Human Behavior School of Management

Human Behavior School of Management is as school of thought in management that consist of a set of propositions that focus on human nature, motivation and human needs and how they determine behaviors inside organizations.

It bases its contributions on the knowledge provided by the disciplines that study human behavior and on the complex nature of human beings, their psychology, motivations, and needs. All this is fundamental to maintain an internal balance in organizations and achieve organizational and individual objectives.

Background

The school emerged as a result of serious omissions made by the classical school, because the latter had a mechanistic conception of human beings, considered them lazy, ignorant and mediocre, which caused conflicts due to the non-conformity of the workers. This in turn gave rise to labor legislation, thus the creation of a set of rules or laws that regulate the rights, duties, and obligations of employers and workers.

Related: History of economics

Features

A school of thought consists of a set of thoughts from different authors that have been organized by their common characteristics; they aim to explain fundamental concepts of management from different points of view. This implies different historical needs, analytical scopes, methods, and of course, different value systems.

Historical framework. It appeared as a result of the need to correct previous mistakes and omissions that caused exploitation and labor conflicts.
Level of analysis. Organizations in general.
Methodology. Scientific method.
Values system. It includes the concept of humans, their motivation, performance in the company and relationship with authority.
Conception of individuals. This school sees them as complex beings, with many motivations and with different needs that the organization must satisfy. It’s a complex biological unit, with an intellect, and is deeply reflective.

Individuals are seen as social beings who belong to groups within the organization, have personal interests that are their priority, and the more conditions are created for workers to satisfy those interests within the organization, the more efficient they will be.

Motivation. Motivation is complex; they pursue various objectives besides money. There is a tendency to want to work.

Relationship with organizations. Workers belong to groups and their integration into the company’s social framework must also be considered.

Authority. In addition to formal authority, there is also informal authority that come from the informal organization or relationships between individuals.

Related: Authority vs Power

Individual – Company relationship. There is a diversity of conflicts, and they influence the efficiency and behavior of workers.

Criticisms of the behavioral approach

The school is criticized because there are conflicts whose solution is beyond the scope of its contributions. Even when understanding human behavior is very important to solve the problems that may arise in an organization, an interdisciplinary approach is also necessary to keep it working properly.

The main criticism is:

Overestimation of human relations in their ability to resolve conflicts.
Underestimation of labor unions.
Absence of significant changes and true participation back then.
Ineffectiveness of some figures of the time.
Overestimation of communications, because this is a means to solve problems, not a solution.

Contributions of the human behavior school

The behavioral school has provided knowledge about human behavior in the context of the company, such as:

Correct hypotheses about human nature and motivation.
The influence of human and social factors in companies.
Understanding of motivation behind individuals in companies and how to maintain or increase it.

Human Behavior School of Management