Four Factors Influencing Human Relations in an Organisations are: (I) work environment (II) work-group (III) individual (Iv) leader.
Organisation should be viewed as a social system. Human relations in the organisation are determined by the work group leader and work environment.
(I) Work Environment:
Human relationists advocated the creation of a positive work environment where organisational goals are achieved through satisfaction of employees. In general, when employee needs are satisfied, the work environment is termed positive and when employee needs are not satisfied, the work environment is termed negative.
Positive work environments are characterising by such factors like: goals are clearly stated incentives are properly used to improve performance, feedback is available on performance decisions are timely and participative, rules are minimum conflict is confronted openly and squarely, the work is interesting and growth oriented.
(II) Work-group:
The work group is the centre of focus of human relations studies. It has an important role in determining the attitudes and performance of individual workers. The Hawthorne studies showed that the informal groups exert tremendous influence over the behaviour patterns of workers At Western Electric Co., the informal groups countermanded official orders quite frequently and played a decisive role in determining production standards.
Work is a social experience and most workers find satisfaction in membership in social groups. Unless managers recognize the human relations at work productivity will not improve.
(III) Individual:
The human being is an important segment of the organisation Behaviour of an individual is affected by his feelings sentiments and attitudes. Motivation of employees should give due consideration to their economic, social and psychological needs. Thus, motivation is a complex process.
(Iv) Leader:
The human relationists gave great importance to leadership. The leader must ensure full and effective utilisation of all organisational resources to achieve organisational goals. He must be able to adjust to various personalities and situations. He must behave in a way that generates respect.
As the Hawthorne studies showed, a supervisor can contribute significantly in increasing productivity by providing a free, happy and pleasant work environment where bossism is totally absent and where members are allowed to participate in decision-making processes. Authoritative tendencies must give way to democratic values.
The essence of the human relations philosophy is to cultivate and develop an environment where the employees as individuals and in groups would wish to contribute their best to the organisational goals.
This environment is cultivated and developed where there is an awareness of the needs, aspirations, feelings and emotions of the employees on the part of management.
Assumptions of Human Relations Approach:
The assumptions to improve and promote successful human relations practice by the management are as under:
1. Good human relations practice is the product of the manager using experience, intuition and interdisciplinary generalizations to guide him in the action he takes.
2. Employee participation is often essential to achieve higher productivity and greater human satisfaction.
3. The role assumption stems from the variety of demands and individual ”job-oriented role” and the “informal group-oriented role”.
4. Communication is the nervous system of the organisation. Anything which impairs the functioning of the communication system will limit organisational effectiveness in terms of the accomplishment of business objectives.
5. Teamwork is an indispensable element of management practice for organisational survival. Teamwork is a matter of mutual agreement on goals.
6. Man is diversely motivated; he has a hierarchy of needs which are quite changeable.
7. The organisation is a social system. Viewing the work situations as a network of variable and inter-related elements is a major feature of human relations practice.