How Hawthorne Effect Increases Your Productivity | Motivation Theory
Motivation in our daily life comes and goes like waves, and the fluctuating drive often takes a toll on our productivity. For centuries, psychologists have been fascinated and intrigued by human behavior and have developed various motivation theories on what drives humans to act a certain way. With this article delight, let’s look at how we can use one of these motivation theories The Hawthorne Effect to boost our productivity. But before proceeding to How Hawthorne Effect Increases Your Productivity, we need to understand what exactly this effect is. So, let’s get started with that !
What is Hawthorne Effect ?
The Hawthorne effect is the modification of behavior by participants in response to their knowledge that they are being observed or singled out for special treatment. In simple words, The Hawthorne effect is a term referring to the tendency to work harder and perform better when you are being observed. For example, employees may work harder and more diligently knowing their manager is closely watching, or children behave better because their parents are looking on. In 2015, the infection prevention department at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California, conducted thousands of observations on its medical staff. When the staff knew they were being observed, hand hygiene recommendations were adhered to more stringently. The staff knew the recommendations but chose to follow them only when they knew they were being watched.
A Short History Behind The Hawthorne Effect
Henry Landsberger coined The Hawthorne Effect in 1958 when he was conducting an analysis of earlier experiments conducted in the 1920s and 1930s. He named the effect he discovered after the Hawthorne Works Electric Company in Hawthorne, Illinois, where the first experiment took place. The electric company had commissioned research to determine if there was a relationship between productivity and work environments. The original purpose of the Hawthorne studies was to examine how different aspects of the work environment, such as lighting, the timing of breaks, and the length of the workday, had on worker productivity.
In the original study, employee productivity seemed to increase due to the changes but then decreased once the experiment was over. Landsberger defined the Hawthorne effect as a short-term improvement in performance caused by observing workers. While some additional studies failed to find strong evidence of the Hawthorne effect, a 2014 systematic review published in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology found that research participation effects do exist. The researchers concluded that these effects clearly happen, but more research needs to be done in order to determine how they work, the impact they have, and why they occur.
You may refer the study here : https://www.jclinepi.com/article/S0895-4356(13)00354-5/fulltext
How Hawthorne Effect Increases Your Productivity
A simple way to implement the Hawthorne Effect in your personal life to boost productivity is to have an accountability buddy. You don’t need a boss or your supervisor to keep an eye on you twenty-four seven. All you need is a buddy.
- Pair up with your friend or co-worker to be your accountability buddy. If your friend is from the same field, even better.
- Communicate your short-term—weekly or daily—goals to each other.
- Design a schedule on how you plan to achieve these goals and monitor each other’s progress
- For better control, you can even decide punishments if the other one fails to achieve their goals.
Personal growth can be fun and fulfilling with an accountability partner by your side throughout the journey.
Final Takeaway | How Hawthorne Effect Increases Your Productivity
Some researchers argue that the Hawthorne effect does not exist or is, at best, the placebo effect under another name. Others postulate that it is the demand effect, where subjects subconsciously change their behavior to fit the expected results of an experiment. Whatever the truth, there is little doubt that many fields, from psychology through to business management, must appreciate that social science subjects can, and do, change behavior. The impact of How Hawthorne Effect Increases Your Productivity can not be negated. With teams & individuals struggling to step up efficiency and productivity, these could prove to be low hanging fruits.
Read Also : The Cookie Jar Method | When you feel like giving up ( https://thebrightdelights.com/the-cookie-jar-method-when-you-feel-like-giving-up/ )