The experiments at the Hawthorne, Chicago plant of Western Electric are justly famous in the classic texts of social science.
However, they remain largely unknown in the everyday world. A survey of managers reveals that Hawthorne means nothing to many. Indeed, an online HR magazine recently included a reader’s question that asked if Hawthorn (sic) was fact or fiction!
The results from the Hawthorne studies are an important input to understanding how to manage people.
The studies, began in 1924, were to continue for nine years in various modes. The company, Western Electric, hoped to show that raising the lighting level in the workplace resulted in higher performance. They had developed a new lamp that gave brighter illumination for the same electricity consumption. The marketing department wanted to say their lamps improved performance so buy them now!
The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences carried out the experiment. No doubt the marketers wanted to give some authenticity to the findings.
The researchers used the Relay Assembly Test Room for much of their work. The relays were used in telephone exchanges and were intricate complex electro-mechanical assemblies.
Interestingly the results of the experiment were not repeatable. This is a common problem in social science research. It is always difficult, if not impossible, to control all the variables.
The researchers found that changing illumination levels sometimes improved performance, other times not. To add confusion a control group, whose illumination level was unchanged, showed an increase in performance. These initial experiments lasted three years, a substantial piece of research.
After these confusingly contradictory results, the National Research Council departed and Western Electric turned to Harvard University for help. The terms of research changed from the effects of illumination to the effects of fatigue and monotony.
Many experiments were done to create the best, most productive working conditions. The wage incentives, rest breaks, job content and the daily working hours were all varied.
Whatever outcomes seemed to show in the research, the results were never repeatable elsewhere.
Eventually the researchers came to realise that work is a social function: that work embodies a wealth of relationships, communications and influences.
They realised that the involvement of the managers and supervisors, and the researchers themselves, were playing a significant role in the results.
The only experimental intervention that clearly showed good results was the managers showing an honest interest in working with the people to find better ways of doing their work.
When people believe their work is important, their manager cares about what they do and is prepared to help do it better, their motivation increases and performance soars.
We can vouch for the effectiveness of doing this.
You can see this in practice: the supermarket manager on the tills: the CEO on reception: Lord Nelson pacing the deck at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Try it for yourself and make sure you do it honestly.