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CH 14] Business 101 14-3

study to set standards for almost every task. Drivers are instructed to walk quickly—3
feet per second—to the customer's door and to knock first so they don't lose seconds
looking for a doorbell.
UPS pushes its drivers hard but pays them well. The company's drivers, all of them
members of the Teamsters union, earn about $1 more per hour than the best-paid
drivers at other trucking companies earn.

The Human Relations Movement
Even though many managers continue to use money as a primary motivator, a
number of changes have occurred, both in the assumptions made by managers about
employees and in the approaches used by managers to motivate employee excellence.
The origin of many of these changes can be traced to a series of experiments that later
became known as the Hawthorne studies.
In 1927, Elton Mayo and a group of Harvard University researchers met in Cicero,
Illinois, at the Western Electric Company's Hawthorne, New Jersey plant to begin a
study on the relationship between changes in physical working conditions and Hawthorne studies
employee productivity. These investigations, known as the Hawthorne studies, Investigations that
revealed money and job
revealed that money and job security are not the only sources of employee motivation security are not the only
and led to the development of the human relations approach to motivation. sources of employee
By performing controlled experiments in the relay assembly section of the plant, motivation; led to human 14
the researchers sought answers to such questions as, "What is the effect of different relations approach to
employee motivation.
intensities of light on employee output?" and "How will varying noise levels change
worker productivity?" In one experiment, sufficient lighting was provided to a group
of six female workers; later the amount of light was reduced. Mayo and his colleagues
were baffled to discover that reducing the amount of light had almost no effect on
productivity. In some cases, output actually rose. The light intensity was then reduced
to about that of moonlight, and again production increased! The researchers began
looking for the reason behind this increased output phenomenon.
The research staff pulled themselves together and began looking for it. They
conferred, argued, studied, and presently found it. What they discovered that it wasn’t
in the factories production at all. It was an attitude, the way the women now felt about
their work and their group. By segregating them into a little world of their own, by
asking their help and cooperation, the investigators had given the young women a new
sense of their own value and importance. Their whole attitude changed from that of
separate cogs in a machine to that of a congenial team helping the company solve a
significant problem.
They found stability, a place where they belonged, and work whose purpose they
could clearly see affected their motivation. And so, they worked faster and better than Hawthorne effect
they ever had in their lives. The two functions of a factory had joined into one Phenomenon in which sub-
harmonious whole. jects become more
The phenomenon discovered by the researchers became known as the Hawthorne productive because they
feel important and
effect. Employees who are chosen as subjects for scientific studies may become more appreciated.
productive as a result of the interest the researchers have in them. Because they feel
important and appreciated, they initiate a greater incentive to excel in their work.

Figure 14.1 The Process of Motivations

Goal-Directed Need

Need Motivation Behavior Satisfaction

produces which leads to resulting in
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