HAWTHORNE EFFECT

THEORY
BY HENRY. A. LANDSBERGER
 THE HAWTHORNE
EFFECT REFERS TO THE
INCLINATION OF SOME
PEOPLE TO WORK
HARDER AND
HAWTHORNE EFFECT IS….
PERFORM BETTER
WHEN THEY ARE BEING
OBSERVED AS PART OF
AN EXPERIMENT.
WHAT IS HAWTHORNE EFFECT?

Change in behavior of Behavioral changes is due to Increased productivity is for a

participants in an attention. given period of time that
experimental study based on declines afterwards.
the fact that they are being
observed.
 • In the 1920’s at a company called Hawthorne
Works Electric Company, Chicago.
• Study conducted to check if employees were
influenced by the CHANGE in Environment.

THE • Changes made included a light change, break

time and work hours.
HAWTHORNE • Whether environmental changes would affect the
EXPERIMENT productivity.
• The study on conclusion witnessed that
productivity was reduced drastically.
• Employees were more productive because they
were being monitored and observed.
HAWTHORNE EFFECT MAY HAVE AN
INFLUENCE ON PARTICIPANT
BEHAVIOUR IN EXPERIMENTS,
THERE MAY ALSO BE OTHER
FACTORS THAT PLAY A PART IN
THESE CHANGES
Demand Characteristics
Novelty effects
Performance Feedback
 • A phenomena that leads to an increase in worker
productivity produced by the psychological
stimulus of being singled out and made to feel
THE IMPACT OF important.
THE • Harvard Business School professor Elton
HAWTHORNE Mayo started out by examining the physical and
EFFECT ON environmental influences of the workplace (e.g.,
PRODUCTIVITY brightness of lights, humidity) and later, moved
into the psychological aspects (e.g., breaks, group
AT WORK pressure, working hours, managerial leadership)
• One reasonable conclusion is that the workers
were pleased to receive attention from the
researchers who expressed an interest in them.
FOUR GENERAL
• The aptitudes of individuals are imperfect
CONCLUSIONS
WERE DRAWN predictors of job performance
FROM THE • Informal organization affects productivity
HAWTHORNE • Work-group norms affect productivity
EFFECT STUDIES
• The workplace is a social system
 • In a focus group to determine the appeal
of an everyday household air freshener,
the interviewer asks the participants
about their current use of air freshener.
One participant named Laura uses air
WHAT THE
freshener daily, as she has a lot of
HAWTHORNE
household pets. In the focus group, she
EFFECT
answers that she rarely uses air
MEANS FOR
fresheners at home because her house is
MARKETING
always so clean and she doesn't require
added freshness. As Laura worries that
others in the group may judge her, the
behaviour she describes to the group
differs from how she truly behaves at
home.
HOW TO REDUCE HAWTHORNE EXPERIMENT

Conduct experiments Make responses Get familiar with the

in natural settings completely anonymous people in the study
 • Listen to your employees
IMPLICATIONS • Attention, not vigilance
OF
• Place the right people in the right
HAWTHORNE
EFFECT IN THE team
WORKPLACE • Gender Diversity
• God of small things
Pretend you are the manager in charge
of a loan processing department.
Describe how would you follow
management approaches or theories-
scientific management or hawthorne
effect

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC