Elton Mayo-Hawthorne Studies

Elton Mayo's Hawthorne Studies

1. Hawthorne Studies

2. Introduction to Hawthorne Studies The term “Hawthorne” is a term used within several behavioral management theories and is originally derived from the western electric company’s large factory complex named Hawthorne works. Starting in 1905 and operating until 1983, Hawthorne works had 45,000 employees and it produced a wide variety of consumer products, including telephone equipment, refrigerators and electric fans. As a result, Hawthorne works is well-known for its enormous output of telephone equipment and most importantly for its industrial experiments and studies carried out . In 1927, a group of researchers led by Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger of the Harvard Business School were invited to join in the studies at the Hawthorne Works of Western Electric Company, Chicago.

3. Elton Mayo Father of Human Relations Approach Elton Mayo  was born in Australia in 1880. He became a lecturer at the University of Queensland (1911-1923) and the University of Pennsylvania and then became a professor of Industrial Research at Harvard University from 1926-1949.  He is best known for his work on the Hawthorne Studies and is considered one of the fathers of the human relations movement.

4. Human Relations Approach According to Human Relations Approach, management is the study of behavior of people at work. This approach had its origin in a series of experiments conducted by Professor Elton Mayo and his associates at the Harvard School of Business at the Western Electric Company’s Hawthorne Works, near Chicago. These studies brought out for the first time the important relationships between social factors and productivity.

5. Before it, productivity of the employees was considered to be a function only of physical conditions of work and money wages paid to them. For the first time it was realized that productivity depended largely upon the satisfaction of the employees in work situations. This school studies the psychological processes in the organizations, informal organizations, conflict, change, motivation and relationships, and the various techniques of achieving organizational development by improving the relationships among the various groups of people constituting the organization and its internal environment. Thus, it may be said that this school concentrates on people and their behavior within the formal and informal organizations.

6. Features of Elton Mayo’s Human Relations Approach Since management is getting things done through and with people, a manager must have a basic understanding of human behavior in all respects—particularly in the context of work groups and organizations.  The managers must study the inter-personal relations among the people at work. Larger production and higher motivation can be achieved only through good human relation. The study of management must draw the concepts and principles of various behavioural sciences like Psychology and Sociology.

7. Contribution of Elton Mayo to Management Thought: 1. Illumination Experiments: The basic idea was to vary and record levels of illumination in a test room with the expectation that as lighting was increased, productivity would too. In another test room, illumination was decreased, with the correlating expectation that efficiency would decrease. This experiment was conducted to establish relationship between output and illumination.

8. When the intensity of light was increased, the output also increased. The output showed an upward trend even when the illumination was gradually brought down to the normal level. Therefore, it was concluded that there is no consistent relationship between output of workers and illumination in the factory. There must be some other factor which affected productivity.

9. 2. Relay Assembly Test Room Experiment: In this experiment a small homogeneous working group was consti­tuted. Several new elements were introduced in the work en­vironment such as—shorter working hours, proper rest peri­ods, improved physical conditions, friendly supervision, free social interaction among the group members, and so on. During the period of the experiment, productivity and morale increased. Productivity and morale were maintained even if the im­provements in the working conditions were withdrawn. The researchers concluded that socio- psychological factors such as the feelings of being important, recognition, participation, in­formal work group, non-directive supervision etc. held the key for higher productivity.

10. 3. Mass Interviewing Program: The researchers interviewed a large number of workers with regard to their opinions on work, working conditions and supervision. Initially, a direct approach was used whereby interviews asked questions considered important by managers and researchers. The researchers observed that the replies of the workmen were guarded. Therefore, this approach was replaced by an indirect technique, where the interviewer simply listened to what the workmen had to say. The results again confirmed the importance of informal relation, social and psychological needs and their impact on the behavior of the workers.

11. 4. Bank Wiring Observation Room Experiment: This experiment was conducted with a view to develop a new method of observation and obtaining more exact information about social groups within a company and also finding out the causes which restrict output. A group of 14 workers was ob­served with regard to their work behavior. After the experiment, the production records of this group were compared with their earlier production records. The observation revealed the informal production norms set by the workers and the existence of informal relations in the group.

12. Their job was to wire conductor banks, a repetitive and monotonous task. Pay incentives and productivity measures were removed, but a researcher was placed into the test room as an observer and the workers were interviewed. The purpose of the bank-wiring tests was to observe and study social relationships and social structures within a group Perhaps the most revealing aspect of the bank-wiring tests was that the workers combined to slow down production It was observed that the group evolved its own production norms for each individual worker, which was made lower than those set by the management.

13. The conclusions of the Hawthorne Experiments are pointed out below: ( i ) A factory is not only a techno-economic unit but a psycho-social organisation also. (ii) The workers spontaneously form small informal groups. The norms and values of such groups have significant influence on the behavior and performance of the workers. (iii) Physical conditions of work have some influence on the workers’ morale and pro­ductivity. But their inter-personal relations, attitude of the supervisors and other social and psychological factors have a far greater influence. (iv) Usually, the workers act or re-act not as individuals but as the members of a group.

14. (v) The workers are not mere economic men motivated by money alone. They respond to the total work situation including recognition, participation etc. (vi) The informal leaders play an important role in setting and enforcing group norms. (vii) The managers must understand and recognize the inter-personal and group rela­tions on the job. Elton Mayo is known as the ‘Father of Human Relations Movement’. The Hawthorne Experiments provided a landmark in the evolution of management thought. Many organizations initiated the measures to improve relations with the workers. The managers were sup­posed to assume a new role and to develop new concepts of authority, motivation and leader­ship.

15. However, the Hawthorne Experiments were criticized for lack of scientific analysis and research. It was alleged that the researchers had certain pre-conceived perceptions and orientations. The experiments were too narrow and small to provide generalization. The findings of Hawthorne Experiments are, however, accepted even today. Mayo’s work was a turning point in the development of management thought. His work challenged the basic postulates of the classical approach. His studies revealed the over-whelming signifi­cance of human and social factors in industry. He is rightly called the ‘Founder of the Human Relations Approach’ to management.