Public Administration Optional (Significance and Contribution of Behavioural Thinkers) by Abhishiekh Saxena

Model Answer

Question #1. The Hawthorne studies were a turning point in the study of management. Analyze.    

Approach:

• Use Elton Mayo’s work.
• Highlight importance of the studies.
• How they marked a shift in terms of significance of human behavior in an organization.

Followers of the behavioural school view the important and focal point of managerial action to be the behaviour of the human being. What is achieved, how it is achieved, and why it is achieved are viewed in relation to their impact and influence on people, who are really the important component of management. Followers of this school say, “Management does not do; it gets others to do.” Voluminous writings from this school show the need for the manager to use the best human relations practices. Among the more emphasized topics are human relations, motivation, leadership, training, and communication.

The individual is viewed as a socio-psychological being, and the tasks facing the manager range from understanding and securing the best efforts from an employee by satisfying psychological needs, to comprehending the whole gamut of psychological behaviour of groups as representing the totality of management.

Elton May Said:

• Man is basically motivated by social needs and obtains his basic sense of identity through relationships with others.
• As a result of the industrial revolution and the rationalization of work, meaning has gone out of work itself and must, therefore, be sought in the social relationships on the job.
• Man is more responsive to the social forces of the peer group than to the incentives and controls of management.
• Man is responsive to management to the extent that a supervisor can meet a subordinate’s social needs and needs for acceptance.

The Hawthorne studies were a turning point in the study of management. As the research became more widely known, managers and management experts began to recognize that human behaviour at work is a complex and powerful force. The human relations movement, inspired by this realization, emphasized that workers were not just given in the system, but had needs and desires that the organization and task had to accommodate.

Question #2. Argyris’ personality model is regarded as a major contribution to the behavioural school of thought. Discuss.

Approach:

• Give basics about Argyris and his focus on behavior and humans.
• Elaborate on the “personality model”

Argyris feels that personality of the individuals working in an organisation has a considerable impact on the working of the organisation as a whole. He holds that greater importance should be given to the development of psychological energy, which essentially forms the basis of human behaviour. Each individual has a set of needs, and these needs release energy in order to get satisfaction. The deeper the need, the greater will be the amount of energy. An individual is likely to put all his energies into meeting a challenge in case he feels assured of the potential satisfaction that he would probably obtain once the challenge is successfully met. According to him effective management systems must aim at a fuller development of individual potentialities and facilitating open interpersonal relationship. Only through the enhancement of psychological energy by the individuals and through a better coordination among different functionaries in an organisation can a more effective organisational performance be achieved.

Argyris’ personality model is regarded as a major contribution to the behavioural school of thought. According to him, the organisation should provide an environment in which an individual is able to develop his personality from a state of infancy to a state of personal or psychological maturity. Argyris contends that this progression from infancy towards maturity consists of seven developments:

1. From infant passivity towards adult activity.
2. From dependence towards relative independence.
3. From limited behaviours to many different behaviours.
4. From erratic, shallow and brief interests to more stable and deeper interests.
5. From short-time perspective to longer-time perspective.
6. From a subordinate social position to an equal or super-ordinate social position.
7. From lack of self-awareness to self-awareness and self-control.

Like a child who is dependent and unaware of how his demands affect others, an immature individual person’s activities are largely controlled by others. A mature person is active, independent and is self-controlled. According to Argyris personal or psychological maturity is achieved when the individual has acquired the ability to foresee consequences, to pursue interests consistently, and to own responsibilities equal to superior or what others accept. With such development, the individual having potential will put all his energies into meeting the organisational challenges. Effective management must aim at the development of individual towards personal or psychological maturity.