The Hawthorne Studies, were a series of experiments carried out by Elton Mayo for 1927 to 1932 at the Western Electric company at their Hawthorne plant. Instead of focusing just on productivity, these studies focused on the employees and what changes could be made in their environment to be more reinforcing to them. The first study examined different levels of illumination and did not find any effects on productivity. Subsequent studies examined the effects of fatigue and monotony on job productivity and how to control them through such variables as rest breaks, work hours, temperature and humidity (Sedgwick, 2012).
The Hawthorne Effect is incorporated into HR in business today by teaching managers to provide individual attention to employees and to allow for a social atmosphere to develop among team members including supervisors. This leads to happier employees who have greater work related self- esteem. By discussing changes before they happen and allowing employees to participate in even a small way in decision making causes them to feel like part of the team. In addition to improving the work experience for employees these conditions also improve productivity even when physical work conditions (e.g. breaks, attractiveness of the environment) aren’t ideal.
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In a previous job I experienced the effects of these experiments. My manager created a team of the employees he hired and made each one of us feel like what we did was important. He also provided “training funds” that allowed each of us to attend a seminar linked to our job goals once a year and “spotlighted” each person when they returned, having us present what we’d learned so the whole team could benefit. Even though I had only taken the job to pay the bills and it wasn’t what I wanted to do for a career, it has been my favorite job to date because I felt like I was part of something bigger than just my individual job tasks.
- Sedgwick, P. (2012). The Hawthorne effect. BMJ, 344.
