“Hawthorne Effect, the tendency for experiment participants to change their behavior when they
realize they are being observed” (Mitchel, 2016)
As Organizational Leaders what does this phenomenon tell you about observed behaviors
and those you may not see? How does this impact the broader context of an organization,
particularly when trying to gather authentic data on organizational behavior?
Put simply the Hawthorne effects tells us that people behave differently when they believe they
are being observed.
While performing the experiment on worker productivity in the Western Electric parts factory in
Hawthorne, Illinois, researches ultimately arrived at the conclusion that It was not specific changes
in conditions that lead to productivity improvement, but that almost any change could lead to
improvements if employees felt that management was paying attention to them and their
conditions. Employees ultimately value the opportunity to give input related to operational
decisions. What the Hawthorne effect has shown is that it is largely about managing employees to
feel like they are an integral part of your business. Getting employees involved into workplace
decisions tends to make them feel more like a part of a cohesive team.
It tells us that when we analyze workplace behavior, we must include considerations in our
observations for this type of bias, as behaviors we observe may differ greatly from those we don’t.
When implementing changes in the workplace we must not take initial results at face value, instead
we must allow for behaviors to go unobserved and revisit results to understand the actual effect
the changes are having in organizational behavior.
As Virgin founder Richard Branson said, on an interview with INC: "It should go without saying,
if the person who works at your company is 100 percent proud of the brand and you give them the
tools to do a good job and they are treated well, they're going to be happy, […] If the person who
works at your company is not appreciated, they are not going to do things with a smile, […]
Effectively, in the end shareholders do well, the customers do better, and your staff remains
happy," (Raymundo, n.d.).
Works Cited
Mitchel, E. (2016, August 3). The Hawthorne Effect: What happens when no one's watching?
Retrieved February 2019, from EOSCU: http://blog.eoscu.com/blog/the-hawthorneeffect-what-happens-when-no-ones-watching
Raymundo, O. (n.d.). Richard Branson: Companies Should Put Employees First. Retrieved
February 2019, from inc.com: https://www.inc.com/oscar-raymundo/richard-bransoncompanies-should-put-employees-first.html