“The Hawthorne studies are said to have been an important milestone in management thinking. Discuss this idea with reference to the thoughts on management both before and after the Hawthorne studies took place”
Introduction: The Hawthorne studies are considered by many to be of extreme importance in terms of management history, and by others as merely inconclusive experimentation with no real evidence to support it. Regardless of whether or not experts believe that the Hawthorne studies research is conclusive, the studies are still regarded as crucial experiments in the vast field of management. It is not whether the conclusions drawn from the Hawthorne studies were totally accurate or not that is of such significance, but the fact that they led to increased interest and research into human behaviour within organisations. (Robbins, Bergman, Stagg & Coulter, 2009). In order to fully understand the impact of the Hawthorne studies on modern management theories, first we must look at theories and knowledge of management both before and after the studies commenced, and the people included with them. In doing this we can explore the effects the Hawthorne studies had on modern theories of management, and also evaluate them as significant events.
Management ideology before the Hawthorne studies: After the Hawthorne studies took place, debate amongst experts in regards to the accuracy and general significance of the studies have continued to thrive for decades (Sonnenfeld, 1983). Centuries before the Hawthorne studies, management and organisations were already in function, for example the construction of the famous Egyptian Pyramids (Robbins et al., 2009). These pyramids needed a cohesive and organised system of management...