Topic

1. Topic Names Date Universität Kassel – Abteilung Kommunikation und Internationales

2. Hawthorne Studies (Elton Mayo) What? A series of experiments on factory workers When? 1924 – 1932 Where? Hawthorne Works(Illinois, US) of Western Electric Company, manufacturing arm of AT&T

3. Hawthorne Studies (Elton Mayo) • Who? Industrial engineers • 1927 Harvard Prof. Elton Mayo • Why? Initially: Examine Effect of various lighting levels on worker productivity • Changed to: Study the factors, which influence workers’ behavior

4. Important Experiments • Illumination Experiment: • Lighting intensity NOT directly related with productivity, something else does

5. Important Experiments • Relay assembly Experiment: • Choosing own coworkers, working as a group, being treated special. • Individuals became a team and the team gave itself wholeheartedly and spontaneously to cooperation in the experiment.

6. Important Experiments • Bank wiring room Experiment: • Existence of informal groups or “cliques” • Workers more responsive to their peer group than to the control and incentives of management.

7. Elton Mayo • Summary of Mayo’s believes: • Individual workers must be seen as members of a group • Monetary incentives & good working conditions are less important to the individual than the need to belong to a group. • Informal or unofficial groups formed at work have a strong influence on the behavior of those workers in a group. • Managers must be aware of these 'social needs' and cater for them to ensure that employees collaborate with the official organization rather than work against it. • Mayo's simple instructions to industrial interviewers set a template and remain influential to this day:

8. Criticism • Relay assembly Experiment: • Choosing own coworkers, working as a group, being treated special. • Individuals became a team and the team gave itself wholeheartedly and spontaneously to cooperation in the experiment.