What is the significance of the hawthorne studies

The Hawthorne effect refers to a tendency in some individuals to alter their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed. This phenomenon implies that when people become aware that they are subjects in an experiment, the attention they receive from the experimenters may cause them to change their conduct. The company had sought to ascertain whether there was a relationship between productivity and the work environments e.

During the first study, a group of workers who made electrical relays experienced several changes in lighting. Their performance was observed in response to the minutest alterations in illumination. What the original researchers found was that any change in a variable, such as lighting levels, led to an improvement in productivity.

This was true even when the change was negative, such as a return to poor lighting. Their awareness of being observed had apparently led them to increase their output.

It seemed that increased attention from supervisors could improve job performance. Spurred by these initial findings, a series of experiments were conducted at the plant over the next eight years. From to Elton Mayo — and his colleagues began a series of studies examining changes in work structure e. The results of the Elton Mayo studies reinforced the initial findings of the illumination experiment. Freedman , p. Analysis of the findings by Landsberger led to the term the Hawthorne effect , which describes the increase in performance of individuals who are noticed, watched, and paid attention to by researchers or supervisors.

In a separate study conducted between and , six women working together to assemble telephone relays were observed Harvard Business School, Historical Collections. Following the secret measuring of their output for two weeks, the women were moved to a special experiment room. The experiment room, which they would occupy for the rest of the study, had a supervisor who discussed various changes to their work. The subsequent alterations the women experienced included breaks varied in length and regularity, the provision and the non-provision of food and changes to the length of the workday.

For the most part, changes to these variables including returns to the original state were accompanied by an increase in productivity. Subsequently, a related study was conducted by W. They carried out their experiment on 14 men who assembled telephone switching equipment. The men were placed in a room along with a full-time observer who would record all that transpired. The workers were to be paid on their individual productivity. However, the surprising outcome was a decrease of productivity.

The researchers discovered that the men had become suspicious that an increase in productivity would lead the company to lower their base rate or find grounds to fire some of the workers. Additional observation unveiled the existence of smaller cliques within the main group. Moreover, these cliques seemed to have their own rules for conduct and distinct means to enforce them.

The results of the study seemed to indicate that workers were likely to be influenced more by the social force of their peer groups than the incentives of their superiors.

This outcome was construed not necessarily as challenging the previous findings, but as accounting for the potentially stronger social effect of peer groups. The studies discussed above reveal much about the dynamic relationship between productivity and observation. On one hand, letting employees know that they are being observed may engender a sense of accountability.

Such accountability may in turn improve performance. However, if employees perceive ulterior motives behind the observation, a different set of outcomes may ensue. If for instance, employees reason that their increased productivity could harm their fellow workers or adversely impact their earnings eventually, they may not be actuated to improve their performance. Personnel Counseling Study was needed as the earlier four studies could not yield sufficient information regarding promoting employee relations.

The aim of this study was to get a diagnosis of the problems of the employees. An impartial and non authoritative agency was created in order to interview the employees and work with the supervisors. Eliminating lack of communication another drawback of the earlier four studies was the second important task of this study.

To achieve these aims each department was assigned personnel counselors who could freely communicate with the employees.

This was a very successful move by the management and soon there was marked improvement in supervisor employee relations, employee management relations and even in personal adjustments. The personnel counseling resulted in behavior and personality changes.

It resulted in improving understanding between the employees and their supervisor and greatly helped the management in understanding their employees by communicating effectively with them while formulating company policies and changes. Personnel counseling greatly helped in reducing the friction between the workers and the management resulting from lack of communication.

In large industrial organizations there is usually a lack of communication and hence understanding between the top and the bottom layers. The series of Hawthorne experiments were the pioneers who emphasised the importance of communication, emphasised on the need to understand employee behavior and sentiments and emphasised on the importance of participation through team work. The Hawthorne studies are an outstanding example of research as many questions were raised as a result of the knowledge acquired in each step.

The next step was planned to seek answers raised in the previous experiment. So, initially the Hawthorne experiments were initiated to evaluate the effect of factors like illumination, temperature and wages on the output of the test group, the question of importance of informal group relationships was raised from the initial studies.

Only then attention was needed to be focused on the social organizations within the groups. This lead to the Relay Assembly Study which showed the development of an informal leader and the positive progressive effect of employee attitude on output.

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The studies also provided evidence that informal work groups the social relationships of employees and the resulting group pressure have positive effects on group productivity. The results of the Hawthorne studies enhanced our understanding of what motivates individuals in the workplace. They indicate that in addition to the personal economic needs emphasized in the classical era, social needs play an important role in influencing work-related attitudes and behaviors.

The pride that comes from special attention motivates workers to increase their productivity. The Hawthorne effect suggests that employees will perform better when they feel singled out for special attention or feel that management is concerned about employee welfare. Skip to content Motivating Employees.