Behavioral Viewpoint

Behavioral Viewpoint

Lenora Walker

Management 521

11-13-2015

Ron Baker

Behavioral viewpoint

There are three management perspectives under the behavioral viewpoint: Early behaviorism, Human relations and Behavioral science approach. You have to understand human behavior and what motivates employees to make them want to achieve in what they are doing. A person can do this in three phase’s early behaviorism, human relations movement and behavioral science.

Hugo Munsterberg, Mary parker Follett, and Elton Mayo pioneered in the behavioral theory. Hugo was called “the father of industrial psychology”. With him having a degree in psychology and a medical degree he suggested that psychologist could contribute to industry in three ways.

1. Study jobs and determine which people are best suited to specific jobs.
2. Identify the psychological conditions under which employees do their best work
3. Devise management strategies to in influence employees to follow management’s interest. (p. 49)

With his ideas it led to industrial psychology which is the study of human behavior in their work places and they are still being taught. Mary Follett was praised as one of the most important women in the field of civics and sociology. Some of her ideas were for organizations to operate as communities, when there is a conflict they should have managers and workers talk out their differences and to find a solution where both parties are comfortable and the work should be processed under the control of the workers with the knowledge rather than managers acting like facilitators. (p. 49)

Elton Mayo investigated whether workplace lighting affected worker productivity which is called Hawthorne Effect. He felt that workers would worker harder if they received more attention and cared about their welfare along with supervisors paid more attention to them. They found flaws in his studies such as variations in ventilation and the lighting was inadequate. It did not show that the workers productivity increased. But it still increases attention to the importance of social beings. Managers used good human relation to help their productivity to increase.