Reading Time: < 1 minute
Google Web Search
Photo Credits: Wikimedia (Public Domain)
The research underpinning the Hawthorne effect was flawed, and the story is a myth though being watched does affect your behavior.
The Hawthorne effect is where individuals modify their behavior in response to their awareness of being taken notice of or observed.
Credit: Wikipedia: Hawthorne effect
You are probably familiar with the Hawthorne effect, and you will find it frequently referenced in management literature.
What you might not know is that the research was flawed, and the story is a myth.
This does not mean that being watched does not affect behavior — it does — just that the Hawthorne research does not support the idea.
Is the Hawthorne Effect a Myth? | Todd GrandeCredit: Thanks to David Creelman for pointing me to this research.
Resources
- Research Paper: Was There Really a Hawthorne Effect at the Hawthorne Plant? An Analysis of the Original Illumination Experiments
- Economist: Light Work: Being watched may not affect behaviour, after all
- BBC: How being watched changes you – without you knowing
POST NAVIGATION
CHAPTER NAVIGATION
SEARCH
Blook SearchGoogle Web Search
Related Items
Photo Credits: Wikimedia (Public Domain)
This page is part of a blook on Conversational Leadership. Parts of this book have restricted access. You can learn more about the book and how to obtain full access on the home page.
Gurteen Knowledge Letter
The Gurteen Knowledge Letter is a free monthly newsletter with over 20,000 subscribers that I have been publishing by email for over 20 years.
Learn more about the newsletter and register here.
The Gurteen Knowledge Letter is a free monthly newsletter with over 20,000 subscribers that I have been publishing by email for over 20 years.
Learn more about the newsletter and register here.
Actually, more recent research has shown the Hawthorne effect is a myth.
see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17091208
(or Google “Hawthorne Effect Debunked”)
I suspect our instincts are right in that there is some kind of truth related to the supposed effect; but whatever that hypothesized “some kind of truth” is, it did not show up in the Hawthorne experiments on productivity.