Elton Mayo on Modern Business free essay sample

George Elton Mayo’s groundbreaking 1930’s Hawthorne Experiment has been widely recognised as a revolutionary sociological study which laid the foundations for many of today’s modern management methods and concepts (Sarachek 1968; Smith 1998; Kennedy 1998; O’Connor 1999). The Hawthorne Experiment was conducted with the original intent to study the effect of a workplaces physical factors on productivity (The British Library 2013) and the main conclusions reached by Sonnenfeld (1985) which challenges prior hypothesis of work behaviour are as follows: (1) Individual work behavior results from a complex host of factors. It is seldom determined by simple interaction. (2) Employees developed a set of informal work norms which regulates individual needs with that of the work environment. (3) Status pegged to the job position is carried down to that of social structures in informal settings. (4) Management need to gather personal feedback to better understand and accommodate individual needs and satisfaction. (5) Being aware of employees opinions and participation would help facilitate their resistance to change. The above conclusions of Mayo’s findings have been instrumental in shaping industrial organisational psychology and present day businesses (Guion 1975). However, despite much praise of intellectual brilliance of the experiment by the wider community (Kimball 1946; Friedmann 1955), as with all famous research, it is not without its critics. Critics of the Hawthorne Experinment Though many researchers acknowledge the significance of Mayos research, not all embraced it entirely due to fundamental differences in assumptions and perspective with regards to the nature of capitalism. Sociologist Bell (1947a) criticised Mayo for being a â€Å"cow sociologist† implying Mayos pro-managerial stance and his negligence of the role of trade unions in modern work society. Mayos call for management to be solely responsible for work plans was deemed anti-union (Bendix Fisher 1949). Do strong, independent unions complement Human Resource Management (HRM) initiatives? Or do they cause overreliance and lax work behaviour? The evidence from various large corporations such as Shell, Eldorado Resources substantiate the former, that unions are compatible and even crucial to a corporations success (Wells 1993). The establishment of competent trade unions is thus beneficial in securing employees welfare, overcoming market failure, increasing productivity (Wever 1997) and therefore should not be disregarded. Another criticism by Lynd (1937) raises Mayo for being a fascist and a capitalists. Bell (1947b) supports the latter claim when he describes that Mayo was only concerned with â€Å"adjusting man to machine† which goes against the interest of employees. No denying, capitalism is extremely productive. However, its cons are more than worthy for concern. Capitalism fundamentally supports inequality, labour exploitation, is anti-democratic and is environmentally unsustainable (Naidu 2006). The Hawthorne Experiment it seems condoned the usage of manipulative techniques with the intention of limiting and controlling the workers in the name of production (Grodzins 1951; Koivisto 1953). The arguments made by the various sociologists against Mayos research are compelling as they cover the flaws and explore the limitations of the experiment. However, consideration have to be given on how Mayos research is translated to actual HRM practices as most critics only focus their criticisms on academic conclusions (Landsberger 1958). Types of Businesses in Singapore Singapore, one of four Asian Tigers, including Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan, have had characteristically strong economic growth due the its open, free and diverse economy (Barro 1998). Fig. 1: Singapores Nominal GDP 2012 Source: Singapore Department of Statistics (29 July 2013) http://www. singstat. gov. sg/statistics/visualising_data/Singapore-Economy. pdf (retrieved September 2, 2013) As per Fig. 1, Singapores key industry clusters consists of mainly of manufacturing, trade, business and financial services and transportation and storage. Different HRM policies and techniques are employed to various business industries to cater to their specific needs and job structure. Fig. 2: Occupational Distribution Of Employed Residents By Industry, June 2012 Source: Ministry of Manpower Singapore http://www. mom. gov. sg/Documents/statistics-publications/manpower-supply/report-labour-2012/mrsd_2012LabourForce. pdf (retrieved September 2, 2013) Three cases of Singapores businesses would be explored. They are SMRT Corporation (SMRT) for the Transportation sector, Bee Cheng Hiang for the Food and Beverage (FB) sector and United Overseas Bank Limited (UOB) for the financial service sector. These companies were selected in variation of their nominal GDP contributions as shown in Fig. 1, and also the majority level of job skill pegged to each industry as shown in Fig. 2, for a wider perspective of application from Mayo and his detractors. Singapore Business: SMRT Corporation (Transportation) SMRT Corporation (SMRT) is a Singapore public transport operator, operating bus, train, cab and other transport services. 46. 4% of the workforce in the transportation and storage sector as shown in Fig. 2, consist of Production and Transport operators and Cleaners and Labourers, which are deemed low skilled work (MoMa 2012). Singapores public transport system though having often been dubbed world class is not without areas for improvement, such as in HRM. Even with strikes criminalised in Singapore (AGC 2011) and the bus operators being part of the National Transport Workers Union, on 26 November 2012, SMRT bus operators from China went on an illegal strike citing unhappiness due to the inequality in wages compared to Malaysian and Singaporean bus operators and also for poor living conditions in their dormitories (ST 2012). This shows that workers dissatisfaction at work should not be undermined and it exposes flaws in unions feedback system. Mayos findings on appreciating individual needs and feedback through communication are applicable in this case. Chinese nationals are culturally different from Singaporeans and there is a language barrier between them. English, unlike for Singaporeans, is not their first language, so they may not be able to effectively communicate their thoughts comfortably to the union. As such, a Chinese national who is effectively bilingual with Chinese and English could be promoted to higher ranks within the union to better voice and represent the China Chinese community within SMRT as with other bus operators of different nationalities. Therefore, a businesss feedback system is essential to its success. Specific consideration should be given to each worker not only through the manager, but also from upper management for the manager most suited to the workers. Singapore Business: Bee Cheng Hiang (FB) Bee Cheng Hiang is well established over South-East Asia as an Asian food snack company with their main source of revenue coming from the sales of Asian style barbequed pork known as Bakkwa (Bee Cheng Hiang 2013). In the FB sector, as seen earlier in Fig. 2, the majority of workers are in sales and services. This is applicable to Bee Cheng Hiang too as the bulk of their workers are found tending to the physical shops, servicing customers and preparing the barbequed pork. Many of them are temporary workers who are paid at an hourly rate for long hours. Unlike many established companies, Bee Cheng Hiang lacks a union, leaving the workers unrepresented and unable to collectively voice opinions, drawing parallel to Bendix Fisher (1949) describing how Mayos findings completely disregarded the importance of unions in a workplace. Thus, Bee Cheng Hiang should set up a union as it would help secure workers welfare and increase productivity (Wever 1997). With a union in, Bee Cheng Hiangs workers would not be vulnerable to exploitation, such as working over their stipulated work hours without any overtime pay of fear of losing their jobs. Strikes though criminalised in Singapore (AGC 2011), can be further prevented with a union in place. Another advantage of having a union is to assist in gathering constructive feedbacks in line with the companys goals. This may lead to development of new food products, thereby increasing sales as workers with long working hours may have gained specialised knowledge with respect to their customers taste and preferences and innovative methods of Bakkwa preparation. Sonnenfeld (1985) reached five conclusions, one of which, (4), explains how management can motivate workers through unique attention paid to the individual workers needs without the need of monetary reward. As most of Bee Cheng Hiangs workers are paid on a hourly rate, it is essential for supervisors to learn from Mayo. Shop supervisors engaging workers in such ways, from a capitalist point of view would raise employees job satisfaction in turn leading to higher work value and productivity without any additional cost to the company. However, sociologists Lynd (1937) and Bell (1947b) oppose to such work practices which is seen as unethical as it manipulates human emotions for commercial gain. Such practices should not be standard company policy. Rather soft skills for shop supervisors acquired through supplementary training with focus on raising workers job satisfaction with increased productivity as an additional but not a necessary benefit. Singapore Business: UOB (Financial Services) Financial and insurance services occupy 11. 9% of Singapores nominal GDP in 2012, from Fig. 1. UOB is one such banking organisation of which majority of employees consist of highly skilled individuals, 77. 2% in the overall financial and insurance service sector as per Fig. 2. The characteristics of big banks like UOB are that of financial might, multimarket network, and diversified operations (Pilloff 1999). Profit driven banks at times achieve their goals at the expense of their employees. Without a trade union, like in Bee Cheng Hiang, UOB financial service executives are left susceptible to an increased overtime, SBR (2013) states 8 in 10 finance workers routinely does so. And unlike Bee Cheng Hiang mid-skilled workers, they are without compensation as managers and executives are not covered fully by The Employment Act (MoMb 2012). This issue of UOBs and other banks capitalistic nature disregarding welfare is potentially dangerous especially in the case of work fatigue which deteriorates psychological and physiological health (Sluiter et al. 2003). A drastic example of ungoverned welfare by theguardian (2013) reports a Merrill Lynch intern who died after working 72 hours straight, fitting Bells criticism of Mayo of adjusting man to machine. Thus, this pressing issue should not be over looked and UOB should set up a union to ensure that basic employee welfare is met. Job satisfaction in Singapore banks is of concerned as it is ranked below that of China, Hong Kong and Australia (Siow 2012). Pettijohn et al. (2004) states that with a low job satisfaction, banks would face a high turnover rate and any dissatisfaction is in fact more likely to be attributed to management policies than the employees work environment. UOB could learn from Mayos findings on human relations by actively engaging employees through more company social events which would allow a more informal interaction between managers and workers. Okurame and Balogun (2005) state that such informal mentoring builds quality relationship which alleviates job dissatisfaction and promotes career success which would reap a collective benefit for everyone. A work environment with â€Å"freely choosing individuals† would promote accountability for their commitments (Buono 2002). Therfore, UOB too can profit from Mayos groundbreaking study. Conclusion There are many lessons which Singapores businesses can learn from Mayos Hawthorne Studies about the importance of human relations and managerial supervisory guidance in the work place. Taking into consideration as well, the criticisms by other sociologists who argue the disadvantages of its capitalist, pro-managerial and anti-unionist approach to the studies. However the three business case, SMRT, Bee Cheng Hiang and UOB discussed above shows that no one particular view champions over the other. For SMRT, the importance of application human relations within a union is as important as the establishment of the union. For Bee Cheng Hiang and UOB, unions have to be in place to safeguard employees welfare to prevent exploitation and work fatigue in the work place. Soft skills training and corporate social events can be adopted by Singapore companies to encourage bonding or improve relationships between managers and workers to better cater to the individual needs. 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