NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2014 INTERACTIONS 47 INTERACTIONS.ACM.ORG
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light. If light conditions improved,
so did productivity; however, when
light conditions were downgraded,
productivity again went up.
Unfortunately this oversimplified
story about the Hawthorne effect
overshadows the groundbreaking
contribution of the Hawthorne
studies. The Hawthorne effect is
not only controversial [ 1]—it’s also
probably the least interesting and
least relevant result of this landmark
study. The famous light experiment
at the Hawthorne plant was just
one of more than 30 experiments
involving repetitive workers (e.g.,
relay assemblers, mica splitters) as
well as supervisors and other decision
The Hawthorne studies are best known
for the Hawthorne effect, namely
that those who perceive themselves
as members of the experimental or
otherwise favored group tend to
outperform their controls, often
regardless of the intervention.
Secondary sources describing the
Hawthorne effect (e.g., [ 1, 2]) tell us that
in an experiment conducted at Western
Electric’s Hawthorne Works factory in
the 1920s, psychologists examined the
working conditions of plant workers
doing repetitive tasks. The major
finding quoted is that irrespective of
what one does to improve or degrade
conditions, productivity goes up. The
usual example given is variation in
TInsights → The Hawthorne studies (1924–1933) made a number of practical, conceptual, and methodological innovations in human factors. → The studies demonstrated that treating workers as an “appendage to ‘the machine’” is a flawed conceptual framework. → The story of the Hawthorne studies is in many ways imilar to the development of the HCI field.
The
Haw thorne
Studies
and Their
Relevance to
HCI Research
Željko Obrenović, Software Improvement Group