The Hawthorne Effect: One More Time

"The Workplace Is A Social System"

Would you like to raise productivity?  Don't implement a "top-down" initiative.  That's the simple finding from this Study of more than seven decades ago.

From 1927 to 1932, several professors from Harvard Business School, began studying organizational and social systems at the Hawthorne Western Electric (AT&T's manufacturing arm) plant in Cicero, Illinois.   The Study was only supposed to last one year, but...it got complicated.   And, was extended.

This Study was one of the first "management science" gifts given to us by the stable business model of AT&T back then: regulation did produce consistency and predictability which allowed for studies like this one.

Anyway, what did they do and what did they find?  First, they asked a small group of employees about ways to improve productivity and efficiency.  The workers were delighted to talk to the researchers: they got a boatload of possible changes to the workplace: more than they could implement. 

Humidity.  Lighting.  Breaks.  Work group behaviors.  These, and other, of subjects got covered.

No matter what they tested -- increased lightning; decreased lighting -- there was a positive effect.  Production went up.

Why?  The researchers ascribed it to the process of the workers being asked.  And, of course, the researchers listening and acting on the information.  (This is quite similar to another similar phenomenon called "School Belonging.") 

Would you like to increase productivity and reduce anxiety in your organization?  Just ask a few questions and implement a few of the ideas that come out.  Magic.

BTW, here are the major Findings from the Study:

• The aptitudes of individuals are imperfect predictors of job performance. Although they give some indication of the physical and mental potential of the individual, the amount produced is strongly influenced by social factors.
• Informal organization affects productivity. The Hawthorne researchers discovered a group life among the workers. The studies also showed that the relations that supervisors develop with workers tend to influence the manner in which the workers carry out directives.
• Work-group norms affect productivity. The Hawthorne researchers were not the first to recognize that work groups tend to arrive at norms of what is "a fair day's work," however, they provided the best systematic description and interpretation of this phenomenon.
• The workplace is a social system. The Hawthorne researchers came to view the workplace as a social system made up of interdependent parts.

Copyright 1999 by Donald Clark

Kanter: A Recipe for Turnarounds

A Major Source / Symptom: Deterioration of Communications

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the noted Harvard Business School professor,  speaks about the steps that are needed to "turn a culture of decline into one of success."  A bigger task than most realize, she simply says "...you have to restore employees' confidence in the system."

She Looks Harmless

"Learned helplessness" is the term that psychologists use to talk about school-aged childrens' resignation.  In that context, the internal dialogue is something like..."I'm stupid...I can't do this..."  It is the opposite of their other term: "Self efficacy." 

In the workpalce, the learned helplessness addresses the sentiment that sounds something like: "We can't do this....we tried this before...we're stuck and...that's the way it's going to stay...."  It's more than the feeling of an underdog because an underdog thinks s/he can move up, win a few.

"....as communication and the willingness to face problems openly deteriorate, infighting and finger pointing increase.  Employees in different unit lose respect for one another and...for themselves.  Groups start withholding information from one another.  They look to maximize their own results but not to contribute to the performance of the organization as a whole."

So, turnarounds in any organiztion, says Kanter, are special situations.  And, of course, they require special skills.  The first "cornerstone of confidence" is accountability.  It comes from open dialogue and mutual respect.  Quite a contrast to the "finger pointing" and provides the opportunity for people to step out and re-commit to the promises they previously made.

A Template for Some New Thinking: Hollywood to the Rescue

June 1, 2010 Seems Like a Long Time Ago

Almost three months ago, James Cameron, got involved in trying to help clean up the runaway oil gusher in the Gulf.

Is truth stranger than fiction?

What could Movie Director Cameron's involvement with an oil spill tell us about addressing some of our big problems in business, problems in the world?

Is it possible that the world of "fiction" offers us some answers to our most troubling questions, dilemmas?

Maybe, someone could write a decent script / movie for problems like Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, Iraq, The Koreas...runaway profits at Goldman Sachs after they bankrupted AIG...

Go ahead: I'll wait.

Throw Out the Performance Review

Finally, Some Frank Talk About the Failings of An Old Paradigm

The Annual Employee Performance Review: both boss and employee respond with an "Ugh!" to this event.  How could we justify getting rid of these archaic and unproductive exercises?

Does the process help boost organizational output, increase throughput?  Doubtful.  Does it make the employee feel good?  Unlikely.  One would be motivated to ask the logical question: "Why do we keep doing them?"  I would say: "It's a bad habit for which we...yet have no replacement."

"First, they're dishonest and fraudulent. And second, they're just plain bad management," writer and UCLA professor Culbert says in a radio interview the week of July 6.

Tough talk from (what looks like) a not-so-friendly-looking guy.  (I wouldn't want a Review from the likes of him!)  But, he's right: performance reviews don't do much to get out in the open the challenges in the business nor facilitate a discussion of the possible solutions.

Employees come to the process anxious about its impact on their pay or career.  Supervisors, managers are given a limit of how much the pay can be increased and, that small view, becomes the focus of the discussion: what did you do well? -- and, of course, that becomes the employees shield -- and how much more money am I going to give you.  Which, of course, the boss knows before he heads into the Review.

People want their work to matter, to mean something.  And, the annual Review doesn't facilitate such a goal.  The process is devoid of humanity, in many cases.

"Once you set up the metrics, that's the only focus for the employee," Culbert says. "The problem with performance reviews is that the metric that counts most for the employee is the boss's opinion. So the employee starts doing what he or she thinks is going to score in the boss's mind, and not even talk about what he or she believes is necessary for the company to get the results that really matter."

With what should we replace these arcane practices?  How about a frank discussion where, perhaps, the boss provides some clear targets for the employee that are aligned with the goals of the organization, the unit?  Good.  Another major problem solved.

For anyone who would like to gauge where they stand on the annual review issue, Culbert and Rout have posted a test on their site, with the slightly biased title of How Much Do You Hate Performance Reviews?

Sir Ken Robinson: We Need a Revolution in Education

From a "Manufacturing" Model to an "Agricultural" Model

Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson challenges the way we're educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of learning styles.  


The video is almost twenty minutes long but worth it.  

Here's Your Brain On...

...The Internet: I Won't Try to Argue the Point

Do you remember the TV advertisements back in the '80's where the topic was DRUGS?  Setting: a kitchen with some earth-toned appliances, a frying pan on top of a stove with a voice over that went something like: "This is your brain..."  Plop an egg into the hot pan: voice over: "This is your brain on drugs."  


The message?  Drugs will fry your brain.  


The ad should be modified for current times: we should drop a hard drive or a motherboard into the frying pan: "This is your brain on the Internet."


Nicholas Carr (His Blog) is the man of the hour with his new book: What The Internet is Doing to Our Brains: The Shallows.  He's on NPR, reviewed in Bloomberg BusinessWeek (talk about branding...Bloomberg??).  And, of course, he'll soon be on Oprah.  


I won't try to debate the premise.  What I will do is ask us to look back, first, about 5,000 years.  That was the time that the Jews were thought to be writing texts.  (The Mayans could have had hieroglyphics by then, too.) 


I'm guessing that, at that time, there were those who thought that a book was a revelation of a demon deity.  I'll be there were even people who could have been quoted as saying something similar to neuroscientist Michael Merzenich: we are "training our brains to pay attention to the crap."  


Excuse me?  May I beg your pardon: not my brain: my brain pays attention to both the good stuff and the crap.   (And, by the way, Mr. Merzenich, from an atmospheric perspective, isn't it all crap?  What has getting to the moon done for me...lately?)


Gutenberg?  Some thought he was the devil.  Polio, may I remind you, was the result of a naturally occurring virus but we applied technology on that one, too.


The Point, with a capital "P," that I'm trying to make -- after four or five paragraphs, sorry -- is that there are always detractors to the new technologies.  Technology will always advance ahead of society's ability to understand how to use it (true for the stone axe? hmm).  Stem cell research is finally coming close to its potential after W's moratoriums.  


And, finally, try not to pontificate while one is the middle of a tech revolution: the view is in the shallows.  Only time will allow a more balanced view.

Moskoff Gets Some Recognition from Alma Mater

Skidmore College: Feature Piece on "Human Natured" Moskoff


My alma mater decided I had been doing enough important things to warrant some attention.  Surprise to me: I feel like the cobbler with his head down, aimed toward his work.

I'm grateful for all the collaborators and supporters who have blessed me with their gifts.

A small piece from the article:

"While performance and profit are inevitable topics of discussion, what interests Moskoff most is the concept of community.  'I'd like to see people asking "Why?" more often.  Asking "why" helps 'steer the conversation towards values and principles rather than tactics,' Moskoff explains.  'I'd like to see organiztions working on a more purposeful existence.'"