The famous American sociologist E. Mayo introduced into sociology and control theory such an important concept as "human relations." This term has become the basis not only for the formation of a model for managing a specific enterprise, but also for creating a managerial concept of the state and society as a whole.
The concept of human relations E. Mayo, which is an organic continuation of previous theories (primarily the concepts of F. Taylor), was largely a consequence of the serious research conducted by scientists who are known as the Hawthorne Experiment.
In 1927, E. Mayo received an invitation from Western Electric to establish labor and production discipline at the enterprise. Thus began the famous Hawthorne experiment, which stretched over time for five years.
E. Mayo's Hawthorne experiments included 4 main stages.
The first stage was an experiment to identify the effect of lighting on labor efficiency. During the research, the workers were divided into two groups: in one, the illumination of the workplace was gradually increased, and in the other, everything was left as it was. At first, the “Taylor principle” worked: improving working conditions led to increased productivity. However, over time and in the second group, improvements were outlined, in addition, and after the illumination returned to its original characteristics, the performance continued to increase.
E. Mayo concluded that in such a positive result, both the effect of the participation of the workers in the experiment and the fact that they felt attention to themselves from the authorities played a large role.
At the second stage, E. Mayo tested the impact of various economic and socio-psychological factors in production. To do this, he selected six workers, isolated them from the rest of the team, and through his assistant, who began to play the role of an informal leader, conducted a series of experiments. At the beginning, working conditions were dramatically improved: wages were increased, additional breaks were introduced, and the number of days off increased. Labor productivity thereafter naturally increased. But even after returning to the previous conditions , the labor efficiency of the selected workers turned out to be higher than the rest. From the obtained results, E. Mayo concluded that it is important for workers to participate in a particular process with those people with whom it is comfortable. Thus, the Hawthorne experiment made it clear that informal groups existing in the collective play a more important role for workers than formal ones. In addition, any informal group has a leader through which it is possible to influence this small team as a whole.
The third stage was purely scientific and theoretical in nature. A survey was conducted of several thousand workers regarding their attitude to small groups, but as a result, these polls did not help to develop any theory.
At the fourth stage, E. Mayo decided to return to the experiment again and singled out a special group of 14 male workers, into which his assistant psychologist was introduced. The main conclusion that the scientist made at the end of the experiment was that any small informal group eventually forms its own moral. This morality is aimed at avoiding conflicts within the group due to the fact that each participant is offered a certain averaged model of behavior. Therefore, the administration of the enterprise, which deals with a large team, should also strive to form a certain morality at the level of the entire plant.
In general, the Hawthorne experiment and the conclusions made by E. Mayo on its results found a wide response both in the scientific and in the production environment, and served as the basis for creating a whole direction in the sociology of enterprises, associated with a careful, first of all, attitude to the employee , to his interests and needs.