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It originated in the 1930s' Hawthorne studies, which examined the effects of social relations, motivation and employee satisfaction on factory productivity. The movement viewed workers in terms of their psychology and fit with companies , rather than as interchangeable parts , and it resulted in the creation of the discipline of human relations ...
The Hawthorne effect is a type of human behavior reactivity in which individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed. [1] [2] The effect was discovered in the context of research conducted at the Hawthorne Western Electric plant; however, some scholars think the descriptions are fictitious.
The Hawthorne Experiments sought to determine a correlation between light levels and productivity. Researchers divided employees into teams of six and interviewed individuals to assess the effect of lighting. Mayo discovered that the interview program established by the study naturally instilled a sense of higher purpose in the employees. [11]
The Hawthorne Studies were conducted at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric from 1924 into the early 1930s. They began as a study of the effect of lighting on worker performance. Elton Mayo was instrumental in identifying the psychological basis of the phenomena observed in the experiments. The studies determined that motivation is not ...
The Hawthorne studies were part of the reason why more importance was placed on considering the human impact of work. [1] During this period, industrial manufacturers followed the standardized large scale production method, characterized by mass production, scientific management, and stringent division of labor. [ 5 ]
This practice grew out of the human relations movement in the 1920s, and is based on some of the principles discovered by scholars doing research in management and organization studies, most notably the Hawthorne Experiments that led to the Hawthorne effect.
The Hawthorne studies marked a turning point in organizational behavior research. These studies, conducted at Hawthorne Works, a telephone equipment factory in Cicero, Illinois, from 1924 to 1933, aimed to improve worker conditions and understand the dynamic relationships between managers and workers. [3]
In the preface of "The making of scientific management: Vol 3. The Hawthorne Investigations," Elton Mayo (1947) acknowledged, that: Aerial view of the Hawthorne Works, 1925. Lyndall Urwick was the first person to take public notice of the successive studies of human relations in industry undertaken by the Western Electric Company.