The fading of humanism in organizations

Abstract

The present research seeks to evaluate the validity of the precepts of humanistic theory in companies, or whether, on the contrary, this theory has lost ground against companies' efforts to reduce costs and maximize profits, following the teachings of scientific management regarding task simplification and process automation. The article is a literature review of recent authors and some classic original texts, maintaining the following structure. First, a brief description of the nature of organizations and the link formed with scientific management is provided. In a second part, the emergence of humanism and theories of individual motivation in organizations are analyzed. The third part describes the points of coincidence between humanism and scientific management that allow us to consider that they are not such opposing models, at least concerning what is established by classical humanism. Subsequently, some questions are raised about the humanistic model to conclude with an analysis that allows us to assert that humanism has faded within organizations. From the perspective of sustainable theories, humanism is not advisable if we start from the premise that human needs are limitless, as they would harm the environment. For new theories, humans cannot be above natural resources, as it would be a kind of suicide. The rights of individuals must be limited to respect the rights of the place where we live.