The Hawthorne Effect

Back in the 1920s, 40,000 employees at Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Cicero Illinois, produced a steady output of telephone equipment, in what was considered a much coveted job in the immigrant rich suburb of Chicago. Beginning in 1924 and lasting for the next three years, the National Academy of Sciences began a study at Hawthorne and three other locations, with the intent of determining the impact of better illumination on productivity, efficiency and worker morale.

Marked Increases

Researchers quickly reported a marked increase in all three parameters, not only in the areas where lighting was improved, but also in unstudied, unenhanced areas of the plant. Even more confounding, productivity and efficiency continued to remain elevated, even when the improved lighting was turned down or even shut off entirely. Calling their results inconclusive and flawed, the studies were canceled by the National Academy, until Western Electric and Harvard University revived the study in 1928, originally focusing their efforts on six young women working the relay line, which became the first industry-based scientific study to examine employee attitudes and their relationship to productivity.

Output Up

Changes to scheduling, work breaks and manufacturing processes were freely discussed with the focus group, whose output and involvement in their work increased dramatically, reflecting a robust elevation of work performance under increased interaction and engagement by management. Each completed relay was counted by a ticker tape, which recorded an overall increase in productivity of thirty percent. Under the direction of Harvard psychologist and industrial researcher, Elton Mayo, the study continued until 1932, moving into production areas throughout the Hawthorne facility, where some 20,000 workers were interviewed about their jobs, their supervisors, their work environments and even their personal lives, making the Hawthorne Studies the first ever employee interview program anywhere in the industrialized world. Coined

An Advance in Corporate HR

“The Hawthorne Effect” by Henry A. Landsberger in 1958, and later criticized by researchers for lacking control groups, the first of its kind study revealed how worker productivity improved when workers were exposed to increased attention by management, making the Hawthorne Effect, a major leap forward in corporate human relations.