The Hawthorne effect in management

Abstract

An important part of successful project management is about emotional intelligence and soft skills, such as motivating and communicating. It requires skills in human relations.

The Hawthorne effect refers to the tendency of people to alter their behaviours in response to being aware that they are being observed. It is named after a study of worker productivity at the Hawthorne Electrical Works near Chicago in the late 1920s. The original idea was to test how changes in the work environment, such as lightning, working hours and rest breaks affected the productivity. However, based on the observations, the researchers concluded that the workers' productivity was not affected by the changes in working conditions, but rather by the awareness that someone was observing them.

This article will briefly present the history of the phenomena and the original studies it deprive from, explain the theory behind it and why it is relevant within project management, propose an application as well as reflect upon the limitations and challenges around the subject.

Can an intentionally application of the Hawthorne effect within a team lead to greater productivity among the team members, and thus increase the probability of a successful project?

Introduction

The Hawthorne effect, also know as "the observer effect" , is the tendency for people to alter their behaviour when they know that they are being observed . Over the years it has permeated the fields of research, economics, psychology, sociology and not to mention industrial organisation and management. Due to a lack of original data, the concept has been met with a lot of criticism, but supporters of the original studies argue that the research was intended to "generate, not verify, hypotheses" . Although the studies are almost a hundred years old, they continue to impact leadership and organisational schools of thought today.

History: The Hawthorne studies

The Hawthorne effect is a phenomenon named after a series of studies conducted at the Hawthorne Plant, an electric factory, in Cicero, Illinois, during the 1920s and early 1930s . It refers to any change in behaviour related to an awareness of being observed, graded or measured.

The studies were originally intended to examine how various work environment factors, such as shorter work hours, friendlier and more flexible supervision, longer rest periods, to mention a few, impacted the productivity of the employees . The earliest of the studies conducted, and also the most frequently mentioned to back up the studies, are known as the "illumination experiments.

The "illumination experiments"

The aim of the illumination experiments was to test claims that brighter lightning increased productivity. The results, however, were surprising to the researchers. They showed that the productivity of the workers increased for all. The variation of lighting, both natural sunlight and artificial, had no effect proven effect. This led to the conclusion that changes in the workers' performance were a result of the awareness that they were being observed, and not changes in their work environment. This enhancement in productivity is what we today know as the Hawthorne effect.

Hawthorne and its criticism

Even though the Hawthorne studies have become firmly established as a term within social science, it has been heavily criticised from the beginning. As early as 1967, scholars were identifying flaws in the Hawthorne studies. Since then, the studies have been revisited by numerous researchers, where several of them conclude that they are rife with methodological shortcomings, and that, subsequently, the Hawthorne effect itself might not actually exist .

Arguably the greatest limitation of the studies is the lack of surviving data upon which reanalysis and replications can be based. For almost 80 years, the original data from the experiments were widely believed to have been destroyed, but were found in 2009, archived at Cornell University. After having reanalysed both notes and data, resulted in inconsistent results. Contrary to the original study's findings, the reanalysis showed that the productivity of workers did, indeed, increase as the level og lightning increased from the earliest phase of the illumination experiments. Other limitations included lack of adequate control groups, small sample sizes, inconsistent experimental conditions such as varying durations of new lightning conditions, and variation in study rooms.

The criticism can roughly be sorted into two categories: ideological disagreements and methodological challenges .

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Hawthorne in management

Although the findings from the Hawthorne studies have been heavily criticised, much of it can be useful knowledge, or things to have in mind as a project manager. Interpreting the results from the studies one could say that:

• Individual work behaviour is rarely a pure consequence of simple cause and effect relationships, but rather determined by a complex set of factors.
• The informal or primary work group develops its own set of norms which mediates between the needs of the individuals and the work setting.
• The social structure of these informal groups is maintained through job-related symbols of prestige and power.
• Supervisors need to listen to the personal context of employee complaints to understand the unique needs and satisfactions of each individual.
• Awareness of employee sentiments and employee participation can reduce resistance to change.

As a project manager, there is a constant strive for productivity and efficiency among team members. The level of performance is dynamic or put in other words, in constant change. One way to explain this is with the Hawthorne effect, that is, which states that your employees will work with a greater productivity if they are being observed while at work. In management it thus refers to an increased productivity for a given period of time, which will at some point decline.

As a manager, having an understanding of the Hawthorne effect can potentially help create a management style that enhances productivity. Put in a business context, this concept is highly related to motivation, integration and encouraging the employees. The Hawthorne effect is often mentioned as a possible explanation for positive results in intervention studies .

System approach to management

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Enhancing productivity of employees or team members

Different ways to enhance the productivity of employees :

- Periodically hold focus group meetings. That way, the manager can get input from their employees on changes to the operating procedures that could improve their working conditions.

- Make changes periodically. The Hawthorne studies concluded that generally, any change in the workplace tends to make the employees feel like their efforts are being watched and that attention is paid to their performance, thus it can be valuable that these changes happen periodically.

- Listen and pay attention to the employees. To make them feel appreciated will encourage them to improve their performance. People are motivated by emotional factors, such as the feeling of contributing to a common purpose.

- Employee engagement: Engaged employees are the most productive ones.

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Concluding remarks

Today, the focus on project managers is mostly tended to human aspect rather than technical ones, which is why there is a great focus on the development of soft skills as a project manager. One of the most important human aspects is how to motivate the project team members, and this is where knowledge about the Hawthorne effect might come in hand.

Performance is not solely motivated by tasks and and salary. The social factors are also an essential and highly influential factor in terms of an employee's well-being and productivity. Although the Hawthorne studies have received a vast amount of criticism, and the reanalysis of the found data has proven that it is not necessarily legitimate, the idea behind it and what it represents within management is still of high relevance, emphasising the social complexities of organisation life and supports a system approach to management.