Management and Organization in Global Environment: The Hawthorne Studies

Running head: MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT:
THE HAWTHORNE STUDIES
Management and Organization in Global Environment: The Hawthorne Studies
Page 1

MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT: THE
HAWTHORNE STUDIES
Table of Contents
Management Summary..............................................................................................................3
Section 1: Introduction...............................................................................................................4
Section 2: The Hawthorne Studies.............................................................................................5
General Principles..................................................................................................................5
Component 1: The Illumination Studies................................................................................7
Component 2: The Relay Room Experiments.......................................................................9
Component 3: The Bank Wiring Experiments.....................................................................10
Section 3: Conclusions.............................................................................................................11
Summary..................................................................................................................................13
References................................................................................................................................14
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................16

MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT: THE
HAWTHORNE STUDIES
Management Summary
Elton Mayo, a renowned scholar of the era, along with his associates performed the
Hawthorne studies in the Western Electrical Company’s Hawthorne plant in the USA,
between the period of 1927 and 1930. The results of this experiment emphasized that the
methods of behavioral science methods have wider managerial applications that was
perceived in the early 1920s. A close observation of the conclusions derived from the
experiments led to the introduction of the Hawthorne effect, thereby being revealed as a
physiological phenomenon. Increased need for social recognition, attention received from the
superiors and the respect gained from the peers, are a few of those, which have been
attributed. As many scientific theories were developed on the basis of the conclusions as well
as based on the flaws of the Hawthorne studies revealed, the combined effort of the
management and the workers create a wisdom of teamwork within the working environment
by sharing a common purpose that can be considered as the key factor associated with their
increased productivity even if it implies that the management has to emphasize the
development of interpersonal relationship with the workers at the individual level. Notably, in
the ways, through which the Hawthorne effect has been interpreted by literary experts until
date, its fundamental contributions exist at the base of generating new ideas. This help to
distinguish the prominence of the interdependency between worker groups and organizational
leadership practices, in addition to the communication practices, job design and the
motivational strategies used within the setting. This has, in turn, drawn attention of scholars
for studying the dynamics of personnel management besides human relations.

MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATION IN GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT: THE
HAWTHORNE STUDIES
Section 1: Introduction
Inspired by the principles of scientific management as denoted by Frederick Winslow Taylor,
the Hawthorne Studies were conducted in the year 1924. It was conducted within the
Hawthorne plant, which was then functioning under the Western Electric Company in
Chicago, by its management, rather than being initiated by any specialized research group,
which was also a key factor contributing to the criticisms and debates that the experiments
stirred after being published (Hassard, 2012). These experiments began with an investigation
to understand and explain the correlation of illumination with productivity. Gradually, the
experiments received attention from the scholars in the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) and in the Harvard University between 1927 and 1933 (Wickstrom &
Bendix, 2000). Subsequently, a change in the direction of these experiments was observed
towards a comprehensive perspective concerning the ‘change impacts of rest pauses’,
demanded by the workers and their work hours on their trends of productivity with significant
contributions from Elton Mayo, who was at the time a new recruit to the Harvard University
(Gale, 2004). At the time of the experimentation, the company possessed a prominent
industrial standing, with its reputation in maintaining parallel welfare capitalism to the
productivity trends observed within its workforce, thereby making it one of the most
innovative and leading manufacturer within the industry. This certainly drove the company
towards its development of a singular pattern of cultural inheritance with augmented level of
sustainability and productivity (Hassard, 2012).
These changes are often attributed as the Hawthorne effect, whereby a vibrant and apparent
change is witnessed in the normal behavior of the subjects, i.e. within the workers of the
Western Electric Company, with complete awareness of their productive trends and behavior
within the workplace. To the scholars specifically, understanding the Hawthorne effect is
perceived as crucial, owing to its ability to influence or rather to contaminate the