The effect the Hawthorne Studies has had on contemporary management - Essay Example

Nonetheless, the performance of a company is influenced by the productivity of employees. Therefore, management in a company mainly influences the employees and their performance. In this case, therefore, effective management in a company increases the productivity of the company, while poor management might lead to the decline in company performance. Putting the success of companies in perspective, it is clear that the aspect of management is a major determinant. Therefore, management is a possible answer to the question of failure or success of a company.

Nonetheless, in order to find a solution or an answer to a problem, it is important to undertake an investigation. A good example of an experiment or investigation that was launched to find a solution to a problem is the Hawthorne studies, which was in the form of experiments. This paper therefore, explores the influence of Hawthorne studies on contemporary management. The Hawthorne Studies are made up of different investigations into the essence off attitudes and behaviors of different social, economic, and physical variables at the workplace (Jones 1991).

The major investigations of the Hawthorne Studies were conducted between the years 1927 and 1932 at the Hawthorne Works, a company near Chicago that dealt with the manufacture of electricity. According to Levitt & List (2009) the major aim of the Hawthorne studies was to investigate the different factors in the environment at the workplace influenced the productivity of workers. In these studies, the factors that were tested in five different stages included lighting, adjusted hours of work, and additional breaks.

Nonetheless, conclusions from the Hawthorne studies showed that the productivity of workers would increase, if the workers were aware that they are under observation. The researchers in this case found out that changing the light intensity or other variables in the work environment was not the major cause of increased productivity of workers. However, the workers’ productivity increased when the workers were aware that they were being observed closely. Therefore, the aspect of constant supervision and active monitoring of the workers led to their increased productivity (Porter 2002).

Nonetheless, through the Hawthorne studies, the modern managers can learn many important lessons in management of their companies, as Hawthorne studies majorly revolve around the subject of management as practiced in the field. Therefore, the Hawthorne studies manifest itself in different ways in the modern management practices in companies. Managers today can learn and apply the principles in Hawthorne studies to their management practices with respect to their specific environments, in order to achieve similar outcomes (Sonnenfeld 1985).

According to Muldoon (2012), some of the most important management aspects that managers today can learn from the Hawthorne studies include some aspects of scientific management, organizational behavior, and the quantitative approach. In addition, Porter (2012) notes that, using the Hawthorne studies and understanding the phenomenon underlying this principle, managers today can apply a similar approach to a variety of modern processes. Managers can utilize techniques of psychological motivation to modern processes to increase productivity, decrease defects, and ensure that there is continuity in improvement.

Organizational behavior mainly revolves around the actions of people in an organization. In Hawthorne