Organisational work conditions: physical work conditions

Psychology A2 · Organisational Psychology. The idea in plain words, the rules to remember, the mistake to avoid and a worked example, written and checked by Mega Lecture.

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The idea

Physical conditions such as lighting, noise and temperature can affect output. In the Hawthorne studies in the USA, output seemed to rise whether lighting was made brighter or dimmer. This led to the idea of the Hawthorne effect: people change their behaviour because they know they are being studied or given attention.

Kompier (2006) re-examined these studies. He argued that the Hawthorne effect is largely a myth, because the original research was poorly designed and the data do not clearly support the famous claims.

Office layout matters too. Oldham and Brass (1979) followed newspaper staff who moved from conventional offices to an open-plan office.

Rules to remember

Hawthorne effect: a change in behaviour caused by being observed, not by the variable being tested.
Kompier: the Hawthorne studies had weak methods (small samples, uncontrolled variables), so their conclusions are unsafe.
Open-plan office: a large shared space with few or no internal walls.
Claimed benefits of open plan: easier communication, lower cost. Claimed costs: noise, distraction, loss of privacy.
Oldham and Brass: a natural (quasi) experiment using questionnaires before the move and again after it.
Their result: satisfaction and internal motivation fell after the move; staff reported less privacy, less chance to concentrate and less feedback and friendship.
No random allocation, so cause and effect cannot be certain.

Common mistake

Students write that the Hawthorne studies proved bright lighting raises output. The reported rise happened in both brighter and dimmer light, and Kompier doubted that the evidence supports any clear effect at all.

Worked example

A call centre installs new chairs while researchers watch the staff. Calls handled per hour rise. A month after the researchers leave, the figure is back to its old level although the chairs remain. What best explains the rise?

If the chairs caused the rise, it should have lasted, because the chairs are still there.
What changed was the presence of the researchers and the attention given to staff.
A change in behaviour due to being observed is the Hawthorne effect.

Answer: The Hawthorne effect, not the new chairs.

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