of 36
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ed in scaleand scope,the nine-yearstudy took
place at themassiveHawthorne
Works plantoutside ofChicago andgenerated amountain of
documents,from hourlyperformancecharts tointerviews
withthousands ofemployees.Harvard
BusinessSchools rolein theexperimentsrepresented amilestone inthe dawn ofthe human
relationsmovementand a shift inthe study ofmanagementfrom ascientific to a
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multi-disciplinaryapproach.Baker
Librarysexhaustivearchivalrecord of theexperimentsreveals theart andscience of
this seminalbehavioralstudyandthe questionsand theoriesit generatedabout therelationshipof
productivityto the needsandmotivationsof theindustrial
worker.
The Hawthorne PlantAny company controlling many
thousand workerstendsto lack any
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telephone industry untilthe time of its break-upin 1984. Like otherconglomerates of its
day, the Bell TelephoneSystem, as the entireenterprise was known,combined production,distribution, andmarketing under onecorporation as a way tocentralize its operations
and eliminatecompetition. WesternElectric, themanufacturing unit ofthe company, producedtelephones, cables,transmissionequipment, andswitching equipment.
Haw
thorne Works for
the Manufacture
of Power
Apparatus, ca.
1920Construction of
the Western ElectricHawthorne Works onover 100 acres in Cicero,Illinois, began in 1905.
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By 1929 more than40,000 men and
women reported towork at the massive
plant, which includedoffices, factories, ahospital, fire brigade,laundry facilities, and agreenhouse. Employees
were assigned toprecisely measuredtasks in highly
specializeddepartments, fromswitchboard wiring topunch-and-die toolmaking. Themanufacture of someequipment, such asautomatic telephoneexchanges, required
hundreds of separateassembly and inspectionoperations, and
Western Electricbecame one of theforerunners in applyingscientific management(inspired in part by
Frederick Taylors timeand motion studies) toits production units.
Employee Welfare
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We stand on the threshold of a new
era in which attention and interest
are beginning to shift fromthings
that are worked with, to the
worker; from the machinery of
industry, to the man who made,
owns, or operates it.
Robert Yerkes, Chairman of the Personnel
Research Federation, National Research
Council, 1922
Track and Field Events, ca. 1925
In the early 1900s laborunions, socialreformers, journalists,and photographers
brought to national
attention poor workingconditions experiencedby industrial workers.In the ensuing economicclimate of the late 1920sand 1930s, manyexecutives came to
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believe that thefoundation of businessand of a democraticsociety itself rested in
part in affirming therole of the worker. Toinspire company loyalty,discourage highemployee turnover andunionization, andpresent a good face tothe public, corporate
managers began tofocus on the well-beingof the employee throughthe practice of welfarecapitalism.
In addition to pensions,sick pay, disability
benefits, and stock
purchase plans,Western Electricworkers couldparticipate in a range ofrecreational andeducational programsfrom running meets,tennis games, and
baseball leagues to
lunchtime concerts,beauty pageants, andevening classes. Thecompanys accidentprevention programsincluded the
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introduction of safetyshoes, eye goggles, andguards for heavymachinery. To better
understand workerproductivity and jobsatisfaction, WesternElectric becameincreasingly interestedin studies from thesocial, behavioral, andmedical sciences.
Illumination Studies andRelay Assembly Test Room
They say figures dont lie, but we
have shown that we can take a set
of figures and prove anything wewant to.
Donald Chipman, Supervisor, Western Electric,
1931
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Illumination Study, 1926
Research onproductivity at massivemanufacturingcomplexes like theHawthorne Works wasmade possible throughpartnerships amongindustries, universities,
and government. In the1920s, with supportfrom the NationalResearch Council, theRockefeller Foundation,and eventually HarvardBusiness School,
Western Electricundertook a series of
behavioral experiments.The first, a sequence ofillumination tests from1924 to 1927, set out todetermine the effects oflighting on worker
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efficiency in threeseparate manufacturingdepartments. Accountsof the study revealed no
significant correlationbetween productivityand light levels. Theresults promptedresearchers toinvestigate other factorsaffecting worker output.
Per
formance
Recording
DeviceThe next
experiments beginningin 1927 focused on therelay assemblydepartment, where theelectromagneticswitches that madetelephone connectionspossible were produced.
The manufacture ofrelays required therepetitive assembly ofpins, springs,armatures, insulators,coils, and screws.
Western Electric
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produced over 7 millionrelays annually. As thespeed of individual
workers determined
overall productionlevels, the effects offactors like rest periodsand work hours in thisdepartment were ofparticular interest to thecompany.
Wom
en in the Relay
Assembly Test
Room, ca. 1930In a
separate test room, anoperator prepared partsfor five women toassemble. The womendropped the completedrelays into a chute
where a recordingdevice punched a holein a continuously
moving paper tape. Thenumber of holesrevealed the productionrate for each worker.Researchers wereunsure if productivity
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increased in thisexperiment because ofthe introduction of restperiods, shorter
working hours, wageincentives, thedynamics of a smallergroup, or the specialattention the womenreceived. In 1928,George Pennock, asuperintendent at
Western Electric, turnedto Elton Mayo atHarvard BusinessSchool for guidance.Were going to have aman come out from oneof the colleges and see
what he can tell usabout what weve found
out, Pennock wrote. 1
1
Daily History Record, Relay Assembly Test
Room, February 20, 1928, Western Electric
Company, Hawthorne Studies Collection, Baker
Library, Harvard Business School.
Enter Elton MayoSo long as commerce specializes in
business methods which take no
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account of human nature and social
motives, so long may we expect
strikes and sabotage to be the
ordinary accompaniment of industry.
Elton Mayo, Professor of Industrial
Management, Harvard Business School, 1920
E
lton Mayo, ca. 1950
Elton Mayo was born inAdelaide, Australia in1880. Affable, witty, anda brilliant lecturer, he
taught mental andmoral philosophy at theUniversity ofQueensland, where heconducted psycho-pathological tests on
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World War I shell-shockvictims. Well-read inthe works of Freud,Jung, and Lvy-Bruhl,
he developed a closerelationship withanthropologistBronislaw Malinowskiand began to formulatea view of industrydrawn fromanthropology,
psychology, andphysiology. Mayobelieved that unlockingthe psyche of the worker
was key tounderstandingindustrial unrest athome and abroad.
In 1923, Mayo became aresearch associate at theUniversity ofPennsylvanias WhartonSchool, studying theeffects of fatigue onemployee turnover. Hisscience-based researchand multi-disciplinary
approach caught theattention of Wallace B.Donham, Dean ofHarvard BusinessSchool. In 1925,Donham wrote to
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Harvard President A.Lawrence Lowell askingfor funds to appointMayo associate
professor in the study ofhuman relations. Lowellat first responded thathe could not justify theexpense or risk ofsupporting a newdiscipline, but Donhamconvinced him of the
value of the field forboth industry andsociety and Mayosunique qualifications forthe job.
Human Relations and
Harvard Business SchoolThe subject of human relations in
industry is one of the most
important things in the whole field
of business and one which we must
investigate and teach.
Wallace B. Donham, Dean of Harvard Business
School to Harvard President A. Lawrence
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Lowell, 1925
Harvard Fatigue Laboratory, 1946
At Harvard BusinessSchool, Dean Donham
began to shift the focusfrom scientificmanagement andapplied economics to
human relations, agrowing course of study.Mayos 1935 researchcourse HumanProblems of
Administrationincluded readings anddiscussions on recent
developments inphysiological andpsychopathologicalstudies, the FrenchSociological School,anthropological studies,
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and the theories ofItalian economist
Vilfredo Pareto. Mayoalso formed a close
partnership andfriendship with L. J.Henderson, physiologistand biochemist.Henderson ran theHarvard FatigueLaboratory, located inthe basement of the
Business SchoolsMorgan Hall, whereresearchers studiedhuman reactions toenvironment, includingthe effects of fatigue onproductivity.
Together, Donham,
Mayo, and Hendersonhad a lasting influenceon the direction ofHarvard BusinessSchools curriculum andresearch, whichembraced applied,empirical-based studiesand a multi-disciplinary
approach incorporatingbiology, physics,biochemistry,psychology, sociology,and anthropology. InMayos time . . . the idea
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of considering humanrelations in factoriesand offices wasastonishing, Abraham
Zaleznik, Professor ofLeadership, Emeritus,at Harvard BusinessSchool, notes.2 In aletter to Donham in1939, Mayo expressedhis gratitude forDonhams steady
support throughdifficult years and thepart it played in thedevelopment of this
work.3 Humanrelations was laterintegrated into otherprograms at Harvardand further developed
by Business Schoolprofessors such asGeorge Lombard, aleader in the field oforganizational behavior.
2
Abraham Zaleznik in Richard C.S. Trahair, The
Humanist Temper: The Life and Work of Elton
Mayo. New Jersey: Transaction Books, 1984, p.
1.
3
Letter from Elton Mayo to Wallace B. Donham,
November 8, 1939. Wallace B. Donham Office
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Files, Baker Library, Harvard Business
School.
The Women in the RelayAssembly Test RoomI had no idea there would be so
much happening and so many people
watching us.
Theresa Layman Zajac, Relay Assembly TestRoom Operator, 1976
Women in the
Relay Assembly Test Room, ca. 1930
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Com
parison of
Output with
Hours of Sleep,
ca. 1930GeorgePennock welcomedMayos arrival at theHawthorne Works in1928. We have
becomeskeptical ofbeing able to proveanything in connection
with the behavior ofhuman beings undervarious conditions, hewrote.4 OtherHawthorne experimentstaking place at the timeincluded the effect of
wage incentives in themica splitting
department. In thestudy of fourteen menin the bank wiring testroom, where conditions
were unaltered, nochange in productivity
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occurredattributed inpart to an implicitunderstanding amongthe workers not to
exceed what theyconsidered a fair quota.
Dai
ly History
Record, October
16 and 17,
1929The studies
monitoring the output
of relay assemblyworkers, which began in1927, continued until1932, becoming thelongest runningHawthorneexperiments. HomerHibarger and later
Donald Chipman,Western Electricsupervisors, reviewedproduction performancetapes and the results ofroutine physical exams
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and maintained a logsheet of work, dailyevents, and supervisorsobservations. The six
operators studied in aseparate test room weresingle women in theirteens and earlytwenties. They camefrom Polish, Norwegian,and Bohemian families,
whom they helped
support.
T
heresa Layman Zajacs Paycheck, August 13,
1927
The women noted thatthe intimateatmosphere of the testroom gave them a senseof freedom notexperienced on thefactory floor. They feltmore at ease to talk andover time developedstrong friendships.Weve been the best
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friends since the day wewere in the test room,one of the operatorsremembered. We were
a congenialbunch.5 Through theyears, productivity inthe relay assembly testroom rose significantly.Mayo reasoned that thesix individuals became ateam and the team gave
itself wholeheartedlyand spontaneously toco-operation in anexperiment.6 These
views contributed toMayo andRoethlisbergersconclusion that mentalattitudes, proper
supervision, andinformal socialrelationshipsexperienced in a group
were key to productivityand job satisfaction.
4
George Pennock to Dugald Jackson, October
22, 1930, quoted in Richard
Gillespie, Manufacturing Knowledge: A History
of the Hawthorne Experiments. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1991, p. 76.
5
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Relay assembly room test operator in Jeffrey A.
Sonnenfeld, "Shedding Light on the Hawthorne
Studies," Journal of Occupational Behavior, Vol.
6, 1985, p. 124.
6
Elton Mayo, Social Problems of an Industrial
Civilization. Boston: Division of Research,
Graduate School of Business Administration,
Harvard University, 1945, p. 64.
The Interview ProcessI think interviewing is a good
idea. It helps some people get a
lot of things off their chest.
Western Electric employee, in Comments and
Reactions on Interviewing Program, ca. 1930
Fac
tory Cabling
Department, ca.
1925Assisting Mayo
was his researchassistant, FritzRoethlisberger.Unassuming, bookish,and disciplined,Roethlisberger hadstudied philosophy at
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Harvard. He worked asa psychologicalcounselor for Harvardstudents and became
known as an expertlistener. Roethlisberger,
who found himselfspellbound by Mayoscreative imaginationand clinical insights,
would himself becomeone of Harvard Business
Schools beloved andhighly sought afterprofessors.7
Lon
g Stroke LeadSheathing Press,
ca. 1925Under Mayo
and Roethlisbergersdirection, theHawthorne experiments
began to incorporateextensive interviewing.
The researchers hopedto glean details (such ashome life orrelationship with aspouse or parent) thatmight play a role in
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employees attitudestowards work andinteractions withsupervisors. From 1928
to 1930 Mayo andRoethlisberger oversawthe process ofconducting more than21,000 interviews and
worked closely trainingresearchers ininterviewing practices.
Mag
netic Wire
Insulating
Department, ca.
1925Mayo and
Roethlisbergersmethodology shifted
when they discoveredthat, rather thananswering directedquestions, employeesexpressed themselves
more candidly ifencouraged to speakopenly in what wasknown as nondirectedinterviewing. It becameclear that if a channel
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for free expression wereto be provided, theinterview must be alistening rather than a
questioning process, aresearch study reportnoted. The interview isnow defined as aconversation in whichthe employee isencouraged to expresshimself freely upon any
topic of his ownchoosing.8
Cord Finishing
Department, ca. 1925
Interviews, whichaveraged around 30minutes, grew to 90minutes or even twohours in length in aprocess meant toprovide an emotional
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release. The resultingrecords, hundreds andhundreds of pages in
which employees
disclose personal detailsof their day to day lives,offer an astonishinglyintimate portrait of the
American industrialworker in the yearsleading to and followingthe Depression. In a
pre-computer age,thousands of commentswere sorted intoemployees attitudesabout general workingconditions, specific jobs,or supervisors andamong these categoriesinto favorable and
unfavorable commentsused to supportinterpretations of thedata. Both workers andsupervisors comments
would aid in thedevelopment ofpersonnel policies and
supervisory training,including thesubsequentimplementation of aroutine counselingprogram for employees.
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In his autobiographyThe ElusivePhenomena,Roethlisberger wrote of
grappling withobjective, hard data
versus subjective, softdata. I felt verystrongly, he noted,"that in the gooey softdata there existeduniformities about
human behavior thathad to be coaxed outbythe method ofclinical observation andinterviewing which I
was advocating for theadministrator touse.9 Roethlisbergerdiscovered that what
employees found mostdeeply rewarding wereclose associations withone another, informalrelationships ofinterconnectedness, ashe called them.Whenever and where it
was possible, he wrote,[employees] generatedthem like crazy. Inmany cases they foundthem so satisfying thatthey often did all sorts
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of nonlogical thingsinorder to belong.10 InMayos broad view, theindustrial revolution
had shattered strongties to the workplaceand communityexperienced by workersin the skilled trades ofthe 19th century. Thesocial cohesion holdingdemocracy together, he
wrote, was predicatedon these collectiverelationships, andemployees belief in asense of commonpurpose and value oftheir work.
Spreading the WordThis is the most important book on
the subject which has appeared in
recent years.It should be read by
every industrial and social
administrator, by industrial andsocial workers of every grade, and
by every politician.
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Review of Elton Mayos The Human Problems of
Industrial Civilization, in the journal The
Human Factor, 1934
The Depression and
massive layoff ofemployees at WesternElectric helped bringthe Hawthorneexperiments to agrinding halt in theearly 1930s. But thestudies took on a new
life in public lecturesgiven by Mayo, accountsof the experiments inheadlines from New
York to Texas,andFortune magazines1946 feature articlepraising Mayos studies.In keeping with its
research mission,Harvard BusinessSchool publishednumerous monographsand articles on thestudies, and reviewsappeared inprofessional journals.
Classic texts on theexperimentsincluded The IndustrialWorker, by HarvardBusiness Schoolprofessor Thomas North
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Whitehead in 1938, andthe 600-page, best-sellingtomeManagement and
the Worker, byRoethlisberger andHawthorne supervisors
William Dickson andHarold Wright in 1939.In 1933, Mayopublished The Human
Problems of an
Industrial Civilization.Modern society, hewrote, had destroyedthe belief of theindividual in his socialfunction and solidarity
with the group.11 Itwould be up to anadministrative elite to
develop methods forimproving workermorale and ultimatelysecuring nationalstability at a time ofeconomic and socialunrest.
11
Elton Mayo, The Human Problems of an
Industrial Civilization. New York: MacMillan,
1933, p. 159.
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The Hawthorne EffectWhat Mayo urged in broad outline
has become part of the orthodoxy of
modern management.
Abraham Zaleznik, Professor of Leadership,
Emeritus, Harvard Business School, 1984
Completion
of Counseling in an Organization, December 6,
1966
In 1966, Roethlisbergerand William DicksonpublishedCounseling inan Organization, which
revisited lessons gainedfrom the experiments.Roethlisbergerdescribed theHawthorne effect asthe phenomenon in
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which subjects inbehavioral studieschange theirperformance in
response to beingobserved. Many criticshave reexamined thestudies frommethodological andideological perspectives;others find theoverarching questions
and theories of the timehave new relevance inlight of the currentfocus on collaborativemanagement. Theexperiments remain atelling case study ofresearchers andsubsequent scholars
who interpret the datathrough the lens of theirown times andparticular biases.12
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