Elton Mayo 1880

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Elton Mayo1880 1949
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Preview

• Introduction to Mayo
• Early life (1880-1907)
• Academic Career in Australia (1907-1922)
• The Wonderful Opportunity (1922-1932)
• Fame and Fortune (1933-1939)
• War and Retirement (1939-1949)
• Mayo Mystique

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Introduction

• One of the most celebrated social scientists of
  the age (legacy p221)
• Internationally acclaimed (legacy p223)
• Experiments provided new scientific foundations
  for management (leg 223)
• Skilled and charming lecturer (225)

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Statement by Fortune Magazine 1946

• Scientist and practical clinician, Mayo speaks
  with a rare authority that has commanded
  attention in factories as well as Universities.
  His erudition extends through psychology,
  sociology, physiology, medicine and economics,
  and his experience comes from a lifelong first
  hand study of industry.

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Early Life 1880-1907

• Childhood and family life
• Influences of his family
• Father financial
• Mother work ethic
• Siblings medical careers
• Turning point London Working Mens College

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Academic Career in Australia1907-1922

• Influence of Professor William Mitchell
• Marriage and Children
• Moves and Career changes
• New approach to industrial conflict (legacy p231
  middle)
• Influence of anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski

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The Wonderful Opportunity1922-1932

• Move to the United States
• Right place at the right time
• Partnership with Beardsley Ruml of Rockefeller
  Foundation
• Model of Labor Turnover (legacy 234)
• Friendship with L.J. Henderson (235)

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Wonderful Opportunity Cont.

• Hawthorne Studies (1927-1932)
• Hawthorne Plant of Western Electric Company
• Most famous part of the research
• Six female employees separate room
• Expectation production would vary in
  predictable ways
• Example More hours, fewer breaks would increase
  fatigue and lower production

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Surprise at Hawthorne

• Amazed researchers
• No matter what they did, production went up!
• Mayos conclusion
• Changes in production were not attributed to
  changes in conditions
• Instead attributed to
• Employees treated as special people
• Involved in decisions
• Improved morale

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Hawthorne Effect

• The mere act of showing people you are concerned
  about them spurs them to better performance
• Widely used even today

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Results from Hawthorne Studies

• Discovery that workplaces are social environments
• Within workplaces, people are motivated by much
  more than economic self interest
• All aspects of industrial environment carry
  social value
• Impact on Management Theory
• Represent the beginning of the human relations
  movement in the study of management

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Criticisms of Mayo and the Hawthorne Studies

• Dispute about Mayos role in the Hawthorne
  Studies
• Rejected as outmoded and simplistic
• Argued that Mayo simply put together and applied
  existing Sociological theories and applied them
  to research

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Criticisms, Cont.

• Borrowed concepts from Emile Durkheim
• Founder of the French school of sociology
• Mayos grasp of Durkheims work was poor
• Only read one of hundreds of works by Durkheim
• Read the original one work in French with a poor
  grasp of French

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Fame and Fortune 1933-1939

• Peculiar Family Life
• Most notable contributions to management theory
  emerge
• Rockefeller Foundation Funding

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War and Retirement 1939-1949

• Personal and family crises
• Works published
• The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization
  (1945)
• Introduction to the Second Edition, The Human
  Problems of an Industrial Civilization (1946)
• The Political Problems of an Industrial
  Civilization (1947)
• Notes on the Psychology of Pierre Janet (1948)

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The Mayo Mystique

• His work and findings
• Major criticisms of his work
• Major contributions to management theory

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