Mgt 521 - Behavioral Viewpoint

Behavioral Viewpoint

Pauline Aoki

MGT/521

May 13, 2016

Professor James Parkins

Behavioral Viewpoint

        In the world of management there are six viewpoints of management. They are; classical, behavioral, systems, contingency, quantitative and quality-management. Of these six, the behavioral viewpoint seems to be the most interesting one.  When motivation or incentives are given to employees, they are more productive. When not given motivation or incentives, employees are less productive. “The behavioral perspective is much more concerned with employees’ well-being and encourages management approaches that consider the employee as a motivated worker who wants to work and wants to produce quality work (para. 11),” as stated in Boundless (2015).

        This viewpoint came to light when management wanted a way to connect employees’ behaviors with motivations. At first, this viewpoint was developed as the classical viewpoint which has led to employee satisfaction and exceptional working conditions. Which was then looked at, re-evaluated and turned into the behavioral viewpoint. It was changed because theorist had a better understanding of hos if employees were treated nicely, managers got better results as far as work output thus receiving the better results they wanted as managers.

Theorists and the Behavioral Management

        Hugo Munsterberg, Mary Parker Follet, and Elton Mayo are the three main theorists who developed and contributed to the behavioral management theory (Kinicki & Williams, 2015, pg. 48).  Elton Mayo developed the Hawthorne Effect with the idea that increased productivity comes from employees who were given special attention. He tested this theory while he worked at the Western Electric’s Hawthorne plant in Chicago. His experiments consisted of soothing lights, hefty salaries, giving breaks when necessary and reasonable work hours (Kinicki & Williams, 2015, pg. 50). With all these favorable effects in place, productivity rose at the plant. Because this experiment was such a success it was named The Hawthorne Effect.