IMPLICATIONS OF HAWTHORNE STUDIES

Ø      IMPLICATIONS  OF HAWTHORNE STUDIES

Ø     C.S.E MAINS EXAM COMMERCE AND ACCOUNTANCY LECTURE 6

•   
ORGANIZATION BEHAVIOR

•    HUMAN RELATION APPROACH

1. WAS DEVELOPED OUT OF THE REACTION TO CLASSICAL APPROACH. ELTON MAYO AND FOLLOWERS SOUGHT TO INCREASE PRODUCTION BY HUMANIZING IT THROUGH BEHAVIORAL EXPERIMENTS KNOWN AS HAWTHORNE EXPERIMENTS
2. IN NOVEMBER 1924,A TEAM OF RESEARCHER-PROFESSORS FROM THE HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL OF U.S.A STARTED INVESTIGATING INTO THE HUMAN ASPECT OF WORK AND WORKING CONDITIONS AT HAWTHORNE PLANT OF WESTERN ELECTRIC COMPANY CHICAGO.
3. COMPANY WAS PRODUCING BELLS AND OTHER ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT FOR TELEPHONE INDUSTRIES.

Ø     ELTON MAYO,ROETHLISBERGER,WHILEHEAD AND WILLIAM DICKSON

•    NUMBER OF EXPERIMENTS

1. ILLUMINATING EXPERIMENTS ( 1924-1927) TO FIND OUT THE EFFECT OF ILLUMINATION ON WORKER’S PRODUCTIVITY
2. RELAY ASSEMBLY TEST ROOM EXPERIMENTS( 1927-28) TO FIND OUT THE EFFECT OF CHANGES IN NUMBER OF WORKING HOURS AND RELATED WORKING CONDITIONS ON WORKING PRODUCTIVITY
3. EXPERIMENTS IN INTERVIEWING WORKERS( 1928-30) TO FIND OUT WORKERS ATTITUDE AND SENTIMENTS TOWARD WORK
4. BANK WIRING ROOM EXPERIMENTS ( 1931-320 TO FIND OUT SOCIAL SYSTEM OF THE ORGANIZATION

Ø  ILLUMINATION EXPERIMENTS

1. 1924
2. SERIES OF STUDIES OF TEST GROUPS IN WHICH THE LEVEL OF ILLUMINATION VARIED BUT THE CONDITIONS WERE HELD CONSTANT.
3. THE LOGIC WAS TO MEASURE THE RELATION OF THE PRODUCTIVITY,QUALITY AND ILLUMINATION.
4. THE OUTPUT TENDED TO INCREASE EVERY TIME AS THE INTENSITY OF LIGHT WAS IMPROVED BUT OUTPUT AGAIN SHOWED AN UPWARD TREND WHEN THE ILLUMINATION WAS BROUGHT DOWN GRADUALLY AND EVEN BELOW THE NORMAL LEVEL.
5. NO CONSISTENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE OUTPUT OF THE WORKERS AND ILLUMINATION IN THE FACTORY.

Ø     IMPLICATIONS

•    THE RESULTS WERE SURPRISING. MAYO AND ROETHLISBERGER FOUND THAT WORKERS WERE MORE RESPONSIVE TO SOCIAL FACTORS, SUCH AS THE PEOPLE THEY WORKED WITH ON A TEAM. WORKERS ERE HIGHLY RESPONSIVE TO ADDITIONAL ATTENTION FROM THEIR MANAGERS. THE STUDIES FOUND THAT ALTHOUGH FINANCIAL MOTIVES ARE IMPORTANT BUT SOCIAL ISSUES ARE EQUALLY IMPORTANT IN PRODUCTIVITY.

•    RELAY ASSEMBLY TEST ROOM EXPERIMENTS

•    SEGREGATED THE WORKERS ON THE BASIS OF DEFINITE RANGE OF WORKING CONDITION VARIABLES.

•    THE SELECTED VARIABLES INCLUDED WORK ROOM TEMPERATURE,HUMIDITY.WORK SCHEDULE,REST BREAKS AND THEIR FOOD CONSUMPTION.,FRIENDLY AND INFORMAL SUPERVISION,FREE SOCIAL INTERACTION ETC

•    FIVE WOMEN WERE CHOSEN.

•    MORALE AND PRODUCTIVITY INCREASED CONSIDERABLY DURING THE PERIOD OF EXPERIMENT.AND IT WAS AGAIN MAINTAINED EVEN IF IMPROVEMENT IN WORKING CONDITIONS WERE WITHDRAWN.

•    IMPLICATIONS

•    SOCIO PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS SUCH AS THE FEELING OF BEING IMPORTANT,RECOGNITION,ATTENTION,PARTICIPATION,COHESIVE WORK GROUP AND NON DIRECTIVE SUPERVISION HELD THE KEY FOR HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY

Ø     BANK WIRING ROOM EXPERIMENTS

•    MAYO AND HIS ASSOCIATES WERE INTERESTED TO KNOW HOW A GROUP PRESSURIZE AN INDIVIDUAL INTO LOWER PRODUCTION IN SPITE OF HIGH INCENTIVE WAGE RATE.

•    THE GROUP WAS COMPRISED OF FOURTEEN MEN IN ALL,NINE WIRE MAN WHO ATTACHED WIRES TO THE TELEPHONE SWITCH EQUIPMENT,THREE SOLDER MAN,TWO INSPECTORS. ALL OTHER WORKING CONDITIONS WERE KEPT THE SAME AS THEY HAD BEEN IN THE MAIN WORKING AREA OF THE PLANT.

•    WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MEN,RECORDS OF THEIR INDIVIDUAL OUTPUT HAD BEEN KEPT FOR A PERIOD OF 18 MONTHS PRIOR TO THE STUDY.THE OUT BEFORE AND AFTER WAS COMPARED ,IF THERE IS ANY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCE,WAS ASSUMED THAT MOVE HAS CHANGED IT.

•    OBSERVATION

1. EACH INDIVIDUAL WAS RESTRICTING OUTPUT
2. THE GROUP HAD ITS OWN UNOFFICIAL STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE
3. INDIVIDUAL OUTPUT REMAINED FAIRLY CONSTANT OVER A PERIOD OF TIME
4. DEPARTMENTAL RECORDS WERE DISTORTED DUE TO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACTUAL AND REPORTED OUTPUT OR BETWEEN STANDARD AND REPORTED WORKING TIME.

•    CONCLUSION

•    GROUP SOON DEVELOPED A HIGHLY ORGANIZED SOCIAL STRUCTURE,WITH CLEAR CUT SOCIAL STRATIFICATION,SOCIAL CLIQUES,DEFINITE PATTERN OF COMMUNICATIONS,INTERACTION AND A TACITLY RECOGNIZED LEADER

•    GROUP SOON EVOLVED A SET OF NORMS OR CODE OF CONDUCT WHICH WAS OBVIOUSLY IN CONFLICT WITH MANAGEMENT

•    CODE OF THE GROUP

1. IF YOU PRODUCE TOO MUCH ,YOU ARE A RATE BUSTER OR SPEED KING,AN UNDESIRABLE CHARACTER
2. IF YOU PRODUCE CONSIDERABLY LESS,YOU ARE A CHISLER ALSO A SOCIAL PARIAH
3. IF YOU TELL A SUPERVISOR ANYTHING WHICH MIGHT BE DETER MENTAL TO THE GROUP,YOU ARE A SQUEALER AND LIABLE TO BE SOCIALLY OSTRACIZED.
4. YOU SHOULD BE ONE OF THE BOYS AND NOT SOCIALLY DISTANT FROM THE OTHER OF THE GROUP
5. YOU SHOULD NOT BE OVERTLY DESIROUS OF THE LEADERSHIP

•    THE NOTE WORTY FEATURE IS THAT THE INFORMAL LEADER’S AUTHORITY WAS STEMMING FREELY FROM  A MEMEBERS OF THE GROUP

•    MASS INTERVIEW PROGRAMME

1. THE RESEARCHER INTERVIEWED A LARGE NUMBER OF WORKERS WITH REGARD TO THEIR OPINIONS:
2. ON WORK,WORKING CONDITIONS,SUPERVISION
3. INITIALLY IT WAS DIRECT
4. REPLACED BY INDIRECT TECHNIQUE WHERE THE INTERVIEWER SIMPLY LISTEN TO WHAT THE EMPLOYEES HAD TO SAY
5. THE FINDING CONFIRMED THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL FACTORS AT WORK IN THE TOTAL WORK ENVIRONMENT

•    CONTRIBUTIONS OF HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH OR HAWTHORNE STUDIES

•    FORMED AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE NEO CLASSICAL ORGANIZATION THEORY

1. THE ORGANIZATION IS A SOCIAL SYSTEM COMPOSED OF NUMEROUS INTERACTING PARTS
2. THE LEVEL OF PRODUCTION IS SET BY SOCIAL NORMS NOT BY PHYSIOLOGICAL CAPACITIES
3. NON ECONOMIC REWARDS AND SANCTIONS SIGNIFICANTLY AFFECT THE BEHAVIORS OF THE WORKERS AND LARGELY LIMIT THE EFFECT OF ECONOMIC INCENTIVE PLANS
4. CONTRIBUTIONS OF HUMAN RELATIONS APPROACH OR HAWTHORNE STUDIES
5. AT THE WORK PLACE THE WORKERS OFTEN DO NOT OR REACT AS INDIVIDUALS BUT AS MEMBERS OF THE GROUP
6. THERE IS AN EMERGENCE OF THE INFORMAL LEADERSHIP AS AGAINST FORMAL LEADERSHIP AND THE INFORMAL LEADER SETS AND ENFORCE GROUP NORMS
7. TWO WAY COMMUNICATION IS NECESSARY