Hawthorne Studies

1
Hawthorne Studies

• Elton Mayos Study on Employee Motivation and
  Work Productivity
• Developed by Melissa Mackay
• Boise State University

2
What Will Be Covered

• Definition of the Hawthorne Studies
• Experiment that Mayo conducted
• Results
• Conclusions
• Brainstorming How this can be used in
  organizations

3
What Will Be Covered Cont.

• Nuts and Bolts Explanation of topic
• How it works in the field
• Real World Example
• Summary
• References

4
Definition of Hawthorne Studies

• The Hawthorne Studies were conducted from
  1927-1932 at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works
  in Chicago, where Harvard Business School
  Professor Elton Mayo examined productivity and
  work conditions.

5
Definition of Hawthorne Studies Cont.

• Mayo wanted to find out what effect fatigue and
  monotony had on job productivity and how to
  control them through such variables as rest
  breaks, work hours, temperatures and humidity.

6
Mayos Experiment

• Five women assembled telephone relays, one
  supplied the parts.
• Made frequent changes in working conditions with
  their consent.
• Records were kept of relays made, temperature and
  humidity of rooms, medical and personal
  histories, eating and sleeping habits, and bits
  of conversation on the job.
• No one supervised the girls.
• They were told to work as they felt and at a
  comfortable pace.

7
Mayos Experiment Cont.

• Productive capacity was measured by recording the
  girls output for two weeks before the study
  began.
• First five weeks, no changes were made.
• Third stage, a pay system was ensured allowing
  the girls to earn in proportion to their
  efforts.
• Eight weeks later, two five-minute rest pauses
  were added.

8
Mayos Experiment Cont.

• Eighth phase, workday ended a half-day early.
• Ninth phase, the girls finished an hour earlier
  than usual.
• Five-day week introduced.
• Girls went back to no breaks, lunches and a full
  work week, output declined for those twelve weeks.

9
Results

• Researchers found that output rates werent
  directly related to the physical conditions of
  the work.
• Output went up when
• They were put on piece-work for eight weeks.
• Two five minute rest pauses were introduced for
  five weeks.
• Rest pauses were lengthened to ten minutes.
• A hot meal was supplied during first pause.
• They were dismissed at 430 p.m. instead of 500
  p.m.

10
Results Cont.

• Output slightly fell when six five minute pauses
  were added.
• It remained the same when they were dismissed at
  400 p.m. instead of 430 p.m.
• Mayo believes what actually happened was that
  six individuals became a team and the team gave
  itself wholeheartedly and spontaneously to
  cooperation in the experiment. The consequence
  was that they felt themselves to be participating
  freely and without afterthought, and were happy
  in the knowledge that they were working without
  coercion from above or limitations from below.

11
Conclusions

• Work is a group activity.
• Social world for an adult is primarily patterned
  about work.
• Need for recognition, security and sense of
  belonging.
• Complaints, commonly a symptom manifesting
  disturbance of an individuals status position.

12
Conclusions Cont.

• Attitudes and effectiveness are conditioned by
  social demands.
• Informal groups at work are strong social
  controls over the work habits and attitudes of a
  worker.
• Change from established society to adaptive
  society.
• Group collaboration.

13
Brainstorming How this can be used in
organizations

• Cooperation and communication with coworkers.
• Rearrange/reorganize job functions.
• Create an atmosphere of working as a team.

14
Nuts and Bolts Explanation of Topic

• Interviewing
• Provide insight to workers moral, their likes and
  dislikes and how they felt about their bosses.

15
Nuts and Bolts Explanation of Topic Cont.

• Role of Supervisor
• Retained the responsibility of making sure that
  their workers reached production levels, should
  lead their workers.

16
Nuts and Bolts Explanation of Topic Cont.

• Management
• Need to gain active support and participation
  from workers, while maintaining managerial
  control.
• Be patient with workers, listen to them, and
  avoid creating emotional upsets.

17
Nuts and Bolts Explanation of Topic Cont.

• Teamwork
• Cooperation, communication, sense of belonging.
• Mans desire to be continuously associated in
  work with his fellows is a strong, if not the
  strongest, human characteristic. Any disregard of
  it by management or any ill-advised attempt to
  defeat this human impulse leads instantly to some
  form of defeat for management itself.

18
How it Works in the Field

• Aspects of Hawthorne Studies
• Workers
• Management
• Motivation
• Productivity

19
How it Works in the Field Cont.

• Workers
• Insights, suggestions, likes and dislikes, moral,
  training.
• Management
• Transfer of power to workers, knowing their
  workers.

20
How it Works in the Field Cont.

• Motivation
• Incentives to increase productivity and quality.
• Productivity
• By increasing the output rate and keeping costs
  down, the company will be able to increase
  profits.

21
Summary

• Hawthorne Studies dealing with worker motivation
  and work productivity.
• Increase communication and cooperation among
  coworkers.

22

• Assumptions
• If performance in an organization results in
  equitable and fair rewards, people will be more
  satisfied.
• High performance can lead to rewards and high
  satisfaction.
• Types of rewards
• Extrinsic rewardsoutcomes set and awarded by
  external parties (e.g., pay and promotions).
• Intrinsic rewardsoutcomes that are internal to
  the individual (e.g., self-esteem and feelings of
  accomplishment).