Hawthorne study

Hawthorne study

The Hawthorne study is a well-defined assessment which is useful for many experiments in

sociology.

This exploratory and social examinations were led by Elton Mayo during the years of 1924-1932 at Western Electric company’s Hawthorne works in Chicago. 

The basic purpose of Mayo was to examine how various factors of the working environment such as circumstances of breaks, lighting of the workplace, length of a working day impact on the efficiency of a worker. 

The Hawthorne experiment drew out that productivity of a worker does not only depend on the financial compensation paid to them, that productivity of staffs depends majorly on the satisfaction of employee. 

Illustrative experiments, relay assembly test room experiments, mass interview program, bank wiring test room experiments were used to to find out the facts which bring fluctuation in workers productivity.

Illustrative experiments:

Illustrative experiments are a study which was conducted to find out whether the different levels

of light intensity at the workplace affected the worker productivity. One group of employees

were exposed to varying illumination while, the other group was exposed to constant

illumination. 

The group which was exposed to varying illumination decreased production only

when the illumination was decreased to the moonlight level. The experiment concluded with a

result that light intensity does not depend on the production level of an employee. 

Therefore, the next level of experiment was conducted. 

Relay Assembly Test Room

Relay Assembly Test Room Experiments were tested on a group of 6 women who were involved in an assembly of telephone relays.

The relay assessment tests were introduced to study whether the factors such as hours of

work, incentives, and company sponsored meal would make a difference in the group

productivity, various changes which would make the employees feel motivated were made in the

factors of the study.

The productivity increased, then the system was reverted to its default methods where no benefits were given to the employee. The productivity increased even after reverting back to the original situation as a result of the worker satisfaction, which was achieved through the acknowledgment, attention received and through the feeling of being secured, self –disciplined.

Mass interview program 

Mass interview program is about the 20000 interviews that were conducted with the objective of

exploring information such as the workers attitude toward the organization, promoting and

wages that they expect, the ways of supervision. 

In the first instance the direct questioning method was used thus it was later changed into a non-directive interviewing method.

This change gave the interviewees a chance to speak what they thought, to complain for the

disturbance caused, which resulted in understanding the significance of social elements in the

workplace. 

Bank Wiring Test Room Experiment

Bank Wiring Test Room Experiment was experimented on 14 male workers, who were working tirelessly wiring between 3000-6000 terminals for a set of banks.

The incentives, productivity measures that should be paid were removed, an observer was placed into the workers in test room to talk to the workers in order to understand the social connections, and structures in a group. 

This experiment helped them to understand that informal relationships with in an organizational structure is an important aspect that influences the behavior of employees as the workers who were observed had their own standards for working, which was lesser than the standard set by the management of the organization.