Approach
The Human Element Methodology
®
Provides a comprehensive approach for Organizational Transformation for business leaders and practitioners.
In the words of its creator Will Schutz, PhD, The Human Element approach is the “full realization of FIRO Theory.” It is applied in organizations through The Human Element Program — training that creates an open atmosphere in which people can solve problems — in conjunction with consulting and coaching all based on the principles and concepts from the approach.
Starts with the individual, increasing personal awareness
Builds skills for working together and team capacity
Consulting/
training/coaching creates lasting organizational transformation
The key principles of The Human Element, when applied, change many of our common beliefs about teamwork, leadership accountability, decision making, performance appraisal, change, truth, empowerment, ethics, stress, and self-esteem. These new assumptions can have a profound effect on our work, our relationships, and our lives.
Principles of
The Human Element
Self-Awareness
Awareness creates clarity. The higher our level of self-awareness and self-esteem, the more our behavior becomes rational and less defensive. When we are aware, we work better with others.
Openness
Openness is the grand simplifier. Openness is the fastest way to solve problems, period. It facilitates teamwork, decision-making, and helps us to be more effective and efficient.
Self Determination
Choice creates accountability. The choices we make — what we do and don’t do, what we are aware of and what we’re not — create our outcomes. Each one of us is 100% responsible for the situation we are in.
Aliveness
Aliveness creates engagement. When people use themselves fully, they are productive, creative, and joyful. The organization becomes a fabulous and incredibly productive place to work.
FIRO
®
Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation
is a comprehensive and widely-used theory of interpersonal relations created by Will Schutz, Ph.D. Introduced in 1958 in the book FIRO: A Three-Dimensional Theory of Interpersonal Behavior. Schutz originally devised the theory to measure and predict the interaction between people for the purpose of assembling highly productive teams. In the early 1980s when he was creating The Human Element, Schutz updated and expanded the theory and created the current FIRO instruments, called the Elements of Awareness. Over the years, FIRO Instruments have been heavily researched and have proven to be:
Simple
Easy to use in helping individuals, teams, and organizations; easy to incorporate into training, consulting, and coaching.
Powerful
For understanding human behavior and motivation in a wide variety of situations.
Comprehensive
The three basic dimensions—inclusion, control, and openness—describe the dynamics of individuals, pairs, teams & organizations, eliminating the need for multiple models.
FIRO instruments describe three levels of human interaction:
Individual
Understand Personal Motivation
and Behavior
Element B: Behavior (originally FIRO-B)
Element F: Feelings (originally FIRO-F)
Element S: Self-Concept
Relational
Resolve Problems and Improve Working Relationships
Element W: Work Relations
Element T: Openness (Truth)
Organizational
Identify and Resolve Organizational Issues
Element O: Organizational Climate
FIRO Elements of Awareness
An integrated series of instruments designed to measure various aspects of human functioning and human relationships.
The Elements of Awareness are a series of psychometric instruments based on FIRO Theory. Each Element measures one aspect of a person or relationship. Together, these instruments comprise the backbone of the Human Element approach.
The original FIRO instrument, FIRO-B was created for research purposes. Later, during the development of The Human Element, Will Schutz revised and expanded FIRO Theory and created the successor instrument, called Element B: Behavior. He also developed Element F: Feelings and Element S: Self-Concept based on the updated theory as well as a number of other FIRO-based instruments, all designed for training purposes.
The purpose of all of the Elements of Awareness is to provide information for expanding self-awareness. Increased self-awareness improves understanding of why people behave in the way that they do, how they interact, and the relation between behavior and consequences in the work environment.
The Elements are integrated into our Human Element programs and combined with a variety of experiential methods to form a transformational learning experience that leads to profound improvements in individual, team, and organizational performance and business results.
The C-P Effect
How it all began
In 1952 Will Schutz, Ph.D. was recalled into the United States Navy and given the task of learning how people work most productively together and function cooperatively at the highest level of efficiency. His research led to the creation of FIRO theory and FIRO-B® (now Element B), a psychometric instrument that predicts the behavior of people on teams.
Before the research
Each team member was chosen for technical competence, 50% of the teams were judged “productive”
After the research
Each team member was chosen for technical competence. Behaviorally compatible teams were assembled using scores from the instrument
75% of the teams were judged “productive”
The C-P Effect
This illustrates his finding, The C-P Effect. Compatibility — the ability to work well together — is directly related to productivity. The more people on a team have similar preferences for the way they act with one another, the more effective the team becomes. In addition, under pressure, compatible teams perform better than they do without pressure, while incompatible teams become less effective.
Schutz, however, was not satisfied.
Why, he wondered, was it only 75%? What explained the other 25%?
Two decades of exploration
To answer this question, he spent nearly two decades exploring emotions, the functioning of the body, the mind, and the use of experiential methods to understand and change behavior. He finally concluded that the reason teams still got stuck, even when they are compatible, is not because people are different, but rather because one or more people become rigid in their behavior.
Helping people work well together
In 1980, he began to create an integrated series of modules based on FIRO theory that were designed to address the human issues in organizations. His intent was to combine his scientific work—FIRO theory and the instruments—with the experiential material he had learned into a practical, effective approach for helping people work well together.
Elements of Awareness | The Human Element is born
By this time, his assessment had become one of the most widely used instruments in training and had developed a devoted following. He was pleased but slightly dismayed that his research tool was being used for training purposes. Since he too wanted to use the instrument for training, he revised the instrument, creating the next generation of it, called Element B. At the same time he expanded and improved FIRO theory and created additional FIRO-based instruments based on the revised theory. These instruments, called the Elements of Awareness, were specifically designed to be used in training and were incorporated into the new modules. These modules became The Human Element.
Will Schutz, PhD
Will Schutz received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1950. During the Korean War in 1952 he was recalled into the U.S. Navy and did research on understanding and predicting how any given group of men would work together. This resulted in his first book, FIRO: A Three-Dimensional Theory of Interpersonal Behavior (1958), which presented the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation (FIRO) theory and several measuring instruments including FIRO-B®, an instrument designed to predict interaction between two people. After the Navy, he taught and did research at several institutions including Harvard, the University of Chicago, and the University of California at Berkeley. While he was successful, he also found that he was straining at the edges of traditional techniques.
In the late 1950s, he came into contact with a psychotherapeutic group for young psychiatrists, designed to help them learn more about themselves before they started helping others. As a member of the group he was admonished to tell the truth, hear feedback from others about how they really felt about him, and open himself to the world of feelings. This was, in his words, “a frightening delight.” By the mid-1960s he started to see an intriguing contrast. At the Albert Einstein Medical School in New York, he watched psychiatrists run psychotherapy groups. At the same time, he began to work with the National Training Laboratories (NTL) at Bethel, Maine, conducting T-groups (“T” for training). He found that the work and the results of the T-group leaders, who were viewed as “unqualified” by the traditional-professional viewpoint, were more creative, deeper, faster, and more effective than what was being done in the heart of the psychiatric establishment.
Inspired, Schutz studied new techniques in human behavior as much as he could, including psychosynthesis, psychodrama, bioenergetics, Rolfing, and gestalt therapy. Common to all were the use of nonverbal methods, especially movement and imagery. He began to incorporate parts of these nontraditional methods into his own group techniques. In 1967 he wrote the best-seller, Joy: Expanding Human Awareness, which summarized the techniques he had learned, as well as others he had devised, and explained how to use them.
In late 1967 he moved to Esalen Institute, a growth center in Big Sur, California, where he was stimulated, excited and motivated to use his creativity. There he offered encounter groups—workshops incorporating the ideas of T-groups with the experiential methods he had learned. In addition, he studied and experienced a variety of approaches—physical, psychological, and spiritual—for developing the full potential of each person and each interaction between people. While at Esalen, he wrote a number of books including Here Comes Everybody (1971) and Elements of Encounter (1973).
In 1975, he left Esalen and began to integrate his scientific work with the experiential material he had learned. Profound Simplicity (1979), communicated his realization that all the approaches he had studied—encounter groups, imagery, gestalt therapy, psychodrama, bioenergetics, Rolfing, the Feldenkrais method, aikido, and t’ai chi—were all in service of the same thing, realization of full human potential.
In 1980, using his human-potential experience and his work with FIRO theory, he created The Human Element, first tested with organizations such as Kodak, Esso, Ampex, Mattel, and the U.S. Army where the key principles of truth, choice, and awareness crystallized. In the course of creating this body of work, he revised and expanded FIRO theory, creating an integrated set of tools called The Elements of Awareness. These instruments, designed specifically for training, were incorporated into The Human Element. His last two books cover the content of The Human Element: The Truth Option (1984) and The Human Element (1994).
From 1980 until 2001 Schutz, with his wife Ailish, created and led an international network of participants and practitioners—individuals, leaders, trainers, consultants, coaches, and organizational development specialists—devoted to the principles of The Human Element. In 2001 The Human Element was purchased by Business Consultants, Inc. of Japan. The Schutz Company, led by Will’s son, Ethan, is the representative of The Human Element in the United States and Canada.