Hawthorne Effect: Exploit The Power Of Accountability

The Hawthorne effect is a tendency for humans to modify their behavior when they realize they are being observed. Original research came from workers at Hawthorne Works. Workers were told that lighting changes increase productivity. The lighting had no objective effect on productivity in either brighter or dimmer levels, but their productivity increased just because they were being monitored by a study. The workers were motivated by interest being shown in them. In other words, being observed was what caused them to act differently, not the lighting variable itself.

The results of the study were that the workers found increased productivity independent of the illumination in the room. So long as they were being “experimented on”, decreased or increased light levels did not alter their productivity. In fact, productivity only began to decrease in experimental conditions when it was lowered to a level that made it hard to see. The core idea: when people are aware they are being watched or studied, they perform better, work harder, or behave in more socially acceptable ways. An example of this are the employees in a factory: when told they are being monitored by supervisors or when management is present, the workers become more productive in spite of changes in working conditions.

The improvements have little or nothing to do with the changes being “tested”—lighting, temperature, break times, ergonomic conditions. But the interest and attention of workers still increases. The effect is pronounced short-term and reverts to baseline soon after the “observer” or “experiment” leaves. This is why employee audits in companies tend to be inaccurate depictions of actual worker performance: it spikes during the review period, and normalizes once the audit concludes. People have an innate need to be seen in a positive light and feel accountable when they know they are being “watched”. There’s an inherent, deeply-rooted desire to stay on top of expectations of observers, be they peers, parents, researchers, friends, or supervisors.

A similar effect happens during clinical studies. It’s called the Trial effect. Beyond actual variables being tested, attention, and observation, people act differently when being researched. Nurses provide slightly better care. Surgeons are subtly more precise. Physicians adhere to stricter cleanliness protocols. Put simply: we perform better under observation. This explains why, say, teachers alter their approach when being monitored and evaluated by higher faculty, or why students act more ethically when informed that their classroom participation is being observed and/or graded. There is an incentive to pay attention and act right. And we do.

Real-world implications of the Hawthorne effect:

• Workplace: management and supervision: knowing your actions are being monitored boosts your efforts. However, it can also result in artificial behavior that does not sustain once the observation period ends. Take the case of performance reviews or visible management presence, which temporarily results in a spike of productivity. This is a direct reaction to observation. It dies out once management leaves the room;

• Education: students perform better on tests and/or participate more actively if they know they are being observed by teachers or relevant faculty; teachers might notice improved engagement during class when they circulate among students, which might not translate to independent study habits but it is worth mentioning;

• Research: design: medical scientists conducting studies have to account for the Hawthorne effect to avoid skewed results. This means putting together experiments that minimize how wary people are that they are being monitored or using carefully crafted control groups. Blind studies in social research are great examples, reducing participants’ knowledge of being observed to a minimum to accurately assess behavior patterns;

• Customer service: when employees know their interactions with customers are being reviewed—through mystery shoppers or customer surveys—they provide higher-quality service; retail staff greet customers more warmly and go the extra mile when they are aware performance metrics are being monitored.

How you might mitigate and/or leverage the Hawthorne effect: (1) watch out for it in research, using control groups or blind studies to ensure behavior change isn’t solely due to observation, designing experiments so that observation is as unobtrusive as possible; (2) leverage in management, establishing a culture of continuous feedback where observation is encouraged—good performance recognized, improvement opportunities highlighted—can help sustain improvements in productivity beyond temporary spikes; (3) implement transparent performance metrics that encourage long-term behavioral improvement in lieu of short-lived productivity; (4) balance your approach of positive attention in order to make the improvements last, ensuring your subordinates, peers, or participants feel supported and not simply scrutinized over their performance. Being seen changes things.