Prepared by:Arushi

bhatnagar

Hawthorne Experiments

INTRODUCTION

Classical approach led to the more efficient forms of the organization and management but it failed to recognize the overwhelming role of people in management.

Jobs became narrow &workers began to resist the formal & impersonal treatment over looking their social and psychological needs.

This resistance and need to secure willing cooperation of workers led to the development of neo classical approach.

INTRODUCTION

The Hawthorne studies were conducted in order to find out the role of human resource in increasing the production of an organization.

The Hawthorne studies included the following experiments..

Experiments ConductedIllumination ExperimentRelay Assembly Test room studiesMass interview programmeBank Wiring Observation Group

HAWTHORNE EXPERIMENT

Conducted between 1924-1932

Conducted at WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY, Chicago, USA

Conducted by,George Elton Mayo(father of neo classical approach)

Western Electric Company

George Elton MayoHe was an Australian Psychologist, Sociologist and Organization Theorist.

Spent most of his career at Harvard Business School and was the Professor of Industrial Research

Known as the founder of Human Relations Movement

Also known for his research including Hawthorne Studies

George Elton Mayo

Illumination Experiment• 1924-1927

• Funded by General Electric

• Conducted by The National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academy of Sciences with engineers from MIT

• Measured Light Intensity vs. Worker Output

• Two groups were selected from among employees. One group was placed in the room where lighting remained constant . Other group was placed in another room where lighting varies periodically.

• Result :– Output of both the groups increased steadily.

• Conclusions: – Lighting was a minor factor influencing on output

Relay Assembly Test Room Studies 1927-1929 Experiments were conducted by Elton Mayo It was conducted in 3 diff groups .the test group consist

of six females workers. Frequent changes were made to measure effect on

output:Pay Incentives (Each Girls pay was based on the other 5 in the

group)Length of Work Day & Work Week (5pm, 4:30 pm, 4pm)Use of Rest Periods (Two 5 minutes break)Company Sponsored Meals (Morning Coffee & soup along with

sandwich)

Results:Productivity of the group increased even when the

improvements in working conditions were withdrawn. Conclusions:

Socio-psychological factors such as special attention , sense of group pride and belonging exercise a greater influence on productivity than working hours.

PERFORMANCE RECORDING DEVICE

WOMEN IN THE RELAY TEST ASSEMBLY ROOM

Mass Interview Program • Conducted 20,000 interviews.

• Objective was to explore information, to judge their attitudes and opinions on the factors influencing productivity.

• Results- it was found that the opportunity to talk freely about things that are more important to workers has a positive effect on their moral & productivity

- Complaints were symptoms of deep-rooted disturbances.

-Workers are governed by experience obtained from both inside and outside the company.

Bank Wiring Observation room study

1931-1932

A group of 14 workers were put under close observation.

A pay of every member was made dependent on the performance of the group as a whole .

Result: No appreciable changes in output. It was found that the group had its own norms of

performance & various forms of social pressure were exercised to enforce these norms.

CONCLUSION

•A workgroup is not merely a techno-economic unit . it is also a socio system with a culture of its own.

• workers were not merely rational economic beings motivated simply by money .they are also socio-psychological beings and respond to the total work situation

• workers act or react not as individual but as a member of group .the informal groups have their own norms &beliefs .

•Complaints and criticism of employees were symptoms of deep-rooted disturbances.

•Workers respond to the total work situation .Their behavior and performance are conditioned by factors inside and outside the work place.

EVALUATION

•Unscientific –there was no systematic basis in the choice of work, worker and the environment .The investigation were not carried out in scientific manner.

•Doubtful validity- the reactions of small groups of American women can hardly taken as sufficiently representative to provide a valid solution in different countries.

•Too obvious- social psychologists argue that the finding of Hawthorne studies are not new but were all known long ago.

•True but irrelevant- the conclusions of Hawthorne experiments are true bt irrelevant. some industrialists argue that the main object of a business is tp make profits rather than to keep workers happy.

•No mention of trade unions-in more than twenty thousand interviewers upon which so much of the findings were based there was an articulation on unions among the workers. Mayo is also criticised for ignoring other relevant factors such as changes in the class and occupational structure of America.

Thank You.