The Hawthorne Effect

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the Hawthorne studies and the two main experiments that took place between 1924 ? 1933 at the Hawthorne plant of the Western electric company-- the illumination study and the relay assembly test room study. It describes how testing was carried out, how the data was collected and the results of the research. The experiments were paid for by General Electric (GE) and were originally implemented to see the correlation between productivity of workers and the light levels used while working.

From the Paper:

"There were many problems with the Relay Assembly Test Room Experiment and these problems have caused much controversy on whether or not the Hawthorne effect actually exists or not. Dr H. McIlvaine Parsons researched the theory in 1972 and even went back to the Hawthorne Plant where the experiments took place. He discovered some very interesting flaws in the published reports. He discovered that the test room was better ventilated, quieter and brighter than the relay assembly floor, and the observers were gentle friendly people unlike their normal supervisors. He also discovered that two women were replaced from the experiment after eight months because they were becoming disruptive and their work rates were dropping. It is also possible that the steady rate of increase could be explained by the mere fact that as time passed the women simply became more talented and confident in their jobs."

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