Broadly speaking, the two major strands in modern management are recognized to be scientific management, based on the logic of economic man and efficiency, and human relations, based on that of the social individual and sentiment. The human relations movement, as an academic discipline, grew out of scientific management in the 1930s especially via the contribution of Follett. Both sides aimed at achieving high productivity, but scientific management sought to adapt worker to task whereas human relations veered towards adjusting task to worker. Since its academic accreditation, the human relations movement has developed through various schools: mainly group dynamics and industrial relations, to organizational humanism, through to individualism and systemic interdependence. The evolving trend is towards the growth of mutually accountable, self-managing teams (against hierarchical relationships) working in the flexible organization which sees itself an integral part of the overall ecosystem.

Pauline Graham