Literature Review

Essay by sinnammonUniversity, Master'sA-, March 2007

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Gillespie, Richard. 1992. Manufacturing Knowledge: A History of the Hawthorne Experiments.

The author researches the history of Elton Mayo's Hawthorne Experiment. Gillespie presents a good example of the lessons drawn from the experiment and supports the experiment as an objective scientific method. Although he is supportive of the human relations concept of encouraging employee involvement in the workplace, he also feels that a certain amount of control and order is required by management.

Sarachek, Bernard. (1968) "Elton Mayo's Social Psychology and Human Relations." Academy of Management Journal.

The author focuses on Mayo's two assumptions: people are inclined to form social alliances in order to perform productively with one another and that changes in one's working environment can improve ones mind and their relationships with other. It focuses on the limitations of Mayo's assumptions which are thought to be limited in thoroughly exploring human behavior in different aspects of society.

O' Connor, Ellen S. (1999) "The Politics of Management Thought: A Case Study of the Harvard Business School and the Human Relations School." Academy of Management Review.

This article focuses on how the development of Human Relations School at the Harvard Business School under Elton Mayo (and Wallace Donham). It discusses how Mayo used politics and social sciences to shape the history of current management by providing business leaders with solutions to management-labor conflicts without affecting managerial control. He addressed numerous issues that affected management during World War I by applying his knowledge of politics, sociology and industry.

Mele, Domenec. (2003) "The Challenge of Humanistic Management." Journal of Business Ethics.

The author focuses on the concept of "humanism" and how it relates to management. The humanistic approach which was introduced by Mayo and also further explored by Follett is compared to other management theorists who focused more on scientific...