Chapter 3: Human Relations Approach and Human Resources Theory

Pgs. 78 – 90

These two approaches to organizational communication seem to be a natural progression of human development, wherein we are moving away from our hierarchical past to a more consultative relationship that allows for people to dialogue and participate in what they are producing. Whereas, in the past people were simply told what to produce and how, employees are now invested in their work by virtue of having been asked to provide insight on how to best carry out a given task. I find it interesting that even when attempting to change from a top down approach by developing the human relations approach, the approach is viewed ad too drastic and a correction is made via the development of the human resources approach. I tend to agree with the text and I feel that the human resources approach served as a refinement of the the human relations approach. I view human relations as too focused on relationships within the organization and when that happens the people within the organization become the central focus and consequently the organizational mission becomes secondary. Ideally a golden mean should be found where a good balance exists “…between individual needs for creativity and organizational structure.”