Howthorne Studies by Elton Mayo

1. THE HOWTHORNE STUDIES
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2. ELTON MAYO:FOCUSING ON HUMAN
RELATIONS
 Father of Human Relations Approach
 The experiments were conducted in four phase:
1. Illumination experiments
2. Relay assembly test room experiments
3. Interview phase
4. Bank wiring observation room
experiments
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3. 1.Illumination experiments
 The first, a sequence of illumination tests from
1924 to 1927, set out to determine the effects of
lighting on worker efficiency in three separate
manufacturing departments.
 Accounts of the study revealed no significant
correlation between productivity and light levels.
 The results prompted researchers to investigate
other factors affecting worker output.
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4.  In the first series two groups were made.
 One group was exposed to varying intensities of
illumination.
 Since this group was subjected to experimental
changes, it was termed as experimental group.
 Another group was called control group,
continued to work under constant intensities of
illumination.
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5.  The researchers found that as they increased the
illumination in the experimental group, both
groups increased production.
 When the intensity is decreased, the production
continued to increase in both the groups.
 The production decreased when the illumination
was below the level of moon light.
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6. 2.The Relay Assembly Room
 This phase aimed at knowing
not only the impact of
illumination on production but
also other factors like length of
the working day, rest hours, and
other physical conditions
 In this experiment, a small
homogeneous work-group of six
girls was constituted. These
girls were friendly to each other
and were asked to work in a
very informal atmosphere under
the supervision of a researcher.
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7.  The incentive scheme was changed so that each
girls extra pay was based on the other five rather
than output of larger group, say 100 workers or
so. The productivity increased as compared to
before.
 Two five minutes rests- one in morning session
and other in evening session-were introduced
which were increased to 10 minutes. The
productivity increased
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8.  The rest period was reduced to 5 minutes but
frequency was increased. The productivity
decreased slightly and the girls complained that
frequent rest intervals affected the rhythm of the
work.
 The number of rest was reduced to two of 10
minutes each, but in the morning, coffee or soup
was served along with sandwich and in the
evening, snacks was provided. The productivity
increased.
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9.  Changes in the working hours and workdays were
introduced such as cutting an hour off the end of
the day and eliminating Saturday work.
 the girls were allowed to leave at 4.30 pm
instead of usual 5.00 pm and later at 4.00pm.
Productivity increased.
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10. Conclusion of experiment
 As each change was introduced, absenteeism
decreased, morale increased and less
supervision was required.
 Sense of belongingness ,self- discipline, sincerity
increases.
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11. 3. INTERVIEW PHASE
 21000 people were interviewed
between 1928-1930
 To determine employee attitude
towards the company and their
jobs.
 21,000 employees were
interviewed over a period of three
years to find out reasons for
increased productivity. It was
concluded that productivity can be
increased if workers are allowed to
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12.  Initially, a direct approach was used whereby
interviews asked questions considered important
by managers and researchers.
 The researchers observed that the replies of the
workmen were guarded.
 Therefore, this approach was replaced by an
indirect technique, where the interviewer simply
listened to what the workmen had to say.
 The findings confirmed the importance of social
factors at work in the total work environment.
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13. 4. Bank Wiring Test Room
Experiment:
 Conducted during 1931- 1932
 It was undertaken by
researchers to test some of the
ideas they had gathered during
the interviews.
 A group of 14 male workers in
the bank wiring room were
placed under observation for six
months.
 A worker's pay depended on the
performance of the group as a
whole. The researchers thought
that the efficient workers would
put pressure on the less efficient
workers to complete the work.
 However, it was found that the
group established its own
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14.  The hypothesis was that in order to earn more
workers would produce more and in order to
take advantages of group bonus, they would help
each other to produce more.
 But this reason failed as workers decided the
target for themselves which was lower than the
companies target.
 Ex- group target for a day was connecting 6600
terminals against 7300 terminals set by the
company. The worker gave following reasons for
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15.  Fear of unemployment: the basic reasoning of workers was that if
there would be more production per head, some if the workers
would be put out of employment .
 Fear of raising the standards: most workers were convinced that
once they had reached the standard rate of production, management
would raise the standard of production reasoning that it must be easy
to attain.
 Protection of slower workers: The workers were friendly on the
job as well as off the job. They appreciated the fact that they had
family responsibility that required them to remain in the job.
 Since slower workers were likely to be retrenched, the faster
workers protected them by not overproducing.
 Satisfaction on the part of management: According to workers,
management seemed to accept the lower production rate as no one
was being fired or even reprimanded for restricted output.
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16. Don't be a rate-buster, chisler or
squealer
Don’t act officious
The norms under which the group operated were:
 You should not turn out too much work. If you
do, you are a rate buster
 You should not turn out too little work. If you do,
you are chisler
 You should not tell a supervisor anything that
might get a colleague into trouble. If you do, you
are a squealer
 You should not attempt to maintain social
distance or act officiously, If you are an
inspector, for example, you should not act like
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17. SANCTIONS: BINGING,RIDICULE &
EXCLUSION
Norms were enforced through a system of negative
sanctions or punishment:
 Ridicule-When a group member was referred as “The
Slave’ or Speed King
 Binging-When a norm violator was tapped on the
upper arm
 Total rejection or exclusion of the individual by the
group as a whole
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18. The End
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