Elton Mayo is known as the founder of the Human Relations Movement, and is known for his research including the Hawthorne Studies, and his book The Social Problems of an Industrialised Civilization (1933).
The research he conducted under the Hawthorne Studies of the 1930s showed the importance of groups in affecting the behaviour of individuals at work. However it was not Mayo who conducted the practical experiments but his employees Roethlisberger and Dickinson.
This enabled him to make certain deductions about how managers should behave. He carried out a number of investigations to look at ways of improving productivity, for example changing lighting conditions in the workplace.
What he found however was that work satisfaction depended to a large extent on the informal social pattern of the workgroup. Where norms of cooperation and higher output were established because of a feeling of importance.
Physical conditions or financial incentives had little motivational value. People will form workgroups and this can be used by management to benefit the organisation. He concluded that people's work performance is dependent on both social issues and job content. He suggested a tension between workers' 'logic of sentiment' and managers' 'logic of cost and efficiency' which could lead to conflict within organisations.
Criticism regarding his employees' procedure while conducting the studies:
The members of the groups whose behaviour has been studied were allowed to choose themselves.
Two women have been replaced since they were chatting during their work. They were later identified as members of a leftist movement.
One Italian member was working above average since she had to care for her family alone. Thus she affected the group's performance in an above average way.
The research he conducted under the Hawthorne Studies of the 1930s showed the importance of groups in affecting the behaviour of individuals at work. However it was not Mayo who conducted the practical experiments but his employees Roethlisberger and Dickinson.
This enabled him to make certain deductions about how managers should behave. He carried out a number of investigations to look at ways of improving productivity, for example changing lighting conditions in the workplace.
What he found however was that work satisfaction depended to a large extent on the informal social pattern of the workgroup. Where norms of cooperation and higher output were established because of a feeling of importance.
Physical conditions or financial incentives had little motivational value. People will form workgroups and this can be used by management to benefit the organisation. He concluded that people's work performance is dependent on both social issues and job content. He suggested a tension between workers' 'logic of sentiment' and managers' 'logic of cost and efficiency' which could lead to conflict within organisations.
Criticism regarding his employees' procedure while conducting the studies:
The members of the groups whose behaviour has been studied were allowed to choose themselves.
Two women have been replaced since they were chatting during their work. They were later identified as members of a leftist movement.
One Italian member was working above average since she had to care for her family alone. Thus she affected the group's performance in an above average way.
Mayo's Beliefs:
Supervisors should not act like supervisors - they should be friends, counselors to the workers
Managers should not try to micro-manage the organization by an overriding concern for product or job quality at the expense of the macro-social, or humanistic, characteristics of work
People should be periodically asked how they feel about the work, their supervisors, and co-workers
Humanistic supervision plus morale equals productivity
Those who don't respond to group influence should be treated with sarcasm
Workers should be involved or at least consulted before any change in the organization
Employees who leave should be exit-interviewed - turnover should be kept to a minimum.
Managers must be aware of these 'social needs' and cater for them to ensure that employees collaborate with the official organisation rather than work against it.
Mayo's work in the Hawthorne Experiments was later modified by Douglas McGregor as they did not originally show how work practices and organisational structure should be modified in order to improve worker satisfaction and productivity.
McGregor suggested that the links between organisational design, motivation and productivity were more complex than first thought by Mayo.
CRITICISMS OF MAYOISM
Mayoism was criticized on several grounds, most of which revolved around the charge it was "Cow psychology" (Contented Cows Give More Milk). It was a bit too idealistic in trying to remove any form of conflict from the organization, a bit too evangelistic in trying to save the world, and it excused much immaturity and irresponsibility among the workers.
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