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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