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Hawthorne Experiment (Mayo Experiment)

The Hawthorne effect refers to the fact that people will modify their behavior simply because they are being observed. The effect gets its name form one of the most famous industrial history experiments that took place at western Electric's factory in the Hawthorne suburb of Chicago in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

However, subsequent analysis of the effect by the university of Chicago economists in 2009 revealed that the original results were likely overstated.

These experiments were originally designed to study the " Relation of quality and quantity of illumination to efficiency in industry". The surprising thing observed that the output has no relation with the level of illumination. The observer then realized that motivation of the individual has no relation with money or lighting intensity. They started to ask that what motivates an individual to work in groups. 

The psychologist named Elton Mayo was allowed to conduct series of experiments and important findings were;

  • Working in a small, harmonious group can have a significant effect on productivity.
  • Having a chance to air grievances seems to be beneficial to working relationship.
One of the essential principle observed was that when you show concern or pay attention to, there will be considerable betterment in performance. This is known as 'Hawthorne effect' or the 'somebody upstairs cares' syndrome.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • The Hawthorne Effect is when subjects of an experimental study attempt to change or improve their behavior simply because it is being evaluated or studies.
  • The term was coined during experiments that took place at Western Electric's Factory in the Hawthorne suburb of Chicago in the late 1920s and early 1930s.
  • The Hawthorne Effect is thought to be unavoidable in studies and experiments that use humans as subjects. 

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