Date: 14 August

Day: Saturday
Submitted to: Prof. Vijaya R & Miss Akhila C

Alaka Rajeev 1930317

Bachelor of Arts
(Psychology, Sociology, English)
Semester V
Industrial & Organisational Psychology - PSY 541A
Department of Psychology
CHRIST (Deemed to be University),
Bengaluru - 560029

Read about Hawthorne studies and its importance. Write only your understanding after
reading it, not less than 300 words.

Elton Mayo brought across the notion of Human Relations and how employee commitment is
needed for the functioning of an organisation. Elton Mayo alongwith Roethlisberger and Dickson
from Harvard attempted to understand the impact the physical environment (brightness of the
lights, humidity in the workspace environment) and later, the psychological aspects (group
pressure, breaks) had on the productivity of workers at the Hawthorne Plant of the Western
Electric Company located near Chicago, Illinois.

There were a series of studies conducted to understand influences on worker productivity such as
-
1. The Illumination Studies - experimental group was exposed to changes in illumination whilst
it remained the same for the control group. Changes in worker productivity could progressively
be observed. Only when the illumination was at a small fraction to the original illumination
level, productivity seemed to decline which hinted at the influence of other environmental
variables.
2. Relay Assembly Test Room Study - Five female assembly workers were stationed in a control
room for more than a year and changes were introduced to their work life such as length of
working day and week, length and timing of rest pauses etc. Although it seemed to show that
productivity had increased, it turned out to be misleading as 2 individuals showed improvement,
1 showed stability in both conditions and the other 2 showed decline. Two important analyses
made here - it is difficult to alter impact of variables in an environment and presence of the
researchers has an influence on how the participants perform.
3. Mass Interviewing Programme - In this 14 men were interviewed over 6 months to understand
the range of employees’ attitudes towards all work-related aspects. The worker seemed to focus
on social status and rewards in terms of workspace satisfaction. This interview showed the
influence of the group on the employees’ behaviour.
4. Bank Wiring Room Study - there were some male workers who used to wire up equipment in
the bank wiring room and the researchers made an attempt to observe them. Three things became
apparent in this study - 1) there were norms surrounding levels of production, 2) supervisors
needed to be approachable, 3) there was inter group division and rivalry. All this shows the
influence of social relationships in a workspace environment.

Criticism
Main contribution made by the Hawthorne experiments was that a shift was made from
psycho-physiological models to a social emotional one with an emphasis on understanding
attitudes rather than the body. Regardless of these contributions, there has also been criticism in
terms of the research method that was adopted and lack of clarity on the results obtained.

Reference
Chapter 2 - Scientific Management, Human Relations Schools and Hawthorne experiments -
History of IO Psychology