Elton Mayo Explanation Elton Mayo, an American Sociologist is the founder of the Human Relations Theory. The Human Relations theory of organization came in to existence in 1930s as a reaction to the classical approach to organizational analysis. This is because the classical theorists neglected the human factor in the organization. The Classical theorists took a mechanical view of organization and underemphasized the sociopsychological aspects of individual’s behavior in organization. It is this critical failure of the classical theory that gave birth to the human relations approach. Human relations theory is also known by various names like Humanistic Theory, Neoclassical Theory, etc.