Hawthorne studies

This section will describe one example, the Hawthorne Studies, of how employee participation can be used. This was a well-known study in the 

Although it was not called employee participation we believe that you will understand what the final results concluded. 

The Hawthorne Studies of 1924 came about as the results of experiments conducted at Western Electric that involved changes in the workplace conditions and produced unexpected results in employee performance. Two teams of employees took part in these experiments, in which the lighting conditions for only one team were improved. Production rose dramatically [3]. The interesting thing that happened was that production also improved in the group where the lighting remained unchanged. 

The studies were undertaken in an effort to determine what effects such things as hours of work and periods of rest might have on employee fatigue and productivity. As these studies progressed, it was discovered that the social environment could have an equal if not a greater effect on productivity than the physical environment [2]. 

The studies revealed the influence that informal work groups can have on the productivity of employees and on their response to such factors as supervision and financial incentives. It also represented the beginning of nondirective counseling with employees [2]. 

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Initially when jobs are designed and employees are new, or right after jobs are redesigned, there may be a short-term period of positive attitudes (often called a honeymoon effect ). As the legendary Hawthorne studies indicated, often changes in jobs or increased attention given to workers tends to create novel stimulation and positive attitudes (Mayo 1933). Such transitory elevations in affect should not be mistaken for long-term improvements in satisfaction, as they may wear off over... 

The Hawthorne Studies helped management to understand that although an organization is a formal arrangement of functions, it is also a social system. 

Learning theories as they relate to individual and group behaviors have evolved and developed since World War II. Drastic changes following World War II opened many opportunities for social science researchers to bring forth research woik and studies, such as the Hawthorne study, from the years prior to World War II and to explore them as well as new ideas in a fast-paced society. 

Research evidence. The power of feedback is evident in the famous Hawthorne studies. Ask any safety manager, industrial consultant, or applied psychologist whether they have heard of the "Hawthorne Effect," and they probably will say, "yes." They might not be able to describe any details of the studies that occurred between 1927 and 1932 at the Western Electric plant in the Hawthorne community near Chicago that led to the classic Hawthorne Effect. Most, however, will be able to paraphrase the infamous finding from these studies that the hourly output rates of the employees studied increased whenever an obvious environmental change occurred in the work sethng. 

The explanation of the Hawthorne results is also well-known and recited as a potential confounding factor in numerous field studies of human behavior. Specifically, it is commonly believed the Hawthorne studies showed that people will change their behavior in desired directions when they know their behavior is being observed. The primary Hawthorne sources (Mayo, 1933 Roethisberger and Dickson, 1939 Whitehead, 1938) leave us with this impression and, in fact, this interpretation seems intuitive. The fact is, however, this interpretation of the Hawthorne studies is not accurate—it is nothing but a widely disseminated myth. 

Parsons, H. M., Lessons for productivity from the Hawthorne studies, in Proceedings of Human... 

Supervisory styles were mentioned both in the Hawthorne study and in a book discussing theory X and Y. The theory X manager/supervisor thinks that workers are basically bad and cannot be trusted. Punishment is mentioned as a motivator for the theory X supervisor. The theory Y manager/supervisor believes that workers are not basically bad. This theory attributes poor worker performance to a management failure and not to the worker s nature. Later chapters expound on the basic themes presented so far and on developing programs to enhance safety culture. 

I am not trying to pick on unions, nor am I touting them. I certainly do not believe that because your company consists of a mostly unionized workforce that good management principles should fall by the wayside. Remember that the Western Electric Plant where the Hawthorne Study was conducted so many years ago was a union shop. 

Remember that recognition and management caring seems to have a direct relationship to the Hawthorne study as discussed earlier. The more recognition, attention, or appreciation and respect that management shows toward team members, the more likely it is that our business will thrive. I believe this is true not only with safety considerations, but also with quality, production, and all facets of the business. 

Some herbal products are prepared from a mixture of different plant species and plant parts. Hawthorn is standardized to contain 5% oligomeric procyanidins made from the leaves, blossoms, and fruit of Crataegus laevigata and Crataegus monogyna [6]. Studies have shown that the therapeutic efficacy of hawthorn is not solely the result of one type of component, one plant part, or a single species [6]. 

Buono, Carmen Joseph Della. "Three studies in English Volpone and The Alchemist Great expectations Absalom, Absalom and Hawthorne s Gables." M.A. thesis, Pennsylvania State Univ, 1977. 

The monomers studied, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and diethylene glycol dimethacrylate (DEGDMA), were obtained from Aldrich (Milwaukee, WI) and Polysciences, Inc. (Warrington, PA), respectively, and were used after dehibition to remove the hydroquinone inhibitor. 2,2-Dimethoxy-2-phenyl acetophenone (DMPA), the conventional initiator used in this study, was obtained from Ciba-Geigy (Hawthorne, NY) and the tetraethylthiuram disufide (TED) was obtained from Aldrich. 

Hawthorne et al. [53] studied the effect of temperature and pressure on supercritical fluid extraction efficiencies of polychlorinated biphenyls in river sediments. At a temperature of 50°C, raising the pressure from 350 to 650atm, had a beneficial effect on recovery of polychlorinated biphenyls from sediments. Recovery was improved however as the extraction temperature was increased from 50-200°C. 

Table III summarizes the parameters that affect Brrfnsted acid-catalyzed surface reactions. The range of reaction conditions investigated varies widely, from extreme dehydration at high temperatures in studies on the use of clay minerals as industrial catalysts, to fully saturated at ambient temperatures. Table IV lists reactions that have been shown or suggested to be promoted by Br nsted acidity of clay mineral surfaces along with representative examples. Studies have been concerned with the hydrolysis of organophosphate pesticides (70-72), triazines (73), or chemicals which specifically probe neutral, acid-, and base-catalyzed hydrolysis (74). Other reactions have been studied in the context of diagenesis or catagenesis of biological markers (22-24) or of chemical synthesis using clays as the catalysts (34, 36). Mechanistic interpretations of such reactions can be found in the comprehensive review by Solomon and Hawthorne (37).

Variations in the stacking of I-beams have been studied with single crystal x-ray diffraction. The stacking character distinguishes the different amphibole mineral series (Hawthorne, 1981), Such studies show that tetrahedra in the T sheet are rotated and tilted to accommodate the variations in the anion... 

Hawthorn has long been used as a medicinal substance, and an extract such as WS 1442, a formulation of hawthorn leaves with flowers, has been evaluated in different studies for treatment of heart failure (40 2). Patients with New York Heart Association class II heart failure participated in a placebo-controlled, randomized, multicenter trial. They received 30 drops of the extract three times daily for eight weeks. At the end of the study, heart failure condition was improved (41). A meta-analysis of available clinical trials suggests that the extract is useful as an adjunct treatment for patients with mild to moderate heart failure (42). Therefore, it is likely that hawthorn products would be administered together with digoxin in clinical management of patients (Fig. 4). 

Tankanow R, Tamer HR, Streetman DS, et al. Interaction study between digoxin and a preparation of hawthorn Crataegus oxyacantha). J Clin Pharmacol 2003 43 637-642. 

Three widely used distribution equations, discussed by Bevans (JL), include the Rosin-Rammler (7L) and Nukiyama-Tanasawa (6L) equations as well as the log-probability equation. A fourth relationship, the upper-limit equation of Mugele and Evans (5L), is also discussed. Hawthorne and Stange also discuss the Rosin-Rammler relationship (4L, 8L). An excellent analysis of distributions is given by Dubrow (SL), who has studied atomized magnesium powders. 

A review of experimental work prompted the suggestion of the importance of dipolar interactions (Hammond and Hawthorne, 1956). de la Mare and Kidd (1959), observing a parallelism in the parajmeta and ortho/meta ratios, predicted the ortho effect to be primarily electronic in origin. Norman and Radda (1961) explored the general significance of this idea. They studied the orthojpara ratios for the substitution of a series of monosubstituted benzenes by two reagents with the same electrophilic properties but different steric requirements. The reactions, nitration by N02+ and chlorination by CI+, fulfill the requirements. The results are summarized in Table 3. 

It is a diuretic. An extract of the flowers and leaves improves cardiac output and the contractility of the heart muscle. Flavonoids in hawthorn have been shown to increase blood flow in the heart by dilating blood vessels in coronary arteries. Hawthorn has lowered cholesterol in animal studies, probably due to its oligomeric procyanidins (OPC), a type of bioflavonoid similar to that found in the extracts of grape seed and grape skin. 

Fahing et al. [176] studied the effect of the addition of modifiers such as methanol and water on the SCFE of organic solutes from soils and clays. Hawthorne et al. [177] compared the application of sub- and supercritical water in the extraction of organics from soil, and found that both were effective extractants. 

Recent advances in the development of non-invasive, in situ spectroscopic scanned-probe and microscopy techniques have been applied successfully to study mineral particles in aqueous suspension (Hawthorne, 1988 Hochella and White, 1990). In situ spectroscopic methods often utilise molecular probes that have diagnostic properties sensitive to changes in short-range molecular environments. At the particle-solution interface, the molecular environment around a probe species is perturbed, and the diagnostic properties of the probe, which can be either optical or magnetic, then report back on surface molecular structure. Examples of in situ probe approaches that have been used fruitfully include electron spin resonance (ESR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin-probe studies perturbed vibrational probe (Raman and Fourier-transform IR) studies and X-ray absorption (Hawthorne, 1988 Hochella and White, 1990 Charletand Manceau, 1993 Johnston et al., 1993). 

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