18 | COSERE 2.3.3. George Elton Mayo – Human relations. Mayo is considered the founder of the human relations (HR) movement. Mayo’s experiments initially focused on altering physical conditions such as lighting, heating, and rest breaks to gauge their impact on employee motivation. Contrary to his predictions, Mayo discovered that physical factors had limited influence on motivation and productivity. Instead, he found that social factors, such as positive relationships and clear communication between managers and employees, played a crucial role in boosting motivation and productivity levels. Mayo’s theories identify a “norm” through the degree to which a group encourages positive or negative behaviours. This is typically expressed through an employee handbook or workplace policies and can include formal or informal rules. Group cohesiveness is how a group cooperates, defined as a group’s overall camaraderie or level of teamwork. The following are the four combinations of a group’s norm about its cohesiveness: Low norm and low cohesiveness: This group is ineffective and has a minimal impact since none of the members are motivated to excel. Low norm and high cohesiveness: This group has a negative impact since fellow members encourage negative behaviour. In a typical workplace, an example would be a group that gossips together and actively fights against management — a group with high comradery and low structure. High norm and low cohesiveness: This group has a small degree of positive impact through individual member accomplishments. Each employee must maintain a high standard of work but does not cooperate as part of a team. High norms and high cohesiveness: This group has the greatest positive impact, is held to a high standard and works together to achieve its goals.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzYwNDE=