Hawthorne Studies: academic context

• The academic context of the Hawthorne studies from 1936 is analyzed in this research.
• The study emphasizes articles critical of the Hawthorne studies to understand why they faced so much criticism.
• The study examines diverse critical articles and books from the period.

Methodology

• The sample was curated using Landsberger's Hawthorne Revisited.
• The author uses Daniel Bell's earliest critical writings so as to analyze critics.
• Secondary sources are used to provide context.

Findings

• Most critics were sociologists.
• Criticisms reveal bigger disagreements in sociology about theory, methodology, and research ethics.
• These disagreements reflected significant changes in sociology, unlike industrial/organizational psychology, which received little criticism.

Originality/Value

• This research builds on previous work and situates Hawthorne studies in a broader academic context.

Introduction

• Hawthorne studies are one of the most debated contributions to management literature.
• Critics questioned the discoveries, methodology, and impartiality shortly after the studies were released.
• Scholars disagree on whether the studies contributed significantly to this field.

Analysis

• The reasons for scholars' strong critiques need to be clarified despite understanding the prominence of Hawthorne studies.
• Reviews suggest that criticisms originated from ideological opposing opinions towards the advocacy of Elton Mayo.
• Critiques in sociology were driven by arguments over proper theory, method, and orientation.
• Researchers and critics were composed of human relations versus industrial sociology schools of thought.
• Disagreements over ideology and methodology likely caused substantial scholarly criticism.
• Journals were an avenue to gain the possibility to provide criticism to gain professional advancement

Continuation of Prior Work

• The study builds upon prior analyses of Mayo's efforts to legitimize human relations.
• Mayo's relationships sought to limit more egalitarian options.
• Prior analyses examined welfare capitalism before Mayo's arrival, even so, anti-unionism undermined the progressive component.

Focus

• This research examines the criticisms of the studies rather than the studies themselves.
• The study examines the changing character of sociology by placing criticisms in a larger historical framework.
• Criticisms include theory standards, survey use, the work environment, and disregard for unions.
• Debates varied from saving industrial sociology to calling it a craze.

Goals

• Hope is to clarify the criticisms by contextualizing them with a broader social and academic setting.
• Specifically, it considers the conflict between sociological factions and the multidisciplinary character of studies.
• It examines sociologist Daniel Bell's critique which notes the studies.

Daniel Bell’s Importance

Criticism is examined due to its prominence, as Bell used "cow sociology" to characterize Hawthorne studies.

• Book reviews by Mary B. Gilson or Robert Lynd are the Fort Sumter of the Hawthorne civil war vs Daniel Bell's criticism.
• Wilbert Moore was not the most notable scholar although he was an industrial sociologist of the time.
• Commentary, a small New York publication for Jewish Left intellectuals, did not publish Bell's critique in a widely read sociology journal.

Acceptance

• Despite its humble origins, Commentary became a globally influential magazine that defended Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.
• Influential figures like John Dewey and Hannah Arendt contributed to it in 1947.
• Bell's critique gained widespread support, especially for how capitalism and morality impacted business and society.
• His writing style, called "cow sociologists," provided detractors with intellectual ammunition.
• Bell highlights how the industrial order eroded old world stability.
• His review is appropriate for examination.

Landsberger Review

• According to study reviews, the Hawthorne studies saw favorable reception until after World War II.
• Henry A. Landsberger defended the Hawthorne studies.
• He provides a thorough overview of research.
• The primary Hawthorne researchers include Roethlisberger/Dixon and Mayo.
• Greatest complaint against Mayo advocating for findings without objectivity for responsible, objective distance germane to research is from Landsberger.
• It may be the primary reason for criticism as that the critics defended the sociological field against social subjectivity.
• Yet advocacy prior to and after war to be an accepted protocol.
• Breakdown of Bell's criticisms breaks down the themes, including ethics, bias, methods, etc.

Management values

• Bell takes issue with the Hawthorne studies' manifest bias towards management principles.
• Criticisms originally came from researchers should act as a means to play to other in society.
• Bell opposes Hawthorne researchers choosing to avoid objectivity in favor of business.
• Bell believes that employees would "criminally" suppress output by stopping work.

Objections to Bell’s ideas

• There was a substantial output by willingness restriction among workers per prior researcher.
• Hawthorne researchers are accused of advancing the management's agenda with their decision by Sorensen and Mills.
• The concepts of efficiency and cooperation are judgmental.
• Bell and Mills question industrial sociological research.
• Blumer also thought that industrial sociology was a fad.
• Scholars would oppose studying industrial relations and democratic scientific management.

Other Critics

• Others accept the managerial bias of Hawthorne studies, such as Sheppard, though do not convict industrial sociology on it's whole.
• Sheppard highlights that managerial focuses on the management and are are unlikely to be critical business.
• They were not interested in a common group management, were may have been more interested on building their own theories given sociology weakness.
• Relations between the union resulted in increasing production and probably skeptical of scientific management by prior researchers.
• Academics were required to get funding which favors management, for an unbiased view they must conduct research anonymously.
• Mill worries orgs could push for undermininf unions, as worker are privy to researchers biases towards mgmt and will sabotoge researchers.

Method

• Bell talks of methodological issues and may have arisen from the shift in empirical means after WW2.
• Sociology emerged as a study, with sociology is the treatment of the Negro solider in society.
• It evolved into an effort that promoted theories by importing and empiricism for theory and empiricism building over reform.
• Empirical methods and led measurement using Lazarsfeld and Stouffer rather than of attitudes across groups being objective.
• Mayo didn’t have this standard, however, and his work crude.

Rejection of Theory

• The theorists "gleefully" dismissed theory , and advocates amassing observations.
• Mayo's disregard theory led to unclear hypotheses and contradictory findings.
• Testing of the Lazarsfeld would be based on scales, including of random testing, and in addition, a sociological training is needed.

Additional Criticism

• The semblance in atheoretical sociology's studies stemmed from Pareto.
• Theories gripped sociological during the 20th.
• Merton's publishes works on colleagues and their best use if theory is correct.

Homans's Theory

• In the 1946s, papers address the of theory, and theorists publish on how to advise colleagues (Merton and Parsons).
• However, theorists didn't always agree on using them and had reactions to introducing it.
• Homans takes the task on establishing a thesis on interaction, and with Mayo he formed a social exchange theory of leadership based and also the Hawthorne studies.
• Societal evolution and ties to Pareto is confusing to bell, but for that they were positicitic in nature.

Modern Critics

• Modern critics like theorist Bell were more improving organizational processses. The studies need conservative approaches and freedoms by the unions (Hawthorne.
• Societal norms need to be balanced across fields (Hart).
• By not including that the work, it wasn’t a benefit and labeled positively.
• Also due to criticism, the field of psychology was a business to promote production.

Trends

• Critics note, what was rooted well can be up to standard, so Bell and Mills believe they wouldn’t cooperate because it's not necessary.
• Modern management has to be accepted the advocacy theory. In short, Parsons was called to be great to scientific.
• The debate between the scientific building eventually came in the war period. Sociologists built social science to the constructs research.

The War’s End

• Reformers were ostercized even after the WW2.
• Economic political was climate Lynd's respons.
• Other fields are losing out from it, and the science studies are not standardized and studied.

Bell’s Cites

• Bell Cites Pareto's as a problem in teaching.
• Fascism also came to light by doing this.
• His studies were meant to deflect desire worker in general and also the human relations legitimizing human relations to increase businesses

Hawthorne Criticisms

• Hawthorne's also had worker's class, Hawthorne downplay the role between males.
• Mayo believes is related to the behavior and bell disagrees
• Bell’s overestimation leads him also to the power of the Hawthorne group, and during that time the class was not good at the time as well.
• Hawthorne also wasn’t as in to the classes.

Unions

• Hawthorne Faults, the fact unions which can create a perception of a rep among scholars.
• As his time was weak unions at the time, Mayo was not alone in his views. Instead worker relations was a strike of them.

Criticism: Institution

• Bell also, the interactions (Powell) that causes humans. The influences are very known the studies' that influences the human interaction.
• Researchers are favoring static relations on workers influence, they need to recognize if that there are government for social relations, workers
• If researchers the to the work that would create understanding a section, also some others like hughes were used.