From 1925 to 1932 a series of psychology experiments were conducted at the Hawthorne Western Electric Plant. Australian psychologist, Elton Mayo (1880-1949), who some refer to as the founder of the human relations movement,  was the Harvard professor and research team leader behind the project. His aim was to see if human’s productivity increased depending on how bright the lights were in the plant.

Illumination Experiments led Mayo and his team to conclude that human beings respond to the social, psychological experience of participation. The Illumination experiments saw changes in lighting intensity provoke increases in productivity rates among shop-floor factory workers (irrespective of whether the lights were turned up or down).

This means that when someone dimmed or increased the lights the workers noticed and thought, “wow, there watching us at the moment.” This made them increase productivity. Maybe they would of formed better results if the employees didn’t know they were testing and the light changes were very small.

So what is the Human relations movement?

• Employees are essentially social beings, not merely rational economic ones.
• As social beings, employees are members of groups and are NOT motivated strictly by monetary gain.
• Managers should always relate to individuals with full awareness of the nature of groups and their influence on individual behaviour.
• The manager is responsible for turning these informal groups into positive forces in the workplace.
• Managerial effectiveness often depends upon a relationship of mutual trust between employees and their superiors.
• Aside from the ground-breaking work by Elton Mayo at the Hawthorne plant, several other names are also closely associated with the Human Relations Movement such as Abraham Maslow and Douglas McGregor.

What do you think of Mayo’s experiment? Good? Bad? Or maybe interesting?