The Hawthorne Effect originates from experiments conducted in the USA in 1924-1932. They were held in Chicago at the Hawthorne Plants. This is where the name came from. Elton Mayo conducted the research , and its results influenced the formation of scientific management and the improvement of sociology as a science. After reading this article, you will find out what the experiment was and what was its role.
Elton Mayo
The scientist was born in Australia in 1880. Initially, it was assumed that Elton would become a doctor, but, upon entering the university, he did not particularly show himself, because of which he was sent to Scotland to study psychopathology and medicine. His scientific views were formed thanks to the teachings of Freud and Durkheim.
After graduating, Mayo moved back to Australia, where he began teaching psychology, ethics and logic at the University of Queensland. During this period, the scientist became interested in management and began to publish articles on this topic.
Mayo subsequently moved to the United States, where he became a professor at Harvard University and received the position of head of the department of industrial research.
The meaning of the effect
The essence of the Hawthorne effect is that some people increase their labor productivity and show better results if they take part in the experiment. They behave differently because of the attention of scientists, and not because of some other factors. Often, the result of the people participating in the research is more favorable than under normal conditions. This is due to the fact that a person, showing interest while participating in an experiment, begins to act in a different way.
How was the experiment
The experiment was conducted at Western Electric's Hawthorne Works, as the plant management noticed that employees of one of the workshops began to work worse due to lower light levels. The company was interested in raising labor productivity, and therefore gave researchers complete freedom of action. The main task was to identify the dependence of employees on the physical working conditions.
The experiments lasted for 8 years, and the results amazed scientists. They noticed that while observing workers, labor efficiency increased dramatically. And it did not depend on the variables of physical labor. At the first stage, in the workshops where the studied groups of employees worked, first they increased lighting, and then reduced. Then they noticed that the working capacity became greater, but with a decrease in light, it fell quite slightly.
But after the end of monitoring workers, labor productivity returned to its usual parameters. Scientists came to the conclusion that this fact is due to the fact that during the work the employees knew about observation and felt involved in something important.
In the course of the study, several different experiments were carried out. Elton Mayo worked with variables of physical labor such as:
- illumination of workplaces;
- isolation of certain groups of employees;
- salary;
- degree of satisfaction with working conditions.
In addition, the scientist constantly interviewed workers, finding out what exactly had an effect on improving working capacity.
Experiment conclusions
Thus, the researchers came to the conclusion, which was subsequently called the Hawthorne effect: the increase in labor productivity among plant employees was due to the fact that they participated in the experiment and constantly thought about the importance of what was happening, about increased attention from and involvement in the study .
All this made it possible to improve labor productivity even in those cases when there were no positive moments in the work. After the experiment, Elton Mayo summed up the results:
- Along with the formal structure of the work collective, there is an informal one that plays an important role;
- informal structure can be used to improve the quality of work.
The identification of the Hawthorne effect in psychology is an impetus for development in the field of human relations in small social groups. Thanks to him, scientific management was formed that helps to increase the efficiency of managerial activity.
Criticism
In 2009, scientists at the University of Chicago became interested in the results of a study by Elton Mayo and re-analyzed all his work. After that, it was concluded that during the experiment some factors played a role that had nothing to do with the Hawthorne effect. And the role of the effect itself in increasing labor productivity is overstated.
Conclusion
Despite criticism, the Hawthorne experiments proved that the psyche of people can be influenced, thereby changing their attitude to work. And modern management could not have existed without the research of Elton Mayo. After all, human relations are considered the main factor in the organization of labor in our time.