Elton Mayo (1880-1949)
"Man's desire to be continuously associated in work with his fellows is a strong, if not the strongest, human characteristic. Any disregard of it by management or any ill-advised attempt to defeat this human impulse leads instantly to some form of defeat for management itself."
— ELTON MAYO
Elton Mayo, an Australian, was a professor of Industrial Research at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He became famous for the Hawthorne studies, which he conducted with his associates from 1924 to 1932 at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Chicago.
He wrote his first book in 1933 called 'The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilisation'. In 1945, he published another book called 'The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilisation'.
Research Findings Relating to Managing People:
• Organisations have a 'human' element. People like to feel important and have their work recognized.
• There is a strong relationship between worker morale and the quality of supervision.
• There are factors other than the work environment that affect worker motivation.
• Workers develop 'informal groups' within the organisation.
• These 'informal groups' play significant roles in influencing group members' behaviour.
• 'Informal groups' are more powerful than formal groups.
• Attitudes and feelings of workers influence productivity.
• People's behaviour may differ, depending on whether they are acting as a group or as individuals.
• There is a reflection of the changing behaviour of workers when someone takes an interest in them.
• Mayo's experiments prompted many other subsequent studies on workers' morale, productivity, and group dynamics.
• These experiments also have a bearing on subsequent studies on the types of leadership.
• It prompted the beginning of the Human Relations School of Management.
"Man's desire to be continuously associated in work with his fellows is a strong, if not the strongest, human characteristic. Any disregard of it by management or any ill-advised attempt to defeat this human impulse leads instantly to some form of defeat for management itself."
— ELTON MAYO
Elton Mayo, an Australian, was a professor of Industrial Research at the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. He became famous for the Hawthorne studies, which he conducted with his associates from 1924 to 1932 at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works in Chicago.
He wrote his first book in 1933 called 'The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilisation'. In 1945, he published another book called 'The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilisation'.
Research Findings Relating to Managing People:
• Organisations have a 'human' element. People like to feel important and have their work recognized.
• There is a strong relationship between worker morale and the quality of supervision.
• There are factors other than the work environment that affect worker motivation.
• Workers develop 'informal groups' within the organisation.
• These 'informal groups' play significant roles in influencing group members' behaviour.
• 'Informal groups' are more powerful than formal groups.
• Attitudes and feelings of workers influence productivity.
• People's behaviour may differ, depending on whether they are acting as a group or as individuals.
• There is a reflection of the changing behaviour of workers when someone takes an interest in them.
• Mayo's experiments prompted many other subsequent studies on workers' morale, productivity, and group dynamics.
• These experiments also have a bearing on subsequent studies on the types of leadership.
• It prompted the beginning of the Human Relations School of Management.