Hawthorne Effect and Human Relation Movement

Describe how the components of the Hawthorne study are incorporated in current human resource functions? What was the main idea behind this study? How have you been impacted by the components of this study in your current or past work setting? According to Baack (2012), the human relation movement in management began in 1920s and was based on the human element of organizations. The Hawthorne study became one of the branches of the human relation movement (Baack, 2012) As stated by Cubbon (1969), the Hawthorne studies were carried out from the Hawthorne Works, a factory in Chicago.
The idea of those studies was experimenting with psychological factors influencing the employees, while the goal was to increase the productivity levels (Cubbon, 1968). With time, the term became widely known, and many organizations conducted the similar studies. Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger have conducted the Hawthorne studies focusing their research on the employees and the aspects that influenced the workers productivity (Baack, 2012).
According to their findings, the productivity rates increased due to positive interactions between workers and researches, entry-level employees were actively fulfilling the duties of the supervisors without worrying about being disciplined for poor performance, and people started working closely in groups, while being loyal to one another (Baack, 2012). The research showed that workers are motivated not only by money, but also by social interactions, which should be accounted for at the workplace (Baack, 2012).

Human Resources department of any organization should be focused on the workers. Its primary duties are to treat employees fairly and make sure that an organization gives back to its own people. Higher level of people’s satisfaction with the job will lead to the company’s success. It is necessary for managers to understand what makes the employees happier to increase the levels of productivity; that is why conducting the Hawthorne studies is important.
For example, people in my department are not fond of each other; they do not like to work in teams and usually keep blaming each other for different mistakes. If our management arranged different experiments to understand the employees a little better and to find the root of the problem, the workers would eventually change their ways and views, which would lead to creating a better work environment.