History of team building & The Hawthorne
Experiments
the hawthorne experiments
The Hawthorne Experiments were conducted by Professor Elton
Mayo, from 1927 to 1932, at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Chicago.
The experiments were primarily started with the intention of studying the
relationship between productivity and work conditions. Professor Mayo started
these experiments by examining the physical and environmental influences of
the workplace (e.g. brightness of lights, humidity) and then moved on to the
psychological aspects (e.g. breaks, group pressure, working hours, managerial
leadership).
The Hawthorne Effect
The findings in Hawthorne Experiments have been generally
described as the “Hawthorne Effect”, which can be summarized as
"Individual behaviors may be altered because they know they are being
studied." This is, however, only one of the many useful conclusions that
Professor Mayo made. For example, Mayo also found that worker productivity
increased with the psychological stimulus of being shown individual attention,
feeling involved, and being made to feel important.
About the Experiment
Mayo selected two ladies from the factory, and they in turn chose another
four ladies to participate in the experiment. The team worked in isolation,
under the supervision of a friendly supervisor who established a working
relationship with them. He took time to explain the changes that were to
be introduced, asked for their feedback and listened to their complaints.
Mayo then varied the working conditions like working hours and number
and duration of rest breaks in stages. The level of production is mechanically
recorded, while the supervisor recorded the team’s behavior.
Elton Mayo's Conclusions on Team Performance
Among other findings, these conclusions made by Mayo have
significantly impacted the way management ran their production plant from
then on and, we believe, resulted in the eventual birth of the concept of
team building:
• Relationships between supervisor
and workers affected productivity. Mayo discovered that the
relationships between workers and their supervisors affected production. The
working relationship that the supervisor established with the workers was
not a usual on at that time. Women did not have a high social status at the
workplace and when the supervisor asked for the feedback from the ladies and
listened to their complaints, it gave them a sense of self-worth. Mayo believed
that this spurred them on to produce more even when all the privileges were
taken away.
• Workgroup norms significantly
affected productivity. If most people produced at a particular
level after a change was made, everyone tended to produce at that level, as
it was ‘a fair day’s work’ (this confirmed similar conclusions
made previously by other researches)
• The workplace has a culture. A worker’s performance is affected by internal and external social demands.
Informal groups within the work plant influence the habits and attitudes of
the workers.
• Being taken care of. Being recognized for their work, feeling secured and a sense of belonging
is more important that physical conditions at work.
Emergence of team building
One of the most crucial conclusions from the experiments
is that toward the end of the tests, when all of the privileges were taken
away, productivity continued to rise to an all time high. It was reasonably
concluded that the production team were more motivated to work hard by the
factors listed above than the physical working conditions. The researchers
also noted that there was a possibility that the production team was grateful
that the experiments were extended from the initial arrangement of one year
to five.
In the decades that followed, employers became aware of the
importance of maintaining a positive work culture and relationship with workers
and probably led to the emergence of team building exercises and retreats.
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on history of team building
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