Management and the Worker. An Account of a Research Program Conducted by the Western Electric Company, Hawthorne Works, Chicago.

by F J & Dickson W J Roethlisberger

This is the official account of the experiments carried out at the Hawthorne Works of the Eastern Electric Company in Chicago. These were divided into test room studies, interviewing studies and observational studies. The test room studies were experiments into what variables in a workplace environment might affect worker fatigue. The findings of these tests led to extensive interviewing on the attitudes of the workers. The final phase of the Hawthorne experiment focused on social factors, using techniques of cultural anthropology to observe small working groups. The results of these experiments profoundly influenced the Human Relations movement.

615 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1939

Reviews

[Robert Bogue]

It started two years before The Great Depression, and the impact on what we know about management can’t be understated. Management and the Worker seems to share the insights that were discovered at the Western Electric Company’s Hawthorne Works based in Chicago, and it’s strangely richer than most of us may have been led to believe.

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