The Hawthorne studies conducted in the 1920s and 1930s at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works had a profound impact on the field of industrial and organizational psychology.
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These studies revealed the Hawthorne effect, which demonstrated that people’s behavior can change when they are aware of being observed. This discovery challenged the prevailing belief that productivity was solely influenced by physical and economic factors, emphasizing instead the significance of social and psychological aspects in the workplace. The studies shed light on the importance of employee attitudes, job satisfaction, and interpersonal relationships in influencing productivity and morale. Consequently, the Hawthorne studies sparked a paradigm shift in how organizations approached human behavior, laying the groundwork for the development of modern theories and practices in organizational behavior.