Elton Mayo
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George Elton Mayo (26 December 1880 – 7 September 1949) was an Australian born
psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...
, industrial researcher, and
organizational theorist An organization or organisation ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences) is an entity—such as a company, or corporation or an institution (formal organization), or an association—comprising one or more people and having a par ...
.Cullen, David O'Donald. ''A new way of statecraft: The career of Elton Mayo and the development of the social sciences in America, 1920–1940.'' ProQuest Dissertations and Theses; 1992; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text.Miner, J.B. (2006). ''Organizational behavior, Vol. 3: Historical origins, theoretical foundations, and the future''. Armonk, NY and London: M.E. Sharpe. Mayo was formally trained at the
University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...
, acquiring a Bachelor of Arts Degree graduating with First Class Honours, majoring in philosophy and psychology, and was later awarded an honorary Master of Arts Degree from the
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
(UQ). While in Queensland, Mayo served on the University's war committee and pioneered research into the psychoanalytic treatment of shell-shock. As a psychologist Mayo often helped soldiers returning from World War I recover from the stresses of war and with a Brisbane physician, pioneered the
psychoanalytic PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: and is a set of theories and techniques of research to discover unconscious processes and their influence on conscious thought, emotion and behaviour. Based on dream interpretation, psychoanalysis is also a talk the ...
treatment of
shell-shock Shell shock is a term that originated during World War I to describe symptoms similar to those of combat stress reaction and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which many soldiers suffered during the war. Before PTSD was officially recogni ...
and conducted psycho-pathological tests. He was a lecturer in psychology and mental philosophy at the UQ between 1911 and 1922, when he sailed to the United States. In 1926 he was appointed to the
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...
(HBS) as a professor of industrial research. In Philadelphia he conducted research at a textile plant in order to develop a method to reduce the very high rate of turnover in the plant. Mayo's association with the
Hawthorne studies The Hawthorne effect is a type of human behavior reactivity in which individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed. The effect was discovered in the context of research conducted at the Hawthorn ...
as well as his research and work in Australia led to his enjoying a public acclaim granted to few social scientists of his day. Mayo has been credited with making significant contributions to a number of disciplines, including
business management Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...
, industrial sociology, philosophy, and
social psychology Social psychology is the methodical study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of others. Although studying many of the same substantive topics as its counterpart in the field ...
. His field research in industry had a significant impact on
industrial and organizational psychology Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology) "focuses the lens of psychological science on a key aspect of human life, namely, their work lives. In general, the goals of I-O psychology are to better understand and optimize the effec ...
.Trahair, R. C. S. (1984). ''Elton Mayo: The humanist temper''. Piscataway, NJ: Transaction According to Trahair, Mayo "is known for having established the scientific study of what today is called
organizational behavior Organizational behavior or organisational behaviour (see American and British English spelling differences, spelling differences) is the "study of human behavior in organizational settings, the interface between human behavior and the organiza ...
when he gave close attention to the human, social, and political problems of industrial civilization." (p. 15). Mayo's work helped to lay the foundation for the human relations movement. He emphasized that alongside the formal organization of an industrial workplace there exists an informal organizational structure as well. Mayo recognized the "inadequacies of existing scientific management approaches" to industrial organizations, and underlined the importance of relationships among people who work for such organizations. His ideas on group relations were advanced in his 1933 book ''The Human Problems of an Industrialized Civilization'', which was based partly on his Hawthorne research.


Early life and education

Mayo was the eldest son of George Gibbes Mayo, a draftsman and later a civil engineer, and his wife, Henrietta Mary Mayo (née Donaldson). His grandfather George Mayo (1807–1894) was a well-known South Australian medical practitioner. Elton attended several schools in Australia ( Queen's School, St Peter's College, and the
University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...
) and after 1901 attended medical school of
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
and in London, neither of which he completed. In 1903 he went to West Africa, and upon returning to London, began writing articles for magazines and teaching English at the Working Men's College. He returned to Adelaide in 1905 to a partnership in the printing firm of J. H. Sherring & Co., but in 1907 he went back to the university to study philosophy and
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
under William Mitchell. He won the Roby Fletcher prize in psychology and graduated with honours (B.A., 1910; M.A., 1926) and was named the David Murray research scholar in
scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
studies. In 1911 he became foundation lecturer in mental and moral philosophy at the new
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
and in 1919–23 held the first chair of philosophy there. He moved on to the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...
, but spent the second half of his career at
Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...
(1926–1947), where he was professor of industrial research. Two influences on his career from his time at the University of Queensland were Mayo's friendship with the social anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski and his work with shell-shock cases returning from the First World War. Malinowski first met Mayo on his way to and from the Trobriand Islands; they became close friends and were regularly in touch until Malinowski's death in 1942. The work with shell-shock soldiers provided a focus for Mayo's interests in
clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...
and developed his skills in
psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...
. In this he was strongly influenced by the work on hysteria and obsession of the French
psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...
, Pierre Janet, who became a critic of
Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
. For the rest of his working life, Mayo was an active
psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...
and this practical experience was an important influence on his theoretical and methodological work in America.


Research

One of Mayo's (1924) earliest research efforts involved workers at a Philadelphia textile mill. The mill had been experiencing a high rate of turnover. Mayo believed that the repetitive work in the spinning department gave rise to mental abnormalities in the workers. He found that the introduction of rest periods helped reduce turnover. The research helped make Mayo more widely known in the U.S. Mayo helped to lay the foundation for the human relations movement, and was known for his industrial research including the
Hawthorne Studies The Hawthorne effect is a type of human behavior reactivity in which individuals modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed. The effect was discovered in the context of research conducted at the Hawthorn ...
and his book ''The Human Problems of an Industrialized Civilization'' (1933). The research he conducted under the rubric of the Hawthorne Studies in the late 1920s and early 1930s, underlining the importance of groups in affecting the behaviour of individuals at work. Elton Mayo laid the ''ground rules for interviewing'', the principles of which have been subsequently repeated in numerous 'how to' books on leadership, coaching and mentoring over the last half century.


Hawthorne studies

Fritz J. Roethlisberger, Mayo's graduate assistant, and William J. Dickson, head of the Department of Employee Relations at Western Electric, conducted the bulk of the practical research, with Mayo rarely visiting the Hawthorne plant in Cicero, Illinois. Mayo's team carried out a number of "experiments" to look at ways of improving
productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...
. The research involved manipulating length of rest and lunch periods and piecework payment plans.Parsons, H.M. (1974). What happened at Hawthorne? ''Science, 183''(4128), 922–932. doi: 10.1126/science.183.4128.922 Mayo concluded that productivity partly depended on the informal social patterns of interaction in the work group. Mayo, in communicating to business leaders, advanced the idea that managers who understand the nature of informal ties among workers can make decisions for management's benefit. Mayo concluded that people's work performance is dependent on both social relationships and job content. He suggested a tension between workers' "logic of sentiment" and managers' "logic of cost and efficiency" which could lead to conflict within organizations. Parsons, however, showed that the Hawthorne studies, which were not really experiments, were too confounded to enable researchers to draw firm conclusions. The Hawthorne effect was later named for the phenomenon where people change their behavior when they are aware that they are being observed. The qualitative aspects of the research suggested that norms of co-operation among workers were related to productivity.


''The Human Problems of an Industrialized Civilization''

The books begins with an account of the research on human fatigue and efficiency conducted in the early 20th century.


Mayo's credentials

Although biographers agree about Mayo's contributions, there is no consensus about his credentials. The ''
Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
'', biographical dictionaries, and some published texts indicate that Mayo was a psychologist. Some authors and critics have discussed Mayo's credentials and his various other job titles during his career in the United States. Cullen does not mention that Mayo was a psychologist although Cullen noted that Mayo let interlocutors call him "Dr. Mayo," letting himself be cast as a Ph.D. in one of the social sciences, without correcting the mistake. Mayo's biographer Trahair wrote, "Mayo was not a psychologist, sociologist, or anthropologist, although sometimes he was cast as such" (p. 357). Trahair also wrote that "after the great war Mayo's reputation grew as a successful academic, clinical psychologist and public speaker" (p. 89). Of course having a reputation as a clinical psychologist does not necessarily make one a clinical psychologist (the public often thinks of psychotherapists, regardless of training, as clinical psychologists or even psychiatrists). Cullen indicated that Mayo was not a medical doctor, writing that in April 1903, Mayo "enrolled at a small medical school at Saint George's Hospital at London....At this point, Mayo's interest in medicine was all but non-existent" (p. 28). Having dropped out by December 1903, Mayo "wrote home and finally revealed to his family the truth; he did not and could not become a doctor" (p. 28). Miner wrote: "An effective speaker and proficient in cultivating influential friends and mentors, he nevertheless had little by way of academic credentials and practically no training in the conduct of scientific research" (p. 60).


Criticisms

Mayo's contributions to management theory were criticised by intellectual Daniel Bell. Writing in 1947, Bell criticised Mayo and other social scientists for "adjusting men to machines," rather than enlarging human capacity or human freedom. Many, including Reinhard Bendix and Lloyd H. Fisher, criticized Mayo for generalizing his results of the Hawthorne studies. The two state that Mayo's research concerned small, isolated groups, and it was not clear that the conditions and supervision he achieved could have been replicated in large groups and factory settings. His theories are also based upon the assumption that humans, by nature, want to cooperate and form groups, and he never allows for the possibility of José Ortega y Gasset's idea of "the stranger," built upon the proposition that humans, by nature, are suspicious of others. More recently, in 2003, James Hoopes criticised Mayo for "substituting therapy for democracy." Re-analyses of the original Hawthorne data indicate that the quality of the research was poor.Levitt, S.D., & List, J.A. (2011). Was there really a Hawthorne effect at the Hawthorne plant? An analysis of the original illumination experiments. ''American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 3'', 224–238. doi:10.1257/app.3.1.224


Family

Elton Mayo married Dorothea McConnel on 18 April 1913. Dorothea was the eldest daughter of ( 1850 – 7 June 1914) of Cressbrook Station, Queensland and the sister of Ursula McConnel. They had two daughters: *Patricia Elton Mayo married Dunstan Curtis. She was a sociologist, author of ''The Making of a Criminal'' (1970) and ''Roots of Identity'' *Gael Elton Mayo, better known as Ruth Elton Mayo (1923–1992), British artist and novelist. The medical doctor Helen Mayo (1878–1967) was his sister, and the Supreme Court judge Sir Herbert Mayo (1885–1972) was his brother.


Publications

*George Elton Mayo: ''Psychology of Pierre Janet'', London: Greenwood Press, 1972; Routledge, reprint edition 2013. *George Elton Mayo: ''The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilization'', Routledge, reprint edition 2003. *George Elton Mayo: ''Critical Evaluations in Business and Management'', Ed. John Cunningham Wood, Michael C. Wood, 2004. *George Elton Mayo: ''The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilization'', Routledge, 2007.


References


Sources

* J. H. Smith
''The Three Faces of Elton Mayo''
''New Society'' (December 1980) *Nikolas Rose. Governing the Soul the Shaping of the Private Self: the shaping of the private self. 2nd ed. London: Free Assoc. Books, 1999.


Further reading

* *Kyle Bruce, "Henry S. Dennison, Elton Mayo, and Human Relations historiography" in: '' Management & Organizational History'', 2006, 1: 177–199. * * *James Hoopes, "The Therapist: Elton Mayo" in "False Prophets: The Gurus who created modern management...", 2003, pp. 129–159. * David O'Donald Cullen. ''A new way of statecraft: The career of Elton Mayo and the development of the social sciences in America, 1920–1940.'' ProQuest Dissertations and Theses; 1992; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text.


Archives


Catalogue of the Mayo papers
at th
Archives Division
of the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
. * The Human Relations Movement: Harvard Business School and the Hawthorne Experiments, 1924–1933, at Harvard Business School, Baker Library Historical Collection
Elton Mayo papers
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayo, Elton Australian business theorists Australian emigrants to the United States Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Medical School University of Pennsylvania faculty Harvard Business School faculty 1880 births 1949 deaths Organizational theorists Academic staff of the University of Queensland Academics from Adelaide