer hostility to the Cooke-Murray programme, it was largely due to the fact that it had gained support from the military, which, unlike private firms, prioritized the needs of war even where this meant according workers a voice in the management of the production process ( Breen, 2002 ). The ability of the Taylorist-union alliance to enlist military support diminished dramatically, however, with the end of hostilities. In this new context, Taylor Society progressives and the unions were left exposed, and employers seized their chance to launch a major offensive to restore their ‘right to manage’ ( Harris, 1982 ; Fraser, 1991 ; Fones-Wolf, 1994 ; Phillips-Fein, 2006 , 2009 ). This offensive enabled the employers to take back many of the gains that had been won through the New Deal years, and ended only when the unions agreed to abandon codetermination and settle for the right to negotiate over a small range of employment conditions.

Very few scholars within management and organization studies are aware of even the more outrageous cases of intellectual ‘cleansing’ that occurred in the immediate post-war years as part of the process of redefining what constitutes a ‘scientific business education’. Indeed, in the hands of the victors and their scribes, the Taylorist democrats came to be perceived as mechanistic, anti-union authoritarians while Mayo was deified, and the elitist HRS model he advocated was successfully marketed as a manifestation of corporate humanism ( Nyland and Bruce, 2012 ).

In this reactionary environment, the liberal centre failed to hold and the HRS was able to flourish. Those committed to management as a participatory practice and a science informed by high ideals retreated. Gathering the spoils, the victors began to rewrite management history, beginning with the lauding of Mayo and the HRS as the advocates of ‘high performance’ personnel management. In this way, the business community was able to gain access to a body of intellectual ‘servants of power’ willing to help suppress the notion that management activity and theory should be democratized while concomitantly deifying themselves as humanists who should be applauded for expelling the ‘demon’ of Taylorism from the workplace.

HRS, Organizational Behaviour, and Human Resource Management

After Mayo’s death, Roethlisberger carried the HRS torch in Harvard’s burgeoning MBA programme ensuring that Human Relations was taught to all first-year MBA students in the 1950s in the guise of his ‘Administrative Practices’ course. He also created a new subject in the Business School’s doctoral programme, ‘Organizational Behaviour’, and as a consequence ‘the Harvard OB program graduated doctoral students who became professors elsewhere, [and] tough-minded psychological realism became part of the business-school ethos’ ( Hoopes, 2003 : 159). This is an important point for it marks the beginning of the virtual domination of organizational or occupational psychology—and the concomitant marginalization of sociology—in the disciplines of Organizational Behaviour and HRM which would have disastrous consequences for workplace democracy. Namely, it marked the rise of ‘neo-normative control’ wherein employees would become regulated ‘by way of their self-image and existential aspirations rather than through bureaucratic roles’ ( Ekman, 2013 : 1161). In this way, the evolution of HRS signifies what Deetz (2003 : 35) describes as ‘focused on the management of the employees’ insides—their values, commitment and motivation—and less on the supervision of their behaviour’.

By rendering the intersubjective space of the factory more ‘governable’ and by redefining the identity of the worker, HRS established a nexus between the government of production and the government of the social field. Mayo, the master publicist, problematized production at the junction of the concern with the regulation of ‘the social’ and a concern with the government of ‘the self’. As noted above, he established a correlation between poor work performance and all manner of social ills/pathologies construed as a threat to good order and social tranquillity while systematically understating the importance of pay and working conditions that might impose costs on employers. Work was accorded a crucial role in responsible selfhood upon which free society depends: if an elite of socially skilled managers gave due regard to workers’ psychological state and their relations with others in the workplace, then anomie and social disintegration might be averted and harmony and profitability would be enhanced ( Rose, 1978 ; Miller and Rose, 1995 ).

In this context, HRS represented a new alliance between psychology, political thought and the government of the workplace which justified managerial authority in corporations as the natural order of things, reconciling it with democratic ideals by asserting that the individual was the fundamental unit on which all legitimate cooperative organization was founded. The same social contract melding citizens in the polity provided the model for the bond between the individual and the business firm. The corporation, together with the managerial authority it necessitated, could be thus represented as the perfect embodiment of the democratic ideal of the complex individuality that allegedly constitutes the distinctly American way of life. Managerial authority did not hold society down; rather, it held it together: the agitation-prone masses were unfit for leadership and had to be manipulated and controlled by an elite leadership nurturing vital non-logical impulses amongst work-groups in order to stabilize their emotions and be rendered willing to accept the authority of their controllers and of the psychologists who acted as the servants of power to those who paid the piper ( Rose, 1978 ; Miller and O’Leary, 1989 ; Miller and Rose, 1995 ; O’Connor, 1999a , 1999b ).

Regarding this privileged position, two important points should be made. First, as Deetz (2003) has highlighted, there is nothing ‘natural’ about the privileged place of capitalist ownership and attendant management authority. Rather, it is produced and reproduced via discursive practices ranging from lexical choice producing and distinguishing people and events in specific ways, to telling stories and giving instructions and orders. Second, Mayo and HRS accorded this managerial elite with vastly greater potential for authoritarianism—‘corporate fascism with a human face’ ( Rose, 1978 : 121)—than any Taylorist ideas or measures, a point seemingly lost on many critics of SM, past and present. While Taylorism (notwithstanding Taylor’s own exhortations for a great ‘Mental Revolution’) presented managers with the potential to exert power physically over the human body spatially and temporally, Mayoism offered a more a subtle and efficient means of exercising this power mentally, via workers’ cognition and emotions. As Townley (1993 : 538) has observed:

Traditionally, the concept of personnel has been viewed as stressing the rights of labor and the importance of the human side of the organization. But the discourse of welfare and the human relations’ school clouds HRM’s role in providing a nexus of disciplinary practices aimed at making employees’ behaviour and performance predictable and calculable—in a word, manageable.

HRM, with its foundations in the ‘science’ of organizational psychology and psychiatry, presented the potential for greatly restricting workplace democracy and participation. Deetz (2003) makes a similar point, highlighting that the same controllers of discourse in Foucault’s conception of disciplinary power—psychiatrists, doctors, wardens, teachers, and so on—who arbitrarily deem certain ways of life ‘normal’ and others pathological, provide the same privileged knowledge/power of HRM. As he observes:

In the modern corporation, disciplinary power exists largely in the new ‘social technologies of control’. HRM experts and specialists operate to create ‘normalized’ knowledge, operating procedures, and methods of enquiry, and to suppress competitive practices. ( Deetz, 2003 : 36)

In sum then, freedom, both in society and in the workplace, is enacted only at the price of relying upon the opinions of ‘experts of the soul’; though we might be free from arbitrary prescriptions of political authorities, we are bound into new relationships with new authorities that are more profoundly subjectifying, as they appear to emanate from our individual desires for self-fulfilment ( Rose, 1998 ). And further,

(t)he legitimacy and neutrality of management were to depend not only on its basis in practical experience, but also on a scientific knowledge that would cast this experience within the framework of technical rationality. And to manage rationally, one now required a knowledge of the individual and social psychology of the worker. The language and techniques of human relations allowed management to reconcile the apparently opposing realities of the bosses’ imperative of efficiency with the intelligibility of the workers’ resistance to it, and to claim the capacity to transform the subjectivity of the worker from an obstacle to an ally in the quest for productivity and profit. ( Rose, 1998 : 140)

This desire for self-fulfilment is critical for disciplinary power in the workplace, that is, for organizational psychology and HRM to play on the insecurity about the value of the ‘self’, and so, exercise the requisite self-regulation (actually self-exploitation) that systematically restricts workplace democracy and participation.

Inspired by the HRS model, generations of HRS researchers including Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Victor Frankl, Eric Fromm, Frederick Herzberg, Kurt Lewin, Victor Vroom, and others, painted a psychological picture of workers as self-actualizing egos whose personal strivings to make something of themselves through work could be steered towards pursuit of organizational goals. Work was constructed not as deferred gratification, but as the means of producing, discovering, and experiencing our ‘selves’ ( Rose, 1990 ). Branded as ‘behaviouralist’ management theorists, in the 1950s and 1960s this incarnation of HRS theory argued that human motivation operates via our personal craving to fix and secure the very sense we have of ourselves as mirrored in the attitudes and opinions that (significant) others—for instance, managers or bosses—have towards us. We are constantly striving for this sense of self; it is never ‘actualized’ or realized (contra Maslow), so we have a strong innate desire to know, fix, and secure the ‘self’. Our sense of ‘who we are’ is always vulnerable to the responses of others: a mirror in which we see ourselves. This vulnerability of the ‘self’ means we constantly compare ourselves to others and are alert to how they see us—in the ‘mirror’ of others’ responses, we look both for confirmation/recognition, and feel ourselves exposed to possible rejection or attack. In this way, managers are able to shape the very ideals which we use to judge our own and others’ actions ( Roberts, 2007 ).

Accordingly, the central architecture and techniques of HRS, and the behavioural approach founded on same which focused on the human need for belonging, for love, for status, for recognition,and so on, became a powerful lever for conduct. Indeed, the relationship between manager and employee echoes earlier (infantile) relationships, such that workers strive for recognition from their bosses. Hierarchy serves as a mirror of the value of the ‘self’, and promotion in organizations is construed as ‘making something of myself’. Further, performance appraisals and other auditing techniques make workers ‘visible’, and so, susceptible to praise and criticism, as well as shaping their success or failure. In sum, desired recognition and/or feared blame renders workers self-governing; as an employee, I strive to actualize/recognize the real or best me ( Roberts, 2007 ). As Rose (1990 : 117–18) notes:

In the psychologies of human relations, work itself could become the privileged place for the satisfaction of the social needs of individuals. In the psychologies of self-actualization, work is no longer necessarily a constraint upon the freedom of the individual to fulfil his or her potential (…). Work is an essential element in the path to self-fulfilment. There is no longer any barrier between the economic, the psychological, and the social (…). The government of work now passes through the psychological strivings of each and every one of us for what we want.

Further developed in the UK in the 1960s in the guise of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations and its key researchers, Fred Emory and Eric Trist, workers were envisaged as searching for meaning, responsibility, achievement, and ‘quality of life’ through work. Workers should not be emancipated from work, but rather fulfilled in work ( Rose, 1990 ). This line of management theory spawned notions of job enrichment, job rotation, autonomous work groups, participation, and self-management:

Finding meaning and dignity in work, workers would identify with the product, assume responsibility for production, and find their own self-worth embedded, reflected and enhanced in the quality of work as a product and an experience. ( Rose, 1990 : 105–6)

Trist went as far as to propose that people are resources to be developed, regulating themselves because they were committed and involved, and so arguably set in motion notions inextricably linked to contemporary HRM strategies. Such is the legacy of Mayo, the HRS, and the behaviouralist approach currently informing the contemporary study of organizational behaviour and HRM.

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Readers are urged to consult the definitive biography of Mayo by Trahair (1984) , but see also Bruce (2013) .

For an in-depth history and analysis of the studies, see Landsberger (1958) and also Gillespie (1991) .

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Editorial: Crafting Review and Essay Articles for Human Relations Final Submitted Version October

2023, Human Relations

Human Relations has long welcomed different types of reviews – systematic reviews, meta-analyses, conceptual reviews, narrative reviews, historical reviews – and critical essays that are original, innovative, of high-quality, and contribute to theory building in the social sciences. The main purpose of this essay is to sketch out our current broad expectations for reviews and essays as a guide for authors and reviewers. As Editors of the journal, we do not wish to be overly prescriptive. After all, reviews may be integrative and focus on synthesis and integration to generate new concepts, frameworks and perspectives, or they may be more problematizing and contribute by identifying problematics, tensions, and contradictions in a literature. Furthermore, consonant with its heritage, Human Relations invites scholarship from all research traditions across the social sciences that focus on social relations at work. It is a pluralistic, heterodox journal that will continue to publish a range of reviews and critical essays so long as authors have clear objectives and contribute meaningfully to the field. This will generally involve writing reviews and essays that seek to maximize what we see and are sufficiently complex to deal adequately with the richness and variety of the literatures and ideas considered.

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Launched from an organizational communication perspective, this article chronicles the four Hawthorne studies that led to the development of the human relations theory. The article shows how the Hawthorne studies led to the birth of the human relations management approach. The main tenets of human relations theory are discussed, as are its limitations. The article looks at both empirical and ideological limitations to the theory. The article ends by looking into the efforts to address these limitations, namely the evolution of human relations theory into a human resource approach.

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A deep understanding of the field and practice of human resource management is impossible without fully appreciating the elements of the employment relationship, their conceptualizations, and the resulting four frames of reference for human resource management. The employment relationship is the exchange of labor for compensation via a (often implied) contract as conditioned by states and markets. The elements of this relationship—employees, employers, states, markets, and contracts—are conceptualized by scholars and practitioners in very different ways which results in four key models. In the neoliberal egoist employment relationship, employment is seen as a mutually-advantageous transaction in a free market between self-interested legal and economic equals. The unitarist employment relationship consists of a long-term partnership of employees and employers with common interests. The pluralist employment relationship emphasizes bargaining between stakeholders with some common and some competing economic interests and unequal bargaining power due to imperfect markets. The critical employment relationship is an unequal power relation between competing groups that is embedded in and inseparable from systemic inequalities throughout the socio-politico-economic system. Whether as complements or substitutes, these four models provide the key frames of reference and ideologies for scholars and practitioners in human resource management and other areas related to the employment relationship. Unfortunately, these frames of reference and ideologies are frequently implicit rather than explicit in scholarship and practice. A greater shared understanding of all aspects of work can result if these models are made explicit. As illustrated in this chapter, these four models yield very different perspectives on key issues in human resource management. Depending on one’s frame of reference, human resource management practices, for example, can be seen as administrative mechanisms for implementing the dictates of the free market, essential strategies for creating productive employment relationships by aligning the interests of employees and employers, employer-driven initiatives that inadequately represent workers’ interests when they clash with employers’ interests, or manipulative managerial tools for shaping the ideology and structure of the workplace to favor employers over employees. Similarly powerful contrasts are also illustrated in this chapter for equality and diversity, labor unions, and the globalizing employment relationship.

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Human Relations (Dias)

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Knowing how to get along with others, resolve workplace conflict, manage relationships, communicate well, and make good decisions are all critical skills all students need to succeed in career and in life. Human Relations is not an organizational behavior; rather, it provides a good baseline of issues students will deal with in their careers on a day-to-day basis. It is also not a professional communications, business English, or professionalism textbook, as its focus is much broader — on general career success and how to effectively maneuver in the workplace.

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Human relations cover a multitude of interpersonal interaction. Human Relations can be seen in education through group development and the resulting interpersonal interaction. The Thread That Runs So True and Stand and Deliver, are both good illustrations of this development and interaction. The teachers and/or students are interacting with the administration, peers, and parents in both of these stories. The ability to effectively communicate is the most important aspect of human relations. Without the ability to effectively communicate, there would be no human relations or less than satisfactorily relations. Effective interpersonal communication can be divided into five main concepts . The following will focus on these five main concepts …show more content…

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Under Texas law, the rents and dividends belong to the community even though this income is derived from separate property. Under California law, the income is community or separate depending on the state law classification of the underlying assets. In this case, the interest is community income because the savings account was funded with community property.

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In our community everyone has their own ways of learning. Knowing how people interact with one and other, and understanding the diverse individual in our community helps to give everyone a fair, and equitable education in our society. Knowing how different people learn and function other than yourself helps us as humans understand others and how they have the ability to learn. Even though, the way people think about things may be different than your own thinking, and act as they find a common ground in our diverse and changing world.

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Bonding Natural and Necessary There are many things that make humans, human. One major component is the capacity to form and maintain relationships. These relationships are absolutely necessary for any of us to survive, learn, work, love, and procreate. Human relationships take many forms but the most intense, most pleasurable and most painful are those relationships with family, friends and loved ones. Within this inner circle of intimate relationships, we are bonded to each other with emotional paste — bonded with love . Each individual 's ability to form and maintain relationships using this emotional paste is different. Some people seem naturally capable of loving. They form numerous intimate and caring relationships and, in doing so, get pleasure. Others are not so lucky. They feel no pull to form intimate relationships, find little pleasure in being with or close to others. They have few, if any, friends, and more distant, less emotional elasticity with family. In extreme cases an individual may have no intact emotional bond to any other person. They are self-absorbed, aloof, or may even present with classic neuropsychiatric signs of being schizoid or autistic. …show more content…

Just as the brain allows us to see, smell, taste, think, talk, and move, it is the organ that allows us to love — or not. The systems in the human brain that allow us to form and maintain emotional relationships develop during infancy and the first years of life. Experiences during this early vulnerable period of life are critical to shaping the capacity to form intimate and emotionally healthy relationships. Empathy, caring, sharing, inhibition of aggression, capacity to love, and a host of other characteristics of a healthy, happy, and productive person are related to the core attachment capabilities which are formed in infancy and early

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Importance Of Neuroscience And Theories

The attachment process plays a crucial role in a child’s development and their future impact on society According to Dr Suzanne Zeedyk. Children can’t feel relaxed and safe with the adults & children in the nursery until they get to know them. If there’s a lack of affection towards a child they may be reluctant to take advantage of all the learning opportunities because of their anxiety. We now know that relationships literally shape the neural connections in young children’s brains. This means everything that happens or doesn’t happen for the child will leaves a physiological trace in their growing brain. According to Dr Suzanne

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Attachment, the product of nature and nurture, is critical to human development. Children learn about important aspects of their physical, emotional and social world through experience. The value of this experience is directly proportional to the quality of the attachment children are forming with their caregivers. Through the positive experience of emotional connectedness, children learn to build and maintain loving, trusting and secure relationships with others. If the caregivers are available to them, sensitive to their signals, consistently responsive to their needs, infants develop secure style of attachment. If the caregivers are indifferent or neglectful, inaccessible, unresponsive and unreliable, infants are prone to developing anxious, avoidant or disorganized attachment style (Pearce, 2009). Difficulties in forming childhood relationships significantly increase likelihood of interpersonal conflicts in adulthood. Anxiety disorder, PTSD, dissociative identify disorder, borderline, narcissistic personality disorder are dysfunctions that are linked to attachment insecurities. Interpersonal adult conflicts, such as divorce, family abuse, child neglect, sexual abuse, substance abuse are responses to emotional dysregulation caused by deep wounds in

The Value of Intimacy and Love and Civility and Trust to a Society

Intimacy and love are important factors to interpersonal relationship but as a foundation to not governing and controlling society. Consider a situation of three-person group, or also known as a triad, intimacy and love is not successful majority of time (Freidkin 05/20/10). Take for example, a family of three, a father, mother, son or daughter, has unconditionally love for each other. However, as the teenager grows up, he or she may not always agree with the parents' decisions about their life; and/or vice versa, in which the parents may not like the teenager's lifestyle. This shows that we tend to hold other with high regards and respect when we love another. Also, when we love others, we want the best for them and help them make better decisions to have better relations with the party. In relation to society, intimacy and love are not ideal features because they are too personal; not everyone will let others control their lives and surroundings willingly for strangers. For those who have conflicting beliefs with higher personnel will feel that some choice...

The Importance Of Core Concepts In Narrative Therapy And Emotionly Focused Therapy

Acknowledging, the importance of attachment has been in helpful development of couples therapy, in particular to Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT), “where it helps explain how even healthy adults need to depend on each other,” (Nichols, 2013, p. 62). EFT is an empirically validated experiential therapy model that works with emotion to create change. EFT therapists use “attachment theory to deconstruct the familiar dynamic in which one partner criticizes and complains while the other gets defensive and withdraws,” (Nichols, 2013, p.63). Research has demonstrated the importance of attachment in individuals. It is not solely a childhood trait attachment is a trait that individuals carry for the rest of their lives. Nonetheless, it is important to work on the attachments with families and couples in order to alleviate some of the negative interactions that arise from feeling a fear of losing the attachment with

Attachment Theory

Maternal and paternal systems enrich a child and contribute extensively to the child’s emotional well-being. There is a large body of research that links early life experiences and relationships as being crucial to our lifelong capacity to engage in healthy relationships, enjoy basic physical health and avoid mental health risks.

Secure Attachment and Adulthood

Let us take a look at the most important factor that determines the health of our adult relationships; that is infant attachment. From the time that an infant is born, those around him influence the way a child will act or react in any given relationship. It provides a firm foundation upon which all other relationships grow. The idea is that the success of all relationships is dependent upon the success of the first one, namely, of the bond between the infant and his mother or primary caregiver (Brodie, 2008).

Sian Beilock How The Body Knows Its Mind Summary

Sian Beilock is the author of this novel, the information written by her would be considered credible due to the fact that she is a leading expert on brain science in the psychology department at the University of Chicago. This book was also published in the year 2015 which assures readers that the information it contains is up to date and accurate. The novel is easy to understand and the author uses examples of scientific discoveries to help make the arguments more relatable. Beilock goes into depth about how love, is something more than just an emotion, it derives from the body’s anticipation. “Volunteers reported feeling

The Curious Lives Of Surrogates Analysis

By choosing to lover her child, the mother acknowledges that she doesn’t feel as if she is obligated to do so because she wants to love him or her and is prepared for the challenges that await her. Thoma Oord writes in his article “The Love Racket: Defining Love and Agape for the Love–and–Science Research Program” that the definition of love refers to the “promotion of well being of all others in an enduring, intense, effective, and pure manner” meaning that when a person loves someone, they will try to do whatever they can to their beloved’s benefit (922). The child is benefited in many ways when the mother chooses to love him or her, for example, the child’s anxiety levels and sense of fear are lowered because they have the security of the bond they possess with their mother (Tarlaci 745). In his article, “Unmasking the Neurology of Love,” Robert Weiss explains that love is a “goal-orientated motivation state rather than a specific emotion” which arises the possibility of a mother “falling out of love” with her child if neither feelings or goals are present. Tarlaci observed an experiment conducted by A. Bartels and S. Zeki in which they compared the brain activity of both a mother looking at a picture of her child to a lover looking at a picture of their beloved. In the experiment it was discovered that “just about the same regions of the brain showed activity in the same two groups except for one” the PACG, which has been confirmed to be “specific to a mother’s love” (Tarlaci 747). So the chances of a mother falling out of love with her child are there, but are different from that of a lover due to the areas of the brain involved. Therefore, explaining the bond between a mother and child as something that forms when a mother chooses to love him or her implies a greater sense of willingness and

Interpersonal Relationships Essay

There are many different types of relationships. From your neighbor to your significant other, experiencing different relationships is a part of everyday life. Wether you posses good or bad communication skills will affect the interpersonal relationships within your life. The popular television series Modern Family is a good example of the different types of friendships, types of love, and relationship theories that encompass the everyday person.

Healthy Relationships Essay

As humans, we are constantly building relationships with others and meeting new people, but sometimes it 's hard to maintain a relationship with another person, when only one person is engaged in it. All healthy relationships or friendships should be based upon the concepts of caring, supporting, and spending time with each other, and if one person is not able to provide these concepts towards the other person, then the relationship quickly becomes one-sided.

Essay On Human Nature

The purpose of this essay will be to discuss whether human nature is good, or evil, or both good and evil, or neither good nor evil. To facilitate the following discussion, human nature here would be defined as the distinguishing characteristics we born with, that we tend to have naturally without the influence of external factors. The definition agrees to Xunzi’s, that nature is what is given by Heaven: one cannot learn it; one cannot acquire it by effort. This essay will explain that the deepest essence of human nature is self-preservation and reproduction, which cannot be truly classified into good or evil. It is followed by how we are diverged to behave goodly or badly, argument against the “good nature theory” and different between self-preservation with greed and aggression.

Relationships: A Personal Essay Relationship

“Relationships are what make up our world today, they shape the ways we see things and the way that we do things, relationships affect how we see the world today”. I believe supporting what your partner does, having a great sum of trust and showing your affections towards your partner is what will make a healthy relationship great.

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Essay on Human Rights: Samples in 500 and 1500

• Updated on  
• Dec 9, 2023

Essay writing is an integral part of the school curriculum and various academic and competitive exams like IELTS , TOEFL , SAT , UPSC , etc. It is designed to test your command of the English language and how well you can gather your thoughts and present them in a structure with a flow. To master your ability to write an essay, you must read as much as possible and practise on any given topic. This blog brings you a detailed guide on how to write an essay on Human Rights , with useful essay samples on Human rights.

This Blog Includes:

The basic human rights, 200 words essay on human rights, 500 words essay on human rights, 500+ words essay on human rights in india, 1500 words essay on human rights, importance of human rights, essay on human rights pdf.

Also Read: Essay on Labour Day

Also Read: 1-Minute Speech on Human Rights for Students

What are Human Rights

Human rights mark everyone as free and equal, irrespective of age, gender, caste, creed, religion and nationality. The United Nations adopted human rights in light of the atrocities people faced during the Second World War. On the 10th of December 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Its adoption led to the recognition of human rights as the foundation for freedom, justice and peace for every individual. Although it’s not legally binding, most nations have incorporated these human rights into their constitutions and domestic legal frameworks. Human rights safeguard us from discrimination and guarantee that our most basic needs are protected.

Did you know that the 10th of December is celebrated as Human Rights Day ?

Before we move on to the essays on human rights, let’s check out the basics of what they are.

Also Read: What are Human Rights?

Also Read: 7 Impactful Human Rights Movies Everyone Must Watch!

Here is a 200-word short sample essay on basic Human Rights.

Human rights are a set of rights given to every human being regardless of their gender, caste, creed, religion, nation, location or economic status. These are said to be moral principles that illustrate certain standards of human behaviour. Protected by law , these rights are applicable everywhere and at any time. Basic human rights include the right to life, right to a fair trial, right to remedy by a competent tribunal, right to liberty and personal security, right to own property, right to education, right of peaceful assembly and association, right to marriage and family, right to nationality and freedom to change it, freedom of speech, freedom from discrimination, freedom from slavery, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of movement, right of opinion and information, right to adequate living standard and freedom from interference with privacy, family, home and correspondence.

Also Read: Law Courses

Check out this 500-word long essay on Human Rights.

Every person has dignity and value. One of the ways that we recognise the fundamental worth of every person is by acknowledging and respecting their human rights. Human rights are a set of principles concerned with equality and fairness. They recognise our freedom to make choices about our lives and develop our potential as human beings. They are about living a life free from fear, harassment or discrimination.

Human rights can broadly be defined as the basic rights that people worldwide have agreed are essential. These include the right to life, the right to a fair trial, freedom from torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to health, education and an adequate standard of living. These human rights are the same for all people everywhere – men and women, young and old, rich and poor, regardless of our background, where we live, what we think or believe. This basic property is what makes human rights’ universal’.

Human rights connect us all through a shared set of rights and responsibilities. People’s ability to enjoy their human rights depends on other people respecting those rights. This means that human rights involve responsibility and duties towards other people and the community. Individuals have a responsibility to ensure that they exercise their rights with consideration for the rights of others. For example, when someone uses their right to freedom of speech, they should do so without interfering with someone else’s right to privacy.

Governments have a particular responsibility to ensure that people can enjoy their rights. They must establish and maintain laws and services that enable people to enjoy a life in which their rights are respected and protected. For example, the right to education says that everyone is entitled to a good education. Therefore, governments must provide good quality education facilities and services to their people. If the government fails to respect or protect their basic human rights, people can take it into account.

Values of tolerance, equality and respect can help reduce friction within society. Putting human rights ideas into practice can help us create the kind of society we want to live in. There has been tremendous growth in how we think about and apply human rights ideas in recent decades. This growth has had many positive results – knowledge about human rights can empower individuals and offer solutions for specific problems.

Human rights are an important part of how people interact with others at all levels of society – in the family, the community, school, workplace, politics and international relations. Therefore, people everywhere must strive to understand what human rights are. When people better understand human rights, it is easier for them to promote justice and the well-being of society. 

Also Read: Important Articles in Indian Constitution

Here is a human rights essay focused on India.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. It has been rightly proclaimed in the American Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Created with certain unalienable rights….” Similarly, the Indian Constitution has ensured and enshrined Fundamental rights for all citizens irrespective of caste, creed, religion, colour, sex or nationality. These basic rights, commonly known as human rights, are recognised the world over as basic rights with which every individual is born.

In recognition of human rights, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was made on the 10th of December, 1948. This declaration is the basic instrument of human rights. Even though this declaration has no legal bindings and authority, it forms the basis of all laws on human rights. The necessity of formulating laws to protect human rights is now being felt all over the world. According to social thinkers, the issue of human rights became very important after World War II concluded. It is important for social stability both at the national and international levels. Wherever there is a breach of human rights, there is conflict at one level or the other.

Given the increasing importance of the subject, it becomes necessary that educational institutions recognise the subject of human rights as an independent discipline. The course contents and curriculum of the discipline of human rights may vary according to the nature and circumstances of a particular institution. Still, generally, it should include the rights of a child, rights of minorities, rights of the needy and the disabled, right to live, convention on women, trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation etc.

Since the formation of the United Nations , the promotion and protection of human rights have been its main focus. The United Nations has created a wide range of mechanisms for monitoring human rights violations. The conventional mechanisms include treaties and organisations, U.N. special reporters, representatives and experts and working groups. Asian countries like China argue in favour of collective rights. According to Chinese thinkers, European countries lay stress upon individual rights and values while Asian countries esteem collective rights and obligations to the family and society as a whole.

With the freedom movement the world over after World War II, the end of colonisation also ended the policy of apartheid and thereby the most aggressive violation of human rights. With the spread of education, women are asserting their rights. Women’s movements play an important role in spreading the message of human rights. They are fighting for their rights and supporting the struggle for human rights of other weaker and deprived sections like bonded labour, child labour, landless labour, unemployed persons, Dalits and elderly people.

Unfortunately, violation of human rights continues in most parts of the world. Ethnic cleansing and genocide can still be seen in several parts of the world. Large sections of the world population are deprived of the necessities of life i.e. food, shelter and security of life. Right to minimum basic needs viz. Work, health care, education and shelter are denied to them. These deprivations amount to the negation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Also Read: Human Rights Courses

Check out this detailed 1500-word essay on human rights.

The human right to live and exist, the right to equality, including equality before the law, non-discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment, the right to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence, the right to practice any profession or occupation, the right against exploitation, prohibiting all forms of forced labour, child labour and trafficking in human beings, the right to freedom of conscience, practice and propagation of religion and the right to legal remedies for enforcement of the above are basic human rights. These rights and freedoms are the very foundations of democracy.

Obviously, in a democracy, the people enjoy the maximum number of freedoms and rights. Besides these are political rights, which include the right to contest an election and vote freely for a candidate of one’s choice. Human rights are a benchmark of a developed and civilised society. But rights cannot exist in a vacuum. They have their corresponding duties. Rights and duties are the two aspects of the same coin.

Liberty never means license. Rights presuppose the rule of law, where everyone in the society follows a code of conduct and behaviour for the good of all. It is the sense of duty and tolerance that gives meaning to rights. Rights have their basis in the ‘live and let live’ principle. For example, my right to speech and expression involves my duty to allow others to enjoy the same freedom of speech and expression. Rights and duties are inextricably interlinked and interdependent. A perfect balance is to be maintained between the two. Whenever there is an imbalance, there is chaos.

A sense of tolerance, propriety and adjustment is a must to enjoy rights and freedom. Human life sans basic freedom and rights is meaningless. Freedom is the most precious possession without which life would become intolerable, a mere abject and slavish existence. In this context, Milton’s famous and oft-quoted lines from his Paradise Lost come to mind: “To reign is worth ambition though in hell/Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.”

However, liberty cannot survive without its corresponding obligations and duties. An individual is a part of society in which he enjoys certain rights and freedom only because of the fulfilment of certain duties and obligations towards others. Thus, freedom is based on mutual respect’s rights. A fine balance must be maintained between the two, or there will be anarchy and bloodshed. Therefore, human rights can best be preserved and protected in a society steeped in morality, discipline and social order.

Violation of human rights is most common in totalitarian and despotic states. In the theocratic states, there is much persecution, and violation in the name of religion and the minorities suffer the most. Even in democracies, there is widespread violation and infringement of human rights and freedom. The women, children and the weaker sections of society are victims of these transgressions and violence.

The U.N. Commission on Human Rights’ main concern is to protect and promote human rights and freedom in the world’s nations. In its various sessions held from time to time in Geneva, it adopts various measures to encourage worldwide observations of these basic human rights and freedom. It calls on its member states to furnish information regarding measures that comply with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights whenever there is a complaint of a violation of these rights. In addition, it reviews human rights situations in various countries and initiates remedial measures when required.

The U.N. Commission was much concerned and dismayed at the apartheid being practised in South Africa till recently. The Secretary-General then declared, “The United Nations cannot tolerate apartheid. It is a legalised system of racial discrimination, violating the most basic human rights in South Africa. It contradicts the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter. That is why over the last forty years, my predecessors and I have urged the Government of South Africa to dismantle it.”

Now, although apartheid is no longer practised in that country, other forms of apartheid are being blatantly practised worldwide. For example, sex apartheid is most rampant. Women are subject to abuse and exploitation. They are not treated equally and get less pay than their male counterparts for the same jobs. In employment, promotions, possession of property etc., they are most discriminated against. Similarly, the rights of children are not observed properly. They are forced to work hard in very dangerous situations, sexually assaulted and exploited, sold and bonded for labour.

The Commission found that religious persecution, torture, summary executions without judicial trials, intolerance, slavery-like practices, kidnapping, political disappearance, etc., are being practised even in the so-called advanced countries and societies. The continued acts of extreme violence, terrorism and extremism in various parts of the world like Pakistan, India, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Somalia, Algeria, Lebanon, Chile, China, and Myanmar, etc., by the governments, terrorists, religious fundamentalists, and mafia outfits, etc., is a matter of grave concern for the entire human race.

Violation of freedom and rights by terrorist groups backed by states is one of the most difficult problems society faces. For example, Pakistan has been openly collaborating with various terrorist groups, indulging in extreme violence in India and other countries. In this regard the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva adopted a significant resolution, which was co-sponsored by India, focusing on gross violation of human rights perpetrated by state-backed terrorist groups.

The resolution expressed its solidarity with the victims of terrorism and proposed that a U.N. Fund for victims of terrorism be established soon. The Indian delegation recalled that according to the Vienna Declaration, terrorism is nothing but the destruction of human rights. It shows total disregard for the lives of innocent men, women and children. The delegation further argued that terrorism cannot be treated as a mere crime because it is systematic and widespread in its killing of civilians.

Violation of human rights, whether by states, terrorists, separatist groups, armed fundamentalists or extremists, is condemnable. Regardless of the motivation, such acts should be condemned categorically in all forms and manifestations, wherever and by whomever they are committed, as acts of aggression aimed at destroying human rights, fundamental freedom and democracy. The Indian delegation also underlined concerns about the growing connection between terrorist groups and the consequent commission of serious crimes. These include rape, torture, arson, looting, murder, kidnappings, blasts, and extortion, etc.

Violation of human rights and freedom gives rise to alienation, dissatisfaction, frustration and acts of terrorism. Governments run by ambitious and self-seeking people often use repressive measures and find violence and terror an effective means of control. However, state terrorism, violence, and human freedom transgressions are very dangerous strategies. This has been the background of all revolutions in the world. Whenever there is systematic and widespread state persecution and violation of human rights, rebellion and revolution have taken place. The French, American, Russian and Chinese Revolutions are glowing examples of human history.

The first war of India’s Independence in 1857 resulted from long and systematic oppression of the Indian masses. The rapidly increasing discontent, frustration and alienation with British rule gave rise to strong national feelings and demand for political privileges and rights. Ultimately the Indian people, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, made the British leave India, setting the country free and independent.

Human rights and freedom ought to be preserved at all costs. Their curtailment degrades human life. The political needs of a country may reshape Human rights, but they should not be completely distorted. Tyranny, regimentation, etc., are inimical of humanity and should be resisted effectively and united. The sanctity of human values, freedom and rights must be preserved and protected. Human Rights Commissions should be established in all countries to take care of human freedom and rights. In cases of violation of human rights, affected individuals should be properly compensated, and it should be ensured that these do not take place in future.

These commissions can become effective instruments in percolating the sensitivity to human rights down to the lowest levels of governments and administrations. The formation of the National Human Rights Commission in October 1993 in India is commendable and should be followed by other countries.

Also Read: Law Courses in India

Human rights are of utmost importance to seek basic equality and human dignity. Human rights ensure that the basic needs of every human are met. They protect vulnerable groups from discrimination and abuse, allow people to stand up for themselves, and follow any religion without fear and give them the freedom to express their thoughts freely. In addition, they grant people access to basic education and equal work opportunities. Thus implementing these rights is crucial to ensure freedom, peace and safety.

Human Rights Day is annually celebrated on the 10th of December.

Human Rights Day is celebrated to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UNGA in 1948.

Some of the common Human Rights are the right to life and liberty, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom from slavery and torture and the right to work and education.

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We hope our sample essays on Human Rights have given you some great ideas. For more information on such interesting blogs, visit our essay writing page and follow Leverage Edu .

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Essays on Human Relations

Feeling stuck when writing an essay on Human Relations? If you are unable to get started on your task and need some inspiration, then you are in the right place. Human Relations essays require a range of skills including understanding, interpretation and analysis, planning, research and writing. To write an effective essay on Human Relations, you need to examine the question, understand its focus and needs, obtain information and evidence through research, then build a clear and organized answer. Browse our samples and select the most compelling topic as an example for your own!

Essay examples

Essay topics, information.

Introduction Theories are abstractions from the real world to give and show the existing relationship between or among a variables or a given phenomenon. Thus, they are like map used in showing the direction of the known from the unknown. Hence, varieties of theories are …

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Human Relations Human relations can be defined as a study of group behavior for the purpose of improving interpersonal and social relationships in work environment. In order to improve work productivity, achieve successful teamwork and understand the importance of managing people, it is necessary for …

Human Relations Management began with Mary Parker Follet, a social worker with 25 years of experience working with schools and non-profit organizations. She is best known for developing ideas of constructive conflict (also called cognitive conflict). She believed conflict could be beneficial. She believed the …

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According to UN’s telecommunications agency one of the three people is involved in the internet. Cyberspace has created a means for people to come closer together. Rather than spending money on phone services, people in different cities or even different countries can use messenger services, …

Lastly, the third section will discuss how to improve the business effectiveness relative to the management thought of Scientific Management. The clothes store which I am going to talk about Is a small store located at a shopping mall In Hong Kong. The mall customer …

Human relations is the ongoing development of bringing the workers more into communication and contact with their organization in order to have an effective work environment. Human relations is aimed more for the people and for their treatment in the workplace. In order for human …

The theoretical conceptualities of behaviorism cover the prime angle of behavioral perspective in aim of explaining the motives of action, rationale of attitude, and prime associates of human dimensions. The school of behaviorism covers the therapeutic interventions guided by objective and empirical approach. The concepts …

Synergetic Solutions Incorporated (Organizational structure, 2005) is in a situation most successful organizations experience over time. Synergetic Solutions has experienced stagnation in its primary business, systems integration. There are numerous courses of action a company may choose in this situation. One option would be to …

Presence Introduction In a competitive, global economy it has become evident that the differences leading to organizational success have become smaller and smaller. Organizations have to work to set themselves apart in many ways beyond offering a quality product or service. For example, a professional …

On Tuesday, Sept. 5 I signed my daughter up for cheerleading at Jefferson elementary school. Upon arriving you are required to pay $60.00 for sign up and also a $7.00 registration fee, pom poms are $25.00 and the uniform is $50.00. According to the flier, …

Len effectively calmed her down by offering the restaurant to pay for her dry cleaning. He demonstrated effective leadership skills and confidence, by facing an angry customer and preventing get the restaurant Into a lawsuit. In the above situation, Len was an effective leader, but …

Human Relations: A Personal Experience Introduction to Graduate Studies in Human Relations While reading Modern Human Relations at Work I found information that I pretty much expected to find in a book on this subject. I found some specific studies that I had not read …

“The Wanderer” is a depressing, bleak lament of life’s suffering from the perspective of an exiled warrior detached from his former friends and “liege-lord,” who are now dead. The speaker vividly describes his loneliness and sorrow, and paints an apocalyptic picture of the world’s future, …

Nowaday, in this merciless world, people tend to wear a mask to cover their true self because they fear of rejection and how people will judge what they believe in. However, in the novella Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, where the setting is …

Parasocial relationships is a term created to refer to a kind of psychological relationship experienced by an audience in their mediated encounters with performers in the mass media, particularly on television (May 2017). The term was coined by Horton and Wohl and have been around …

Gregor Samsa woke up and had been changed into a bug. He did not know what was happening, but he surely knew it was not a dream. He thought that if he could sleep it off then maybe he can forget about all of this. …

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In continuation, technology has also had a serious outcome to people having health issues, with either physically with their body appearance or mentally. This is caused due to people having to be expected to be a person that society tells them to be. Although, we …

As humans, it is imperative that we are social. We need to do so to have healthy friendships, find mates, and become productive members of society.Every individual is unique, and there is not one correct way to be social, but it is still necessary for …

Society has put individuals in a position where people believe that building relationships is a factor in their developmental growth. The psychological stage six, intimacy vs isolation by Erik Erikson talks about the period of young adulthood when people are exploring personal relationships. Individuals between …

As we advance through life, it’s expected for one to face sorrow and hardships as life isn’t meant to be easy. These obstacles are expressed similarly in both “The Wanderer” and “The Wife’s Lament”, although the underlying plots are slightly different. Through the feelings of …

First impression of Louise Gluck was wow is she considering herself as an angel? I felt like I was reading pieces out of my Sunday school stories we went over, but after rereading the poem multiple times. I realize that she’s talking about a flower …

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Job demands and burnout: The multilevel boundary conditions of collective trust and competitive pressure. Aldijana Bunjak, Matej Černe, Noemi Nagy and Heike Bruch.

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A conversation with the Authors of our Paper of the Year on Epistemic Injustice

What goes into making an exceptional academic article? In this conversation, Co-Editor-in-Chief, Smriti Anand, and Yasin Rofcanin, an Associate Editor of the journal Human Relations, ask that of Penelope Muzanenhamo and Rashedur Chowdhury, authors of the journal’s official 2023 Paper of the Year. The paper is free to access all year.

Click here to read the conversation and find out what inspired this paper, how the authors collaborated during the writing process and what advice they would give for those at the beginning of their writing journey.

Human Relations 75th Anniversary Conference

Take a look back at our celebratory 75th anniversary conference, that took place in April 2023 – you can find all the extended abstracts from papers submitted on our Conference Proceedings page.

Call for Papers

Human Relations seeks high-quality research papers that extend our knowledge of social relationships at work and organizational forms, practices and processes that affect the nature, structure and conditions of work and work organizations.

• Current Calls for Papers

Why publish in Human Relations

Human Relations  is included in the  FT50 journals list used by the Financial Times in compiling the FT Research rank, included in the Global MBA, EMBA and Online MBA rankings.

2-year impact factor: 5.658 5-year impact factor: 6.620

Human Relations is published monthly by SAGE Publications on behalf of The Tavistock Institute, London

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