American psychologist and sociologist Mayo Elton: biography, contribution to science. hawthorne experiment

2024 Author: Miguel Ramacey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 06:11

Modern foreign management theories are based on the scientific ideas of one of the main schools - psychological, which takes into account the role of interpersonal relationships and patterns of behavior. Elton Mayo made a great contribution to the development of the School of Management. The School of Human Relations initiated new research in the sociology of management, organizational psychology, and management psychology.

Elton Mayo: biography (1880 - 1949)

Mayo Elton was born in Australia (Adelaide) in 1880 in the family of a real estate dealer. Planning to inherit the profession of his grandfather, who was a famous surgeon, Mayo Elton has been studying medicine for four years at various educational institutions: the University of Adelaide, the University of Edinburgh, and the London Medical School. Interested in the humanities, he graduated from the university in 1911 with a degree in psychology.

Mayo Elton decided to devote himself to science and taught at the University of Queensland (Brisbane), then at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), and from 1926 - atHarvard Business School (USA). For five years, Mayo Elton, as a professor and project leader, was engaged in industrial research, which was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. After his retirement, he moved to England, where Mayo Elton died in 1949.

Mayo's Hawthorne Experiments

Especially popular in the scientific community were the experiments of Elton Mayo, which were conducted in Hawthorne at one of the leading enterprises - Western Electric in 1927-1932. The production process at the enterprise was organized taking into account the concepts of scientific management of Taylor and Ford.

The HR model was paternalistic. At the same time, employees had a guaranteed pension, insurance in case of illness and disability. Attention was paid not only to the creation of industrial infrastructure, but also to the construction of sports grounds, schools, shops, clubs, etc. The number of employees of the enterprise is 30 thousand people of different nationalities.

Stages of research

The first studies within the framework of the experiment (1924-1927) were aimed at studying the effect of room illumination on labor productivity. The hypothesis about the positive effect of illumination was not confirmed. At the same time, the researchers drew attention to the fact that labor productivity changes under the influence of other side factors.

The second stage of the study (1927-1932) was called the "Hawthorne experiments", in which several groups took part: a team of relay assemblers, a team of workers inmica peeling, a team of typists and a team of men who checked telephone lines, wound coils, etc. The choice of groups was due to the similarity of working conditions - the monotony of operations that required high precision.

The essence of the Hawthorne experiments

In the participants of the experiment from the brigade of relay assemblers, their individual level of labor productivity was initially measured. In the course of the study, a group of female workers were provided with various additional opportunities, working conditions were changed, etc. in order to obtain data on what factors affect performance. For example, the method of group incentives was used, an additional break for rest was introduced, the time of weekly and daily employment was reduced, the control of the he alth status of workers was strengthened, more attention was paid to the participants in the experiment by the company's management.

The listed means of influence contributed to raising the status of workers, maintaining a friendly atmosphere in the team. Over time, a conflict arose in the team between two workers and the leader of the experiment, labor productivity began to fall. After dismissing these workers and taking on new ones, productivity increased by almost 30%.

The organizers of the experiment suggested that the new workers, wanting to prove themselves and show themselves well, diligently treated their professional duties, and the old workers, fearing dismissal, also began to work more productively.

Second brigade of pickers, control group,bonuses were also paid for group work, while other additional conditions were not created for them.

The work of the mica stratification team was paid according to the individual piecework wage system. A group of typists were paid weekly based on their individual work.

Mayo's role in experimental work

Mayo Elton received reports on a series of studies within the framework of the experiment, described and interpreted the results, advised the company's researchers, acquainted the public with the results of the Hawthorne experiments. The Western Electric Company paid Mr. Mayo $2,500 a year (1929-1933). At the end of the experiments, in 1933, Mayo published the scientific work "Human Problems of Industrial Civilization", which revealed not only the results of research, but also covered the issues of social stability of an industrial society.

Elton Mayo's interpretation of results

Analyzing the results of the Hawthorne experiments, Mayo Elton focuses on the psychology of work, the internal attitude of the employee, his satisfaction with the tasks performed, as well as the psychological atmosphere in the team and leadership styles.

Critics noted that Mayo did not pay enough attention to material incentives for work. Speaking about social stability, Mayo notes that as a result of urbanization and industrialization, society is experiencing a cultural crisis (anomie).

Mayo Theories

In general, the study of interpersonal interactions inthe labor collective and the individual needs of the employee, which laid the foundations of a new paradigm in management theory, began to be associated with the name of Elton Mayo.

The results of the study became the basis for the scientific substantiation of the concept of increasing labor productivity as a result of changes in intangible conditions. Unlike representatives of other theories, who considered the relationship between productivity and wages to be fundamental, Mayo Elton suggested that the quality of work performed is influenced by employee satisfaction with their position in the team, relationships with the manager and colleagues.

Thus, increasing the organizational culture, improving the interpersonal sphere are the key to effective management, as Elton Mayo noted. The Hawthorne experiments proved the priority of human influence over material stimulation in the management paradigm.

Social behavior concept

In contrast to the concept of economic man (Taylor), the concept of human social behavior was put forward by Elton Mayo. Management aims to increase productivity in the team. The labor collective, like any other social system, is distinguished by the property of non-summativity, i.e. the irreducibility of the properties of the system to the sum of the properties of its elements. Members of the work collective, each of which is a person with their own interests, needs, goals, always form a unique social system.

Control techniques are aimed at ensuring that this systemworked effectively. In each team they will be adjusted. But generally speaking, a system of government built on authoritarianism can be short-lived and effective only under certain conditions. Human activity can be successful only if it meets his interests.