HAWTHORNE STUDY

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HAWTHORNE STUDY

• The Hawthorne works of General Electric Company,
  Chicago, manufactured equipment for the
  Bell Telephone System and employed nearly
  30,000 workers at the time of experiments
  . Although, in all material aspects, this was the
  most progressive company with pension and
  sickness benefit schemes along with various
  recreational and other facilities, discontent and
  dissatisfaction prevailed among the employees.

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• After the total failure of the investigations,
  the company asked for assistance from National
  Academy of Sciences which initiated its
  experiments with a view to examining the
  relationship between workersefficiency and
  illumination in the workshop. The researchers
  manipulated the independent variable i.e.
  illumination to observe its effects on
  productivity.
• Earlier Relay room Experiments
•  To study the effects of changed illumination on
  work, 2 groups of workers were selected. In one
  group ( control group) the illumination remained
  unchanged and other group, the illumination was
  enhanced.

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• The productivity in the enhanced illumination
  group improved. However, the output of former
  group also went up. Then the researches decreased
  illumination. The output went up once more. This
  showed that some other factors were responsible
  for increased productivity, regardless of
  increase/decrease illumination. These experiments
  paved the way for Hawthorne studies, which
  demonstrated that there was something more
  important than wages, hours of work, working
  condition, etc. This something was the complex
  human variable. Despite negative results, the
  illumination experiments did not end up in the
  wastebasket but instead provided a momentum to
  the relay room phase of Hawthorne studies.

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Relay Room Experiments  Taking
a clue from preceding illumination
experiment, the researchers attempted to set
up a test room and selected 2 girls for
the experiment . These girls are asked to select
another 4 girls, thus making a group of 6
girls. This group was asked to assemble telephone
relays. It was observed that  1.  Under
normal conditions and time, each girl produced
2400 relays in a week. 2.      These girls were
then placed on piecework basis for 8 weeks and
productivity was observed increased.3.Two 5
minutes rest breaks were introduced and the break
time was extended to 10 minutes, which resulted
in sharp increase of productivity.
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4.  On changing the break time to 6
minutes , there was a slight fall in productivity
as the girls complained that their work rhythm
was broken because of these breaks.   5. The
system no. 3 was restored with hot meal provided
by company free of charge and productivity
increased. 6. They were allowed to disperse at
4.30 p.m. instead of 5 p.m. and productivity
remained the same.  7.They were allowed to
disperse at 4 p.m. and productivity remained the
same.
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       8. All amenities were
withdrawn and the girls returned to the original
normal working conditions with 48 hours work per
week, including Saturday, no rest break, no
piecework and no free meal. This remained over
for 12 weeks and productivity was the highest
ever achieved with average of 3000 relays per
week. Implications of the Results
 1. Productivity increased basically because of
a change in the girls attitudes towards work and
their work-groups. 2. They made to feel
important by soliciting assistance and
co-operation. 3. They were no longer cogs in
the machines but formed a congenial group
attempting to assist the company to solve a
problem. A feeling of stability and a sense of
belonging grew. Therefore they work faster than
past.
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4.  Medical examinations conducted
regularly revealed no symptom of fatigue and
absenteeism declined by 80. 5.  It was also
observed that the girls employed their own
techniques of putting together components of
relay to avoid monotony. They were given adequate
freedom. Under the circumstances the group
developed a sense of responsibility and
self-discipline. 6.  The independent variables
viz. Rest, etc. were not causing the variation in
the dependent variable i.e. productivity.  
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• 2nd Relay and Mica splitting Test Room
  Experiments
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• A 2nd relay assembly group was set up to assess
  the effect of wage incentives on productivity. 5
  workers with adequate experience were shifted
  from similar position in regular department. The
  nature of supervision, working conditions and
  work settings were similar to those workers in
  regular department. The difference was that the
  assemblers in the 2nd. Relay group were engaged
  on a different small group piece rate scheme.
  This led to 12 increase in productivity of the
  experiment of the experiment group.

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In the mica splitting study, although
the isolated test room conditions of the original
relay study were reproduced, the workers were
engaged under their normal individual piece rate
plan rather than small group incentive scheme
employed with the relay room experimental
subjects. The result revealed 15 increase in
productivity in 14 months period. The outcome of
these 2 studies was vague. There was no evidence
to support the hypothesis that the constant rise
in productivity in relay assembly test room
during 1st. 2 years could be attributed to wage
incentive variable alone. It was also concluded
that the efficacy of a wage incentive scheme was
so much dependents on other variables as well
that it could not be considered to be the sole
factor to have affected the workers .
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Mass Interviewing Programme
 Another major aspect of the Hawthorne studies
consisted of 20,000 interviews conducted in
1928-30. On the basis of interviewing programme
the following inferences were drawn
 1.      In case an employee is given
opportunity to express his grievances, his morale
is improved. 2.      Complaints were not
necessarily objective statement of facts. They
were more symptoms of deep-rooted
disturbances. 3.      Workers were governed by
experiences gained both inside and outside the
company in respect of their demands. 
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 4.      The workers were satisfied or
dissatisfied depending upon how he regarded his
social status in the company and what he felt he
was entitled to rather than in terms of objective
reference. Bank Wiring Room Study  The
objective of the study was to conduct an
observational analysis of informal work groups.
14 men were employed in bank wiring including 9
wireman, 3 solder man and 2 inspectors. The job
involved attaching wires to switches for certain
parts of telephone equipment. The problem was to
observe precisely what was going on. Due to some
practical difficulties the study was to observe
precisely what was going on. Due to some
practical difficulties the study was conducted in
a separate test room.
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It was carried out by 2 persons 1
observer and 1 interviewer. The observer sat in
the wiring room behaving friendly but appearing
quite non-challenging and non-committal. He won
the confidence of the group and was accepted as a
regular member. The interviewer remained as
outsider and his task was to find out workers
thoughts and feelings and their values and
attitudes, etc. he carried out his work in strict
confidence, privately and in a different part of
the factory. Although he never entered the wiring
room, he kept in constant touch with the
observer. All other conditions were identical to
those of bank wiring department including the
supervisors.
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The result was opposite to relay
room. The group was indifferent to financial
incentives of the factory wherever any worker
attempted to produce more he was compelled to
come back to his normal level of production.
Group norms were important to workers than
incentives. The reasons for restriction of
production was fear of unemployment, possibility
of rising standards, protection of slower workers
and attitude of contentment among mangers.There
was unwritten code of conduct of fair days work.
A member should not turn out too much and too
little work. There existed a highly integrated
group in bank wiring room which had its own
social norms contrary to factory norms. This
indicates that attempts should be made to ensure
that informal groups facilitate achievements of
the organizations objectives rather than
obstructing them.  
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 Implications of Hawthorne Study
1. Contradictory results Contradictory
results were obtained in the relay room and bank
wiring room experiments due to implications of
organizational behaviour. In the relay room
experiment, production constantly increased and
relay assembly was greatly motivated and equipped
with ve attitude. Whereas in bank wiring room
study, there was restriction of production among
the dissatisfied workers who displayed ve
attitude towards the factory. 2. The answer to
this questions were found in case of girls
working in relay room where they preferred to
work in small groups, nature of supervision,
earnings, novelty of the situation, interest in
experiment and attention received in test room.
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1.    3.  The role of supervision
The quality of supervision plays a vital role
in determining productivity.Conclusions of
Hawthorne Study  1. The need for recognition,
security and sense of belonging exert greater
impact on productivity than physical working
conditions. 2. Attitudes and effectiveness of
workers are determined by social requirements
obtained from inside and outside factory
environment.
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3. Informal groups operating within work
settings exert strong social control over work
habits and performance of individual
workers. 4. Supervision has a great impact on
the behaviour of group in determining as to
whether they will react ve.ly or ve.ly while
working towards the organizational objectives.