Contribution of the Hawthorne studies in the evolution of the subject of Organizational Behaviour.

 Contribution of the Hawthorne studies in the evolution of the subject of Organizational Behaviour.

 Hawthorne Studies:- 

·         The word Hawthorne is derived from the name of the plant which is in Chicago.

·         It is the series of studies that provided the new insights into individual and group behaviour.

·         This was typically developed for bringing out the productivity and human relations.

·         This experiment lasts for up to 8 years.

·         This experiment was more of measuring the impact of the several work conditions which was led by the company.

·         Hawthorne works is the western electric company situated at Chicago, which manufactured equipment for Bell telephone systems.

·         It was then assumed that the increase in productivity is directly proportional to the working conditions.

·         The productivity of employees is depended on the employee’s satisfaction at workplace.

·         This effect is widely used which refers to the modifying behaviour and its effects.

·         The employees started feeling that the management is listening to our problems and understanding our demands and situation

·         This created the sense of individual economic interest.

·         Personal counselling was given to each individual worker which created a positive attitude among them.

·         Several experiments were conducted by using these studies.

·         Elton Mayo and his colleagues conducted five experiments. One of that is Illumination studies. 

           Implementation of the Hawthorne studies:- 

1.    Illumination Studies:- 

·         This study was carried out to know about the relation between illumination and worker efficiency.

·         The idea was to record the variation levels of illumination i.e. the amount of light at the workplace and also in test room and expected that it will increase the productivity.

·         It was also assumed that if they keep the illumination high, the productivity will also increase.

·         Group of workers were place in a varying intensity of illumination.

·         It was observed by the researchers that the group which was exposed to more illumination led to more productivity and when it was decreased still the production continued to increase.

·         The production was decreased only when the light illumination was reduced to certain level.

·         Therefore, it was concluded that the differentiating factor was not the illumination and its effect. Therefore, another experiment was conducted. 

 

2.     Relay room experiments:-

 

·         As the first experiment of illumination could not meet the expectations from the study, another experiment of relay room was conducted.

·         This study was carried out to determine the effects on various job conditions on group productivity.

·         For this experiment first two girls were chosen, they were then given the freedom to choose another four girls as co-workers.

·         The work was divided between the girls accordingly and each of them performed certain task.

·         There was a supervisor who was continuously assisting the girls and also, they were given opportunity to express what they feel, their viewpoints and ideas.

·         Certain changes and outcomes were observed such as :-

·         The advantage of forming small groups.

·         The extra pay was given.

·         The breaks were given in between which also led to increase the productivity.

·         The number of break time was reduced which led to decrease in the productivity. They then provided snacks and soups in morning and sandwich in evening, which again led to increased productivity.

·         Everyone was given equal attention and the working hours were reduced and given flexibility.

·         These things then showed effects of the morality, decreased in absenteeism, productivity etc. 

Contributions of Hawthorne Studies in the Organizational Behavior:-

       I.            Introducing Hawthorne experiment has brought remarkable changes in the organizations.

    II.            It led to increase in the efficiency at the workplace and the productivity too was increased.

 III.            The physical and the environmental effect on the workplace were examined.

 IV.            Influence of conducting the experiments led to collecting of data, labour management, the relations with the workers and the employees etc.

    V.            Understanding of the social system in the organization and implementing it.

 VI.            Motivating the employees in several ways by considering their emotions and not just incentives for motivation.

VII.            Having the right and positive attitude towards work and environment and engaging in the activities.

VIII.            Communication between the employees and the managers helped to understand and resolve many issues.

 IX.            Employee satisfaction is the important for organizations and must be considered.

    X.            Creating the informal groups among the employees which will help in increasing the productivity.

   “A series of studies during the 1920s and 1930s that provided new insights into individuals and group behaviour.” In other terms it’s the study of human relations and human behaviour in the work-setting and the identification of strength and core competencies in the employees. Its main focus was on not to measure the productivity on the numbers and giving some sort of punishments and fear in the employees but the other way round where employee feel motivated and satisfied.

According to Hawthorne study the performance cannot solely be done on the basis of productivity. It mainly focused on creating a enjoyable environment for the employees so they feel the sense of happiness and not pressure. If they work under pressure they will tend to make mistake but if working in a flexible environment with proper communication amongst their colleagues then this will make them empower of making a decision for themselves and will feel valued, which will eventually have turned out as a much motivated employees and thus their productivity will automatically will increase. 

Money and benefits is not the only factor which makes an employee happy but the recognition, appreciation from the seniors and co-workers, right attitude, gratitude, right expression towards something makes the employee feel positive about his/her work.

There was the series of experiments done by Elton Mayo to see whether money and incentives are better source of motivation or not.

The major experiment was the illumination experiment where the groups where dived into control group and experimental group. In this the illumination level was increased of the test group in certain levels keeping the control group at constant. Result productivity increased. Again it brought to the level of the control group but still the productivity of experimental group increased. This led Mayo and his colleagues to think that there are other factors involved which may be responsible for increase in production.

After that there were the series of experiments done by the Mayo and his colleagues.

Another was the Relay room experiment where in this, 2 ladies were selected as a test group and were asked to select 4 members each in their groups. And they were divided as the control group and the experimental group. Those ladies were asked to conduct a telephone relay for 5 months. They were in the separated rooms and used to evaluate their performances on the basis of discussion made with the supervisor. Either supervisor used to discuss the change or the women were asked to give their suggestions. This went on for a 5 years. Also the supervisors use to give 2min break then increased it to 10 min break. With this experiment eventually turned out as the ladies performed really well and were much more productive. This implied that the money had added the less value in the productivity than asking the suggestions, motivation, working as a group, being treated equally was much more valued within the ladies. In this the employees worked harder because they thought that they are being closely monitored and mentored on an individual level.

Hawthorne studies was extremely successful in achieving the remarkable results which focused on human behaviour aspects with all the social related aspects involved in it.

Another study experiment was made out was Bank Wiring Room Study.

In this the single observer was included in the functions like wiring soldering, inspection for a certain period of time. Initially the employees were uncomfortable with the presence of an outsider but afterwards they were able to normalise their behaviour as this thing happened on a regular basis. Employees did fight, communicate, helped out each other and as a result it was also seen that some employees finished their work on time to reduce the monotony.

Another experiment was the mass interviewing programme in which 20,000 interviews were carried between 1928-1930. Both directive and non-directive type of interviewing. In this the role of interviewer was more of a listener rather than just asking questions. As a result, workers felt that they were given the personal attention. Grievances were being attended on an individual level. This changed the attitude of workers towards the management.

Though it can have said that Hawthorne studies came out to be effective of organisational culture to some extent.