Hawthorne Effect claims that an increase in managerial attention to employees leads to an increase in productivity. With that explanation, I would have to agree with this theory. In any employment situation, when management is near, or theres the expectation of management to come by, the employee works their butt of more than normal. As result, management generally sees a hard working employee which results in chances of better reviews thus creating better wages or positions.
I have first hand experience with this. My supervisor at Kia US Headquarters, when she was around, my "extra" windows would disappear. Yes I admit, I use Yahoo IM during work and email my mom or surf the web. But I'm good at my job, so my slacking is hard to believe. So while my supervisor KNEW i was doing other stuff besides my work, she never saw it. Then whenever the top guys from Korea were in Irvine to check on things and see the new building (we relocated to a brand new building that was amazing in design), suddenly everyone worked. All departments, you would see people looking at their computers, minimal standing around and chatting. Everyone looked like they were working.
It is common to want to impress your manager. Not to mention, if the manager sees that you are slacking then suddenly there is fear of job insecurity. So, since no one really wants to loose their job, of course productivity will increase. Its essentially common sense.
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"In any employment situation, when management is near, or theres the expectation of management to come by, the employee works their butt of more than normal."
I remember doing this when I worked at Jamba Juice. Of course, because I was a supervisor, the managers would yell at us if our employees weren't working hard. We'd slack off sometimes because there was little to do during slow periods, but when we saw the manager coming, we'd magically find something that needed to be done.
If it looked like we were doing something productive, our managers would praise our initiative.
It was even worse when the district manager came by to visit, everyone was on their best behavior and working hard. I definitely agree with the Hawthorne Effect, too.
I also agree with the Hawthorne effect and your situation is very common to mine. Although, in my company we actively use IM there are also many other distractions out there on the internet (YouTube, gossip sites, etc). When we hear the 'bosses' walking by, we either quickly close screens or turn the conversation to something work-related. Also, it doesn't even have to be the bosses that walk by, even if peers are around, we tend to do actions that promote us being seen as working all the time. Although no one likes micromanagement, this periodic checking in does seem to increase productivity.
I definitely agree that the Hawthorne effect makes employees work harder, or at least appear to be working harder. I'm actually at work as I type this, so I'm practicing the Hawthorne effect. I'm constantly looking over my shoulder to see if a manager is walking into the office, or close by. I'm not extra weary of my surroundings because I'm afraid that I'll get fired, but more so because I would rather not be scolded for doing something irrelevant to work. However, in my defense, my managers don't mind that I browse the internet or do homework (as long as I get my work related tasks done) but it's solely the general manager that would be bothered by it. I do agree that the Hawthorne effect is essentially common sense because we all want security within the workplace. Therefore, we all practice it not only in the workplace but maybe even sometimes in our personal lives with family members, friends, etc.
My bosses in most of the places I worked didn't care too much about my IMing, surfing the web, emailing or doing school work (Hey I didnt hide the fact when I had a stats or algebra exam coming or my online courses had homework due). I was a temporary employee, and I got my stuff done and more. But was still the principal of the matter, you know. I didn't want them to report back to my agency with negative feedback and stand the chance of not getting another assignment because the agency says not to do this etc. Plus, you don't want to have it backlash later on and you know how things go in corporate settings: things look nice and pretty on the surface and the next thing you know they get ugly on you. That same manager that was fine with your IMing or doing school work while you are working could be like You screw around too much, we need someone else etc.
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