The human relations movement has been one of the most influential and controversial programs in management thought. Indeed, there is considerable disagreement over the exact nature of the contribution. Some scholars have pointed out that human relations scholars noted the importance of social factors in motivation. Yet, a wide range of scholars have challenged this finding—noting correctly that social factors had been discovered prior to the human relations movement and that other studies (such as the Rowntree studies) stressed financial, rather than social factors. However, our contention is that what made human relations so notable was that the rejection of homo economicus, becoming the true contribution of human relations. This made it possible to study human behavior as financial incentives that are bounded by social factors—which allowed for a richer and deeper understanding of organizational behavior.
