Tech — Work — Ramblings

by Mike Kalvas

202208211358 Hawthorne effect

There was a company that wanted to see what factors they could change to increase productivity. They did things like change the color of the paint on the walls and the food offered in the cafeteria. They were curious about how it always rose after each change so they made another change and switched that thing back to its original state before the study. Productivity rose again! What they discovered is called the Hawthorne effect.1

The Hawthorne effect states that when you show care the recipient of the care will respond more favorably to you. The employees interpreted the changes as the company caring how they felt and worked, and they were more happy because of that. Not because of the specific changes.

The lesson for leadership is that we should actually care and whether we get it right or not, people will know that we care and give us care back.

  1. Hamming, R. W. (2020). The art of doing science and engineering: Learning to learn (pp.287). Stripe Press. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53349431-the-art-of-doing-science-and-engineering ↩