A series of studies during the 1920s and 1930s

that provided new insights into individual and

group behavior.
Some studies in Hawthorne Plant:
Illumination Experiment Studies: This study was conducted by George
A. Penock during April 1924 to April 1927.
Hypotheses: “ The better the light, the higher the output, the worse the
Action
light, the taken
lower the output.”Experiment Room Control Room
Light increased Production No effect
increased
More light More increase in Increased production
increased Production

Light reduced Production Production increased

increased
In illumination experimentation, the engineer surprised by
getting astounding result. They were not sure but
concluded that illumination intensity was not directly
related to group productivity, and that something else
must have contributed to the results. They were not able
to pinpoint what the something else.
In 1927, the western electric engineers asked Harvard
professor Elton Mayo and his associates to join the
study as consultants.
Conductor: Elton Mayo and His Associates
Period: 1927-1932
Place: Hawthorne plant, western electric company,
Chicago.
Conditions Given Results

Snacks, time off, least supervision, free Production went up to 2888

conversation, reduced work hour, rest relays.
of different amount of time

All benefits suspended Production further increased

to 2900 relays

Some benefits reintroduced Production further increased

to 3000 relays.
• Group consciousness
• Freedom and friendliness
• Lost apprehension of authority
• Common end
• Mutual help and protection
• Own value
1. Organizations are social system.
2. Management is to maintain social system in a
state of equilibrium.
3. Problem solving needs adequate diagnosis
and understanding of actual human situations
prevailing in the organization.
4. Least pressure for work creates
wholeheartedness and spontaneous
commitment of workforce to the work and
make people free and creative.
5. Open human environment helps developing
team sprit and mutual cooperation among
people.
System: A set of interrelated and interdependent
parts or subsystems working as a whole.
Closed system: Closed systems are not
influenced by and do not interact with their
environment.
Open system: Open systems dynamically interact
with their environment.
When we describe organizations as systems, we
mean open systems. Organization takes inputs
(resources) from the environment and
transforms or processes these resources into
outputs that are distributed into the environment.
 Environment

Transformation
Inputs Outputs
process
•Raw materials •Products and
•Employee’s work
•Human Resources services
•Management
•Capital •Information
activities
•Technology •Human results
•Operational methods

Environment
Systems researchers envisioned an organization
as being made up of “ Interdependent factors,
including individuals, groups, attitudes, motives,
formal structure, interactions, goals, status, and
authority.”

What this means is that managers coordinate the

work activities of the various parts of the
organization and ensure that all the
interdependent parts of the organization are
working together so that the organization’s goals
can be achieved.
For example, the systems approach would
recognize that, no matter how efficient the
production department might be, if the marketing
department does not anticipate changes in
customer tastes and work with the product
development department in creating products
customers want, the organization’s overall
performance will suffer.
In addition, the systems approach implies that
decisions and actions taken in one
organizational area will effect others area. For
example, if the purchasing department does not
acquire the right quantity and quality of inputs,
the production department will not be able to do
Management is not ( and can not be) based on
simplistic principles to be applied in all
situations. Different and changing situations
require managers to use different approaches
and techniques.
The contingency approach ( sometimes called the
situational approach) says that organizations are
different, face different situations(contingencies),
and require different ways of managing.
Is management science or Art?
Management as practice is an art; the organized
knowledge underlying the practice is a science.