Nitesh KhatiwadaMasters of Business ManagementNepal CommerceCampus

The Behavioural Management

The Hawthorne Studies

￭ Coined in 1950 by Henry A. Landsberger when

analyzing earlier experiments from 1924–32 at the Hawthorne Works

First Phase:Sequence of illumination tests from 1924 to 1927

Second Phase:Experiments beginning in 1927 focused on the relay assembly

department

Further Study:Interview with the employees

Simultaneous Study:Bank wiring test room

Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

Illumination Tests

1Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

Employees taking part in Illumination Studies: 1930

Illuminatin Studies

￭ Set out to determine the effects of lighting on worker efficiency

￭ Accounts of the study revealed no significant correlation between productivity and light levels

￭ The results prompted researchers to investigate other factors affecting worker output

Relay Assembly Room

2Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

Relay Assembly Room

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

Introduction of Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger - 1928

Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

Bank Wiring Test Room

3Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

Bank Wiring Test Room

￭ To identify the effect of wage incentives￭ The study of fourteen men￭ Conditions were unaltered – no change in

productivity occurred￭ An implicit understanding among the workers

not to exceed what they considered a fair quota

Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

Interview Process

4Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

Interview Process

￭ Employees didn’t respond well to scheduled questions

￭ Employees were allowed to have free talks

Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

Variables Discussed

￭ Independent: Confounding:

Dependent:

Light Illumination

Duration of work days

Food HumidityTemperature

VentilationRest Brakes

WagesSupervision

AttentionParticipant Reactivity

Social Norms

Participants Expectations

Work Group

Performance Feedback

Productivity Attendance Morale

Finding

￭ Mental attitudes, proper supervision, informal social relationships experienced in a group were key to productivity and job satisfaction

￭ Employees often did all sorts of non-logical things in order to belong in the group

￭ Employees believed in a sense of common purpose and value of their work

Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

￭ Informal organization constituted by the activities, sentiments, interactions, norms, and personal and professional connections of individuals and groups that had developed over extended periods of time makes organization stronger

￭ The social system, which defined a worker’s relation to her work and to her companions, was not the product of rational engineering but of actual, deep-rooted human associations and sentiments.

Finding

Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

Contribution

Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

Contribution

￭ Brought to light ideas concerning

￭ Motivational influences

￭ Job satisfaction

￭ Resistance to change

￭ Group norms

￭ Worker participation

Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

￭ From the leadership point of view organizations that do not pay￭ Sufficient attention to ‘people’ and ‘cultural’ are

consistently less successful than those that do￭ Sufficient attention to people and the deep

sentiments and relationships connecting them are consistently less successful than those that do.

￭ “The change which you and your associates are working to effect will not be mechanical but humane.”

Conclusion

Source: : http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/hawthorne/

Source: Management and The Worker: 1939

Thanks!