Hawthorne Studies

Elton Mayos Study on Employee

Motivation and Work Productivity
Developed by: Melissa Mackay
Boise State University

What Will Be Covered

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

What Will Be Covered

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

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.

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.

http://www.accelteam.com/motivation/hawthrone_02.

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.

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.

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.

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 4:30 p.m. instead of 5:00
p.m.

Results Cont.
Output slightly fell when six five minute pauses were
added.
It remained the same when they were dismissed at
4:00 p.m. instead of 4:30 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.
http://courses.bus.ualberta.ca/orga41
7-reshef/mayo.htm

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.

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.

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.

Nuts and Bolts:

Explanation of Topic
Interviewing

Provide insight to workers moral,

their likes and dislikes and how
they felt about their bosses.

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.

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.

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.
http://couses.bus.ualberta.ca/orga417
-reshef/mayo.htm

How it Works in the

Field
Aspects of Hawthorne Studies

Workers
Management
Motivation
Productivity

How it Works in the

Field Cont.
Workers

Insights, suggestions, likes and

dislikes, moral, training.

Management

Transfer of power to workers,

knowing their workers.

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.

Real World Example

Swedish Case

Pay system didnt fit the structure

of jobs and organization.
Two years later an incentive
system was added, productivity
went up 45%.

Real World Example

Cont.
Swedish Case
New incentive system provided
motivation through tying
cooperation and teamwork.

Exercise
Brainstorm ideas that can motivate
employees to increase productivity
and find ways to implement them.
Think of more efficient ways in
which a process can be completed
and who you might go to in order to
find this out.

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

Summary Cont.
Motivation can cause an increase in
productivity
Involve employees in decision making.
Create a sense of belonging by creating
teams.

References
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-resh
ef/mayo.html
http://www.accel-team.com/motivation/hawt
horne_02.html