Question

The industrial revolution unleashed the full power of humanity mentally and physically, yet it also seems to frighten our sense of purpose in life. Handmade products were once a source of great pride in craftsmanship, and the trades or guilds were a powerful source of fellowship and community, whereas now work is about abstractions of efficiency and profits, with a very anti-social sterility. There is another change: work used to be primarily something that drained the body, but modern work drains the mind as well as the body. Discuss the efforts of early management practitioners and theorists that led to this modern world of extremes, and mention any steps (if any) taken to keep the workplace humane and dignified.

Answer 1

Change is always inevitable. This is the same that happened with Industries too. Today we are in the era of Industrial Revolution 4.0. With the advent of any revolution, the human participation changed from mechanical to analytical. This is the beauty which describes how human generation started using more of brains and became technically advanced.

We have had 4 industrial revolutions till date.

IR1 - The starting of mechanisation

IR2 - Use of Assembly lines, mass production

IR3 - The entry of computers and automation in industry

IR4 - IOT, Deep Learning

This offcourse was due to the ideas of great practioners and theorists who paved the way to advancement till date. Keeping the workplace humane and dignified has always been the main focus. Because at end its alll about human relations to keep work going.

Time and again theories have come and enlightened ways of working. Below are the broad classifications of them

Classical Theory

This was about structuring the firm and defining roles and responsibilities of the people in a firm.

Their are several theories by Henry Fayol, Max Weber and FW Taylor in this regards.

Henry Fayol focussed on division of work and scale of commands in the organisation.

F W Taylor focussed on scientific methods to break down work into tasks. He ignored the humane part and focussed more on efficiency.

Max Weber believed in bureaucracy in the organisation. He believed the command can be brought in either by position or charisma of the leader.

Human Relations Theory

While the above theories were mainly mechanical, this brought in more humane touch. As per Elton Mayo, an employee needs to be motivated to acheive a goal and success of organisation. He experimented and showed that people perform better when they are motivated (Study of Hawthrone Plant). This will automatically increase the productivity.

Neo-Human Relations Theory

Then came a more humane approach. More studies were conducted for human nature and behaviour. It was found for the success of organisation people are the key factors and need to be treated well.

As per Maslow's hierarchy, every employee has his/her own motivation level and need to be treated separately.

As per McGregor, there are 2 types of employee, rational economic man - who needs to forced to work and Self motivated man who needs space to develop.

As per Herzberg - both motivators and hygiene factor are important for workers to contribute in the working space. He found even though the employee are motivated, they need a clean space to work.

System Theory

This is mix of the above theories. It says human and non human aspects need to work in tandem for success. Their is an inter relationship between human and structure and hence wide range of choices to be controlled. It also said any organisation is an open sysytem and hence external environment also plays an equal role in the organisation. As per it every indivdual organisation has to be treated as per its size, technology it uses and the environment it operates in.

Studies still continue in this field. Offcourse there are labour laws in this regard to protect the interest of employee. Some of them are

1. Child Labour
2. Minimum Wages
3. Working Hours
4. Dismissal
5. Trade Union

There are various legal bodies too to protect employees and make the workplace more dignified.