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    The Hawthorne Effect

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    Rishab Mehra
    The Hawthorne effect refers to changes in worker behavior or productivity resulting from being studied rather than changes to their work environment. Experiments in the 1920s-1930s at Western Electric's Hawthorne Works found that worker productivity increased regardless of changes made, likely due to the attention from researchers rather than the changes themselves. The Hawthorne studies helped shift focus to human behavior and relations in organizations.

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    The Hawthorne Effect

    Uploaded by

    Rishab Mehra
    392 views23 pages
    The Hawthorne effect refers to changes in worker behavior or productivity resulting from being studied rather than changes to their work environment. Experiments in the 1920s-1930s at Western Electric's Hawthorne Works found that worker productivity increased regardless of changes made, likely due to the attention from researchers rather than the changes themselves. The Hawthorne studies helped shift focus to human behavior and relations in organizations.

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    The Hawthorne effect refers to changes in worker behavior or productivity resulting from being studied rather than changes to their work environment. Experiments in the 1920s-1930s at Western Electric's Hawthorne Works found that worker productivity increased regardless of changes made, likely due to the attention from researchers rather than the changes themselves. The Hawthorne studies helped shift focus to human behavior and relations in organizations.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    392 views23 pages

    The Hawthorne Effect

    Uploaded by

    Rishab Mehra
    The Hawthorne effect refers to changes in worker behavior or productivity resulting from being studied rather than changes to their work environment. Experiments in the 1920s-1930s at Western Electric's Hawthorne Works found that worker productivity increased regardless of changes made, likely due to the attention from researchers rather than the changes themselves. The Hawthorne studies helped shift focus to human behavior and relations in organizations.

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    WHAT IS THE HAWTHORNE EFFECT?

    The Hawthorne effect (also referred


    to as the observer effect) refers to a
    phenomenon whereby workers
    improve or modify an aspect of their
    behavior in response to a change in
    environment.

    The "Hawthorne effect" study
    suggested that the novelty of having
    research conducted and the increased
    attention from such could lead to
    temporary increases in productivity.

    WHY WAS THE EXPERIMENT CONDUCTED?
    It was conducted to bring about motivational
    influences, job satisfaction, resistance to change, and
    effective leadership skills among the workers.
    Due to the Great Depression, in the early 1900s to
    inspire company loyalty, discourage high employee
    turnover and unionization, and present a good face
    to the public, corporate managers began to focus on
    the well-being of the employee through the practice
    of welfare capitalism.
    CASE STUDY
    Professors from Harvard Business School conducted
    the Hawthorne experiments (the illumination room
    test, etc) at the manufacturing unit of AT&T namely-
    Western Electric.
    THE MASTER BRAINS BEHIND IT
    Elton Mayo
    White Head
    William Dickson
    Fritz Roethlisberger


    Elton Mayo
    The term HAWTHORNE EFFECT
    was coined in 1950 by Henry A.
    Landsberger when analysing earlier
    experiments from 19241932 at
    the Hawthorne Works (a Western
    Electric factory outside Chicago)
    The Hawthorne plant of GENERAL
    ELECTRIC Co., Chicago, was manufacturing
    telephone system bells. It employed about
    30,000 employees at the time of the
    experiment.
    In respect of material benefit workers this
    was the most progressive company with
    pension and sickness benefits and other
    recreational facilities, there was a great
    deal of dissatisfaction among the workers
    and productivity was not up to the mark.
    Illumination experiment (nov.1924)
    Relay assembly test room experiment
    (1927-1932)
    Interviewing program (1928-1930)
    Bank wiring room observation experiment
    (1931-1932)

    Harvard Business School, Western Electric undertook a
    series of behavioral experiments. The first, a sequence
    of illumination tests from 1924 to 1927, set out to
    determine the effects of lighting on worker efficiency
    in three separate manufacturing departments. Accounts
    of the study revealed no significant correlation between
    productivity and light levels. The results prompted
    researchers to investigate other factors affecting worker
    output
    Funded by G.E.
    Conducted by The National Research Council of the
    National Academy of Sciences with engineers from
    MIT
    Purpose: To study the effect of various lighting
    conditions on the workers productivity
    Conclusion: Accounts of the study revealed no
    significant correlation between productivity and light
    levels.
    In a separate test room, an operator prepared parts for
    five women to assemble. The women dropped the
    completed relays into a chute where a recording device
    punched a hole in a continuously moving paper tape.
    The number of holes revealed the production rate for
    each worker. Researchers were unsure if productivity
    increased in this experiment because of the introduction
    of rest periods, shorter working hours, wage incentives,
    the dynamics of a smaller group, or the special
    attention the women received.
    Conducted by Elton Mayo
    Manipulated factors of production to measure effect on
    output (pay incentives, length of work, day and work
    week, use of rest periods, company sponsored meals)
    Giving two 5-minute breaks (after a discussion with them
    on the best length of time), and then changing to two 10-
    minute breaks (not their preference). Productivity
    increased, but when they received six 5-minute rests,
    they disliked it and reduced output.




    Providing food during the breaks
    Shortening the day by 30 minutes (output went up);
    shortening it more (output per hour went up, but overall
    output decreased); returning to the first condition (where
    output peaked).
    Conclusion: Workers output increased as a response to
    attention, recognition, and sense of belonging.

    Conducted 21,000 interviews
    Objective: To explore information which could be used
    to improve supervisory training
    Conclusion: Merely giving an opportunity to talk and
    express grievances would increase the morale.
    Conducted by Elton Mayo and W. Lloyd Warner
    Purpose: To find out how payment incentives would
    affect productivity.
    Conclusion: Productivity actually decreased. Workers
    apparently had become suspicious that their
    productivity may have been boosted to justify firing
    some of the workers later on.
    CRITICAL ANALYSIS
    Adair warns of gross factual inaccuracy in most
    secondary publications on Hawthorne effect and that
    many studies failed to find it. He argues that it should be
    viewed as a variant of Ornes (1973)
    experimental demand effect. So for Adair, the issue is that
    an experimental effect depends on the participants'
    interpretation of the situation; this is why manipulation
    checks are important in social sciences experiments. So
    he thinks it is not awareness per se, nor special attention
    per se, but participants' interpretation that must be
    investigated in order to discover if/how the experimental
    conditions interact with the participants' goals. This can
    affect whether participants believe something, if they act
    on it or do not see it as in their interest, etc.


    Possible explanations for the Hawthorne effect
    include the impact of feedback and motivation
    towards the experimenter. Receiving feedback on
    their performance may improve their skills when an
    experiment provides this feedback for the first time.

    Research on the demand effect also suggests that
    people may be motivated to please the experimenter,
    at least if it does not conflict with any other
    motive. They may also be suspicious of the purpose
    of the experimenter. Therefore, Hawthorne effect may
    only occur when there is usable feedback or a
    change in motivation.


    Parsons defines the Hawthorne effect as "the
    confounding that occurs if experimenters fail to
    realize how the consequences of subjects'
    performance affect what subjects do" [i.e.
    learning effects, both permanent skill
    improvement and feedback-enabled
    adjustments to suit current goals]. His key
    argument is that in the studies where workers
    dropped their finished goods down chutes, the
    participants had access to the counters of their
    work rate.

    Hawthorne studies had a remarkable impact on
    management in organisations and how workers react
    to various situations.
    Stimulated interest on human behaviour in
    organisations.
    A lot of literature came out analysing the human
    behaviour in organisations
    In spite of the shortcomings of the experiments, it
    initiated a new approach to management (human
    relations approach)
    en.wikipedia.org
    Organisation behaviour by Fred Luthans
    Organisation behaviour by Pearson
    Harvard Business School website

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