It is universally acknowledged that every company has its own hierarchical structure where the company is split into departments and divisions headed by managers. Hence comes, each company works out its own strategy of the subordinate relationships. Therefore, people can be divided between the leaders and the followers and effective cooperation will surely depend on the personal capacity of the works to govern. For instance, Amanda L. Erickson (2006) singles out for main qualities that a real leader must possess. She believes that a leader “must be honest, forward-looking, competent, and inspiring” (p. 62). So, leadership theory is a very important field for researchers and needs to be thoroughly examined. Nowadays, there are many theories that study the abilities of leaders and the quality of decisions they made. Since the sphere of human relations is the most complicated one, let us discuss it in more detail.
An enormous contribution to the development of the human resource approach was made by Hawthorne experiments where the interrelation between the working environment and the productivity of workers was examined. While changing the working conditions, the experiment defined either positive or negative impacts on the workers. However, the fact is that whatever component was changed the result was always positive (Lumpe, M.-Ph. 2008). The reason for that is simple: all the changes are reflected in the increased need for social communication. We could consider communication as an inherent component for an effective organization of work. Thus, regarding leadership from that point of view, its effectiveness directly depends on the consistent social organization.
The human relation approach in leadership must be also regarded from the point of human needs. It should be admitted that a worker carrying out his obligations expects not only material rewarding but also moral satisfaction. Consequently, the human relation approach considers the necessity for the “informal organization” (Mullins, L.J. 2007 p. 837). In other words, the company structure should be organized with the inclusion of all the social aspects.
It goes without saying, that the human factor is the basic principle in sorting out the actual leader to promote the company further and, thus, it is closely connected with personal inborn and acquired qualities. William Kumuyi (2007) in the article “Axioms of Effective Leadership” presents several core principles the leader should be governed by. First of all, he describes the importance to apply such feelings as love into management. At first sight, it is rather an absurd idea since many workers are used to identifying the leader with a rational person without emotions but constructive ideas. However, one may agree that a leader’s work is mostly considered with human cooperation, he/she must “love” all the people he/she governs. Kumnuyi’s idea is rather wise and in this respect, he associates love with respect and trust which are the major constituents of human relations.
Studying the leadership theory from the angle of human relations, it is reasonable to research such an interesting aspect as gender differences and how it influences the relationships within the company. Currently, there observes a rapid rise of women taking managerial positions due to the constant introduction of equality of male and female rights. In the article “Gender differences in leadership: current social issues and future organizational implications” (Stelter, Z. N. 2002 p. 88) the author explores the share of women in executive roles and makes a conclusion that the highest percentage is observed in Australia counting 43%. However, there is a much smaller share of women that engage in senior managerial positions which is 3% on average, and 10% in the USA. The lowest share is fixed in Japan. Such unequal disposition is mostly explained by the difference in culture. In the USA women have the image of business ladies and in Japan, women are more restricted in rights than men. Nonetheless, Stelter (2002) insists on the fact that gender equity is an inherent component of business ethics. The gender difference could serve as the basis of the research of the emotional working environment due to the differences of male and female psychology.
Nevertheless, this approach in the leadership theory has some disadvantages which are to be considered. Since this approach has a direct connection with psychology, an organization utilizing this approach could be fully assured with an effective organizational structure. In other words, such type of organization implies an unpredictable behavior of people in difficult situations. So, the employer must be aware of all aspects of human behavior and be able to define the psychological portrait of an employee.
It brings us to the conclusion that leadership theories study has deposited greatly to the development and the improvement of company organizational structure. In particular, the human relations approach application is of paramount importance for the reason that social factors are presented in all the companies and, therefore, it is impossible to avoid them. Moreover, applying the human relation approach to the leadership theory promotes the study of those qualities of a leader that directly affect the company’s management.
Reference List
Erickson, A. L. (2006). Ethical Leadership and the Public Trust: The Winner of the 2006 ASPA Wallace O. Keene Conference Scholarship Shares Her Thoughts on Four Important Characteristics of Leaders Honesty, Foresight, Competence, and the Ability to Inspire. The Public Manager, 35(1), 62+.
Kumuyi, W. F. (2007). Axioms of Effective Leadership (Part 1). Having a Leader in Charge Doesn’t Guarantee Progress and Profit Unless the Leader Has What It Takes for His Leadership to Function Effectively. of All the Attributes of Effective Leaders, Love Appears to Me the Most Critical. New African 22+.
Lumpe, M.-Ph. (2008). Leadership and Organization in the Aviation Industry. Burlington: Ashgate Publishing.
Mullins, L. J. (2007). Management and Organizational Behavior. Australia: Pearson Education.
Stelter, N. Z. (2002). Gender Differences in Leadership: Current Social Issues and Future Organizational Implications. Journal of Leadership Studies, 8(4), 88+