Marathwada Institute of Technology, Bulandshahr (U.P.

DEPARTMENT OF MASTER OF COMPUTER APPLICATIONS

SUBJECT NOTES

KCA103 : Principles of Management & Communication

UNIT –I

Management: Need, Scope, Meaning and Definition. The process of Management, Development of
Management thought F.W. Taylor and Henry Fayol, Horothorne Studies, Qualities of an Efficient
Management.
MCA-I/KCA 103/PMC/U-1/N-4/Prof. Avnish Kumar Sharma

Hawthorne Studies
Background

During the early part of the century, American businesses were swept by Scientific Management,
a school of thought largely developed by Frederick Taylor. He pioneered the use of time and
motion studies, in which management would carefully break down tasks into simple chunks, then
work out the best way for a worker to execute the chunks (all the way down to how long a step to
take, how often to break, how much water to drink, etc.). The worker then executed their jobs
exactly as they were told, like automatons.

As part of the Scientific Management regime, companies routinely studied the effects of the
physical environment on their workers. For example, they varied the lighting to find the optimum
level of light for maximum productivity. They piped in music, varied the temperature, tried
different compensation schemes, adjusted the number of working hours in a day, etc.

The Hawthorne studies were conducted on workers at the Hawthorne plant of the Western
Electric Company by Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger in the 1920s. The Hawthorne
studies were part of a refocus on managerial strategy incorporating the socio-psychological
aspects of human behavior in organizations

The Hawthorne experiments can be divided into 5 major parts.

 Experiments on Illumination.

1|Page
 Relay Assembly Experiment.
 Mass Interviewing Programme.
 Bank Wiring Observation Room.
 Personnel Counseling.
The conclusions drawn by Mayo from the Hawthorne studies established the beginnings of the
importance of management style as a major contributor to industrial productivity, of
interpersonal skills as being as important as monetary incentives or target-setting, and of a more
humanistic approach as a means of satisfying .
The original purpose of the Hawthorne studies was to examine how different aspects of the
work environment, such as lighting, the timing of breaks, and the length of the workday, had on
worker productivity.
The entire experiment was conducted in four phases:

 Illumination Experiments (1924-1927) ...

The Hawthorne effect established that the productivity of employees increased dramatically
when they felt they were being heard. In fact, this is a great lesson for today's leadership, who
need to give a patient hearing to their team members.
Elton Mayo (1880-1949) is recommended as the Father of Human Relations School. He
introduced human relations approach to management thought. His contribution to the
development of management thought is unique and is also treated as human relations approach to
management. It was Mayo who led the team for conducting the study at Western Electric's
Hawthorne Plant (1927-1932) to evaluate the attributes and psychological reactions of workers in
on-the-job situations. His associates included John Dewery, Kurt Lewin and others. Mayo and
his associates came to the following conclusions from their famous Hawthorne experiments:
1. The amount of work to be done by a worker is not determined by his physical capacity but by
the social norms.
2. Non-economic rewards play a significant role in influencing the behavior of the workers.
3. Generally the workers de not reacts as individuals, but as members of group.
4. Informal leaders play an important part in setting and enforcing the group norms.

2|Page
Mayo discussed the factors that cause a change in human behavior. He concluded that the cause
of increase in the productivity of the workers is not a single factor like rest pauses or changing
working hours but a combination thease and several other factors such as less restrictive
supervision, giving autonomy to workers, allowing the formation of small cohesive groups of
workers and so on. Today, as a result of the efforts of Mayo and his associates, the managers in
different organisations recognize that workers' performance is related to psychological,
sociological and physical factors. Thus, Hawthorne Study was an important landmark to study
the behavior of worker and his relationship to the job, his fellow workers and the organisation. It
proved that informal work groups and the opportunity to be heard and participate in decision-
making have an important impact on the productivity of the workers.
Mayo is one leading management thinker and also a leading advocate of neo-classical theory.
The concept of participative management style was suggested in the neo-classical theory. The
human relations approach suggested by Mayo has special importance in the present period. He
rightly suggested the importance of democratic leadership and participative management style
for running business activities efficiently. The role of people (workers) is clearly suggested by
Mayo. He rightly suggested that management is not a mechanical process but a study of people
involved in the production activities. Management will get positive response from its employees
when their actions, sentiments and expectations are given due attention.
Mayo is best known for his work on the project commonly referred to as the Hawthorne Studies.
They were conducted in the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric Company in the USA between
1927 and 1932. It is said that Mayo applied psychological approach to management for the first
time. He used clinical and diagnostic methods. Mayo has drawn various conclusions from these
studies. The Hawthorne Studies have had a shattering impact on management thinking. Mayo is
regarded as revolutionary thinker because of his contribution to the management thought in the
recent period. The credit of humanization of management with a view to achieve common
interest of management and workers goes to Elton Mayo.
Some of the major findings of Hawthorne Studies we as noted below:
1. Employee's behavior is influenced by mental attitudes and emotions including prejudices.
2. The workers in a group develop a common psychological bond uniting them as a group in the
form of informal organisation.
3. In managing and motivating employee groups, human and social motivation plays greater role
then financial incentives.
4. Management must understand that a typical group behavior can dominate or even supersede
individual propensities and preferences.
5. When workers are given special attention by management, the productivity is likely to
increase irrespective of actual changes in the working conditions.

Hawthorne Studies are primarily responsible for consideration of non financial incentives in
improving productivity. Mayo pointed out that the organization is a social system and informal
organisation is a reality. The knowledge of human nature can solve many problems of

3|Page
management. He emphasized that successful human relations approach can easily create
harmony in an organisation, higher employee satisfaction and great operational efficiency.
Central to this approach was an increased understanding of the individual worker with emphasis
on motivation, needs, interpersonal relationships and group dynamics Mayo believed that a
factory is not only a workplace but also a social environment in which the employees interact
with each other. This gave rise to the concept of the 'social man' whose interaction with others
would determine the quality and quantity of the work produced.
Mayo developed his Human Relations Theory of Management on his Hawthorne experiments.
He introduced human relations approach to management and is rightly considered as one of the
pioneers of the Human Relations Theory of Management

The Hawthorne studies were carried out by the Western Electric company at their Hawthorne
plant in the 1920's. Initially, the study focused on lighting.

Two things emerged from the initial studies: (1) the experimenter effect, and (2) a social effect.
The experimenter effect was that making changes was interpreted by workers as a sign that
management cared, and more generally, it was just provided some mental stimulation that was
good for morale and productivity. The social effect was that it seemed that by being separated
from the rest and being given special treatment, the experimentees developed a certain bond and
camaraderie that also increased productivity.

The second phase of the study, the Bank Wiring Room, was designed to study the social effects.

Bank Wiring Room

They called in some anthropologists from Harvard (Mayo, Warner) to help design a study.
Basically they put some workers in a special room, and placed an observer full time in the room
to record everything that happened. The kind of work done was assembling telephone switching
equipment. The process was broken down into three tasks: wiring, soldering and inspection.

The first few days, the workers would not talk openly in front of the observer. It took three
weeks for normal behavior to resume. This included talking, fighting, playing games, binging,
teasing, job trading, helping, etc.

Physical Layout of the Bank Wiring Room:-

4|Page
5|Page
6|Page
Observed Social Relations

7|Page
Observed Social Relations

8|Page
9|Page
Observed Social Relations

10 | P a g e
 Inferred Clique Structure

Besides looking at the social organization of the group, they kept track of performance variables,
like quality of work and amount of work.

Even though they were paid by the amount they did each day, they did not raise outputs. If
somebody tried, he was given a lot of flak by others. They were afraid that if some started
producing more, the company would change the base rate.

The back 3 wiremen worked on selectors rather than connectors, which were easier. This was
lower status. Inspectors were more educated and slightly higher status, but were considered
outsiders and were not allowed to mess with the windows.

11 | P a g e
Job trading revealed status among groups (group1 has more status that group 2: use their
solderman). Clique A worked on connectors only, whiule clique B also had selectors. Clique A
also engaged in games of chance while clique B did binging. They purchased candy separately.
Clique A bought small amounts of expensive candy while Clique B did the opposite.

Functions of the Group’s Internal Organization

1. Protect the group from internal indiscretions

Using sarcasm, binging, ridicule to bring pressure to bear on people who deviate from norms.
They could also arrange their work in such a way as to overwhelm an inspector, and then be
“forced” to do nothing while waiting for him.

They also adjusted their reports of how much was done so as to appear that the output was
uniform. They were afraid of inviting any changes. This was not based on any experience they
had had.

Just as management tries to control worker behavior by adjusting piece rates, hours of work, etc.,
the workers try to adjust management toward goals that are not necessarily economically
rational.

12 | P a g e