Elton Mayo Management Theories

Broadly speaking, Elton Mayo’s management theory promotes the hypothesis that workers are motivated by social and relational forces more than financial or environmental conditions.¹ It holds that managers can increase productivity by treating employees as unique individuals rather than interchangeable cogs in a machine.²

Many of the theories associated with or popularized by Elton Mayo — broadly known as Human Relations theories — are still applicable today.

In fact, they have seen renewed popularity with large tech companies like Cisco and Google, as “humane” and individual-centered workplace environments have overtaken rigid, industrial corporate hierarchies in popularity.

Elton Mayo’s work has also influenced more modern and Machiavellian management theories, such as the Gervais Principle, which holds that subordinates can be placated with relational perks (peer approval, staff parties and gift certificates) just as effectively as with financial rewards (bonuses, profit-shares).

What are Mayo’s management theories?

These are Elton Mayo’s management theories and the principles of management that come from the Hawthorne and Philadelphia studies:

1. Human and social factors drive industrial problems. Human Relations is the main way to solve them, though technical efficiency via Scientific Management still matters.
2. Workplace rules shape worker attitudes.
3. Attitudes shape informal group rules. Workers’ attitudes determine the character and unwritten rules of workplace social groups.
4. Supervisor and coworker interactions affect well-being. They can cause stress and fatigue.
5. Negative group attitudes undermine formal rules. When attitudes sour, informal rules can win out over formal ones and production drops.
6. Attention prevents underproduction. Workers who are ignored may hold back output on purpose, so managers should give them an appropriate amount of attention.
7. Job satisfaction drives productivity. Group dynamics and attitudes toward work strongly influence motivation, though physical conditions and incentives still matter.
8. Communication builds group cohesion. Managers should be trained to listen and communicate well, so they can understand and address workers’ personal and social problems.
9. Recognition matters more than working conditions. Satisfaction and productivity depend more on recognition, involvement, and cooperation. Employees should get chances to discuss problems, express opinions, socialize, shape their own working conditions, and set their own output standards.
10. Management alignment matters. Managers can side with workers to the detriment of the organization, so they must agree with workplace rules and conditions to work in the organization’s best interests.

What was Elton Mayo’s contribution to management?

• He helped lay the foundation for the human relations movement, shifting management’s focus from the task to the worker.
• He showed that informal groups matter. Cliques set their own rules and can work with or against management.
• His Hawthorne work led to some of the earliest personnel policies, supervisor training, and employee counseling programs.
• The Hawthorne studies gave us the “Hawthorne Effect” (more on that below).
• His work marked the start of Organizational Behavior and Organizational Psychology as fields.

Who is Elton Mayo?

George Elton Mayo (1880-1949), born in Adelaide, Australia, is best known for his contributions to the Human Relations Movement during his time as a Professor of Industrial Relations at Harvard Business School. Prior to Harvard, he also spent time as:

1. Professor of Psychology at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, where he studied and pioneered the use of psychoanalysis and other techniques to rehabilitate World War I soldiers who had shell shock; and
2. Research Associate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Commerce and Finance, where he studied the “interplay of physical and psychological factors in employee turnover.”

Mayo was unique in his time, using a science-based approach that incorporated multiple disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, and physiology. Elton Mayo’s contribution to Management Theory is best summarized in his belief that “unlocking the psyche of the worker is key to understanding industrial unrest at home and abroad.”

What are Mayo’s most famous studies?

Mayo’s theories came out of two studies that were particularly important to the field of Management:

1. The Philadelphia Spinning Mill Studies; and

2. The Hawthorne Experiments.

The Philadelphia Spinning Mill Studies

After having studied shell shock, Mayo saw an analogy between the cause of “war neurosis” and the high level of industrial unrest in Australia. He argued that “the worker’s morale depended on his perception of the social function of his work” and issues could be resolved via effective industrial management.

Using the aforementioned analogy, he started making a series of changes to the department’s working conditions. In turn, these changes—introducing and modifying rest breaks in particular—produced incremental improvements to productivity and morale, eventually resulting in a turnover rate that matched the company’s average after only one year.

It was at this point in history when Mayo became world-famous. While it would later be determined that the rest breaks were only a partial contributor to the improvements, his discovery that improving working conditions could increase motivation and productivity marked the beginning of a major shift in Management Theory.

The Hawthorne Experiments

Having just seen it work in practice at the Philadelphia Spinning Mill, Mayo was given another opportunity to test his theory that improved working conditions will produce motivated and productive employees. This time, he was sought by Western Electric Company's Hawthorne Works in Cicero, Illinois, to aid them in their goals to "inspire company loyalty, discourage high employee turnover and unionization, and present a good face to the public."

These studies, known as the Hawthorne Experiments, began in 1924 with illumination tests that "set out to determine the effects of lighting on worker efficiency." After those tests had been completed in 1927, new studies began, this time examining the impact of factors like rest periods and work hours on production levels. One study where five women assembled relays (electromagnetic switches for telephones) had positive results, but the researchers were unsure which changes to the working conditions — breaks, shorter working hours, incentives, group design, and increased attention — were producing those results. It was at that point in 1928 when Mayo and his colleagues, most notably Fritz Roethlisberger, were brought in to provide assistance.

Relay Assembly Study

A first group of discoveries Mayo had made revolved around what they had been brought in to determine: the cause of the relay assemblers' increased productivity. Mayo determined that the productivity increased significantly over time because: 1. the individuals formed a cohesive and enthusiastic team; and 2. these group conditions increased both job satisfaction and cooperation with the experiment.

Interview Program

A second group of discoveries were found during interviews originally planned to gather details about employees' life situations and their impact on attitudes towards work. After changing from a directed to a nondirected format, interviews grew from around 30 minutes to up to two hours, instead serving as an emotional release and an opportunity to gather substantial data on the attitudes of industrial workers during those times. From this data, Mayo and Roethlisberger discovered the importance of supportive and participative leadership, interpersonal relationships, and social cohesion in the workplace and used this knowledge to help develop some of the earliest attempts at personnel policies, supervisory training, and an employee counseling program.

Bank Wiring Room Study

A third group of discoveries came from the "Bank Wiring Room Study." This time, a group with bad behaviors—like intentionally limiting production and ostracizing/hitting workers who were more productive—was studied in order to determine what was causing the behavior. From this study, Mayo determined that cliques form in organizations, enforce informal rules within them, and can work with or against management depending on its attitudes.

Legacy of the Hawthorne Experiments

The Hawthorne studies ended in 1933, when the Depression hit and mass layoffs ensued, and it wasn't until the 1950s and '60s that the knowledge would be recognized and adopted for its brilliance. Altogether, the studies demonstrated the importance and influence of Human Relations, including employee participation, job satisfaction, effective leadership, motivation, group norms, and resistance to change. While the studies had "flaws in both method and interpretation," Mayo and his colleagues' work "came closer to outlining an integrated theory of human behavior than any other perspective before them" and marked the beginning of the fields of Organizational Behavior and Organizational Psychology.

Criticisms of Elton Mayo’s theory

• The research was weak by modern standards. The Hawthorne test groups were tiny, several conditions changed at once, and later reanalyses of the original data have questioned Mayo’s conclusions.
• He generalized from small groups. Sociologists Reinhard Bendix and Lloyd Fisher argued that what held in a small, isolated test room couldn’t be assumed to hold across a large factory.
• Pro-management bias. Critics like Daniel Bell argued Mayo was “adjusting men to machines,” making workers content instead of giving them more say or freedom.
• He leaned on assumptions about human nature, mainly that people naturally want to cooperate.
• His role is debated. Fritz Roethlisberger and William Dickson ran much of the day-to-day research, and some academics argue the ideas behind human relations predate Hawthorne.

How do Mayo’s management theories apply to companies today?

Because today’s workplace is partly a product of Mayo’s work, a lot of his findings now sound obvious. Most people would agree that interactions with supervisors and coworkers cause stress, and that attention, communication, and recognition affect how hard people work.

But knowing it isn’t the same as doing it. Gallup found that “managers account for at least 70% of variance in employee engagement³,” yet only 40% of workers say they’re in “good jobs”⁴ with “high levels of satisfaction.” The lessons are still relevant, and most companies still haven’t learned them.

Compare Mayo with:

• Human Relations Theory, the broader school of thought his work started
• Frederick Taylor’s Scientific Management, the approach Mayo pushed back on
• Henri Fayol’s management theory
• All management theories, summarized