HAWTHORNE EFFECTS & ITS IMPACT ON MODERN INDUSTRIES
PRESENTED BY-KRISHNA VEER ,MANISH ,NIDHI SHARMA
,NISHITH KUMAR & NISHTHA SINGH
“An increase in worker productivity produced by the psychological stimulus of being singled out and made to feel important.”
— The Hawthorne effect
WHAT ARE HAWTHORNE EXPERIMENTS?
CONDUCTED IN THE HAWTHRONE PLANT OF FAMOUS ELECTRIC COMPANY,CHICAGO (U.S.A.).
IN 1910 THE MANAGEMENT OF HAWTHORNE PLANT ADOPTED TRADITIONAL THEORY, TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY.
BUT PRODUCTIVITY DIDN’T IMPROVE.
ELTON MAYO AND HIS ASSOCIATES CONDUCTED BETWEEN 1914 AND 1931.
ILLUMINATION EXPERIMENTS . RELAY ASSEMBLY TEST ROOM
EXPERIMENT. BANK WRITING OBSERVATION ROOM
EXPERIMENT. MASS INTERVIEWING PROGRAMME.
TYPES OF EXPERIMENTS
EFFECT OF LIGHTING CONDITIONS ON THE
PRODUCTIVITY OF EMPLOYEES. WHEN LIGHTING WAS IMPROVED,THE
PRODUCTIVITY ALSO IMPROVED. BUT WHEN LIGHTING WAS BROUGHT
DOWN TO MOONLIGHT , EVEN THEN PRODUCTIVITY INCREASED.
SOME OTHER VARIABLES BESIDES ILLUMINATION WHICH WERE INFLUENCING PRODUCTIVITY.
ILLUMINATION EXPERIMENT -
EFFECT OF WORKING CONDITION ON
PRODUCTIVITY.
WHEN WORKING CONDITION IMPROVED, PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVED
PRIVILEGES WERE WITHDRAWN EVEN THEN THE PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVED.
SOMETHING ELSE THAT AFFECTING PRODUCTIVITY.
RELAY ASSEMBLY TEST ROOM
EXPERIMENT -
CONDUCTED IN ALMOST NORMAL WORKING
CONDITIONS .
A GROUP OF 14 EXPERIENCED WORKERS AND RECORDED THEIR OUTPUT FOR 18 MONTHS PRIOR THE STUDY, WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF WORKERS.
BROUGHT IN A ROOM TO DO THEIR ROUTINE WORK, PRODUCTIVITY DECREASE.
THE GROUP MEMBERS DEVELOPED INTIMACY WITH EACH OTHER & CREATED INFORMAL GROUP.
BANK WIRING OBSERVATION ROOM
EXPERIMENT -
THE RESEARCHERS INTERVIEWED A LARGE
NUMBER OF WORKERS FOR MORE THAN ONE YEAR .
ADOPTED DIRECT TECHNIQUE AND ASKED RELEVENT QUESTIONS FROM THE WORKERS.
LATER ON ,THE INDIRECT TECHNIQUES OF INTERVIEWING WAS ADOPTED .
THE SOCIAL FACTORS PLAYED IMPORTANT ROLE IN INFLUENCING PRODUCTIVITY .
MASS INTERVIEWING PROGRAMME-
IMPACT OF HAWTHORNE EXPERIMENTS ON MODERN
INDUSTRIES
Brainstorming-How Hawthorne Experiments can be helpful to
organizations-
• Cooperation and communication with coworkers.
• Rearrange/reorganize job functions.
• Create an atmosphere of working as a team
Vistas unveiled
Interview
Role of Supervisor
Teamwork
“Man’s 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.”
Swedish Company Case (Palgrave Macmillan Firm)
Inappropriate pay structure –all financial incentives declined.(people preferred hourly wages though piece rate plan was followed)
New incentive System with employees consent was installed.
New incentive system provided motivation through tying cooperation and teamwork.
Two years later productivity went up 45%.
Real World Example
Along with Frederick Taylor's work, this study gave rise to the field known as “Industrial Psychology” as social group influences and so interpersonal factors must also be considered when performing efficiency research such as time and motion studies. ….
THE ORAGANISATION IS A SOCIAL SYSTEM .
THE INFORMAL GROUPS HAVE THEIR OWN INFORMAL LEADER.
THE OUTPUT OF WORKER IS DETERMINED BY THE SOCIAL NORMS SET BY INFORMAL GROUP.
NON MONETORY REWARDS SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE PERFORMANCE OF WORKER.
THE WORKERS DEVELOP THEIR OWN INFORMAL CHANNELS OF COMMUNICATION .
THE GOALS OF INFORMAL GROUPS MAY NOT BE IN LINE WITH ORGANISATIONAL GOALS.
THE WORKER PREFER EMPLYOEE ORIENTED SUPERVISION.
A WORKER BEHAVE AS A MEMBER OF HIS WORK GROUP, NOT AS AN INDIVIDUAL AT WORK PLACE.
CONCLUSIONS OF HAWTHORNE EXPERIMENT-
“Man and Work in Society.” Edited by Eugene Louis
Cass and Frederick G. Zimmer. 1975. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold Company.
“Manufacturing Knowledge, A History of the Hawthorne Experiments.” Richard Gillespie. 1952. New York: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.
http://courses.bus.ualberta.ca/orga417-reshef/mayo.html
http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/hawthorne_02.html
References