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Issue 5 April 2006
As promised, this edition includes details of the Hawthorne studies. You will find that we return to a common theme this month, which is “show people you are interested”. If you need help on how to do this, and it is not always straight forward, then please use the Help page on our website or contact us directly. We want to help. This newsletter’s Great Leader is Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jnr.
Well known as a Civil Rights Leader, he devoted his life to that movement. However, being well known does not make someone a great leader. So what was it that made him stand out?
So much of our philosophy states that the way to lead people is to take an interest in them and in the way they work. Dr King certainly did that and by preaching non-violence, he ensured a smoother journey to the ending of segregation.
His interest in the lives of black and poor was intense, as you will see when you read the article.
He motivated people by making it acceptable for them to make peaceful protest. This helped to make it easier to stand up and speak.
Life in the deep south of the US was frightening if you were black. The threat of lynching and murder was ever present: as was the Klu Klux Klan.
By standing quietly with other like-minded people, it was more difficult for violence to be used against them.
Dr King was pivotal in nurturing the non-violent movement to end segregation. He verbalised the mission, his “dream”, and led people toward its fulfilment.
You can read the full article on our website by clicking here.
The experiments at the Hawthorne, Chicago plant of Western Electric are justly famous in the classic texts of social science.
However, they remain largely unknown in the everyday world. A survey of managers reveals that Hawthorne means nothing to many. Indeed an online HR magazine recently included a reader’s question that asked if Hawthorn (sic) was fact or fiction!
The results from the Hawthorne studies are an important input to understanding how to manage people.
The studies, began in 1924, were to continue for nine years in various modes. The company, Western Electric, hoped to show that raising the lighting level in the workplace resulted in higher performance. They had developed a new lamp that gave brighter illumination for the same electricity consumption. The marketing department wanted to say their lamps improved performance so buy them now!
The National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences carried out the experiment. No doubt, the marketers wanted to give some authenticity to the findings.
The researchers used the Relay Assembly Test Room for much of their work. The relays were used in telephone exchanges and were intricate complex electro-mechanical assemblies.
Interestingly the results of the experiment were not repeatable. This is a common problem in social science research. It is always difficult, if not impossible, to control all the variables.
The researchers found that changing illumination levels sometimes improved performance, other times not. To add confusion a control group, whose illumination level was unchanged, showed an increase in performance.
These initial experiments lasted three years, a substantial piece of research.
After these confusingly contradictory results, the National Research Council departed and Western Electric turned to Harvard University for help. The terms of research changed from the effects of illumination to the effects of fatigue and monotony.
Many experiments were done to create the best, most productive working conditions. The wage incentives, rest breaks, job content and the daily working hours were all varied.
Whatever outcomes seemed to show in the research, the results were never repeatable elsewhere.
Eventually the researchers came to realise that work is a social function: that work embodies a wealth of relationships, communications and influences.
They realised that the involvement of the managers and supervisors, and the researchers themselves, were playing a significant role in the results. The only experimental intervention that clearly showed good results was the managers showing an honest interest in working with the people to find better ways of doing their work.
When people believe their work is important, their manager cares about what they do and is prepared to help do it better, their motivation increases and performance soars.
We can vouch for the effectiveness of doing this.
You can see this in practice: the supermarket manager on the tills: the CEO on reception: Lord Nelson pacing the deck at the Battle of Trafalgar.
Try it for yourself and make sure you do it honestly.
Recent research shows that the US worker produces in nine months what his UK colleague produces in a year. ( “The UK productivity gap”, Foundation for Science and Technology meeting, 23rd March, 2005, Jonathan Haskel, Queen Mary, University of London and AIM)
There has been a lot of research and talk about this from Queen Victoria’s time onward.
It is possible that the immigrants to the US have a particular characteristic. It may make them both prone to emigrate in search of the new frontier and also curious, always looking for the new opportunity.
To these general thoughts, we can now add an observation based on statistics from our web site.
There is a glaring difference between visitors using a .com rather than a .co.uk IP address. Although there are some non-US organisations using the .com suffix this will only reduce the national differences.
We cannot draw any conclusions from the absolute number of visitors from an IP address region. However, visitors using the .com suffix explored over seven times more files than did their .co.uk cousins.
The hypothesis is that the superior US productivity figures are due to their willingness to look for a better way, an opportunity to improve, to seek the new frontier of knowledge.
How do we redress the balance in the UK?
Start by exploring our website and seeing just what is possible today to inspire people to achieve.
We hope you enjoyed this Perform. Please forward it to anyone you feel would enjoy it. Please look at the information on our website for more details and articles. The next Perform will be in a month.
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© Motivation Matters 2006
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