The Hawthorne Studies (1 ene 1924 año – 1 ene 1960 año)

Descripción:

** The experiment took place starting in 1924, however the conclusions were applied in the 1950s/1960s.

The Western Electric Company performed a research program to examine individual productivity at the Hawthorne Works of the firm's Chicago plant. Initially, the scientific management perspective was applied, and the research aimed to determine the way economic incentives and physical conditions in the workplace affected worker outputs.
After changing elements of the physical workplace, and not finding any changes, the research attention was directed towards human interactions within the workplace.

Through an experiement that focused on the way work hours and work conditions affected employee performance, researchers concluded no changes in employee output. Their productivity increased regardless of the changes. The reasearchers agreed that it was the social setting that increased productivity . Two factors were singled out as especially important: group atmosphere and participative supervision. Group atmosphere referred to the fact that the workers had pleasant social interactions and relations with each other and wanted to do their job well. Participative supervision meant that employees were made to feel important, as they were given more information, and were frequently asked for their opinions.

Through more experminets and further studies, the researches concluded that groups can have strong positive and negative influences on an individual's productivity.

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