The Hawthorne Studies

About

• Conducted by The Western Electric Company
• Created to observe how physical conditions of a workplace affected the output of workers

The Relay Assembly Test

• Six workers that assembled relays in a special room to measure their productivity
• They were given breaks and work-days on different lengths

The Test

• Talking to other workers on their breaks
• Longer Breaks (10 minutes) increased productivity
• Shorter Breaks (2-6 minutes) decreased productivity

Time

• Shorten day by 30 minutes = Caused Production to raise
• Day decreased further = overall production rose

The Team

• Led by Elton Mayo
• Concluded the "social setting"
• Wanted to do better & increased participative supervision

Mayo's Research

• Terminated in 1932
• included employee attitudes, interpersonal relations and group dynamics
• Interviewing over 21 000 employees

Bank Wiring Room

• Restricted their output to avoid displeasure of the group
• Strong negative or Strong Positive influenced the individual productivity

Look Back

• Hawthorne Studies = Criticized for poor search design , weak experimental support
• People's feelings , attitude and relationship affected their work atmosphere

Hawthorne Effect

• Tendency of people who are singled out for special attention
• Managers who have good human relations skills = achieve productivity
• Field of Organizational behavior = study of individuals and groups

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEwCWR5Vkpw

The End