Contributions to Organisation Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Contributions to Organisation Theory - Essay Example In general, the ideas underlying Taylor’s vision of organization, management, and motivation were based on certain conditions supposed to be constant. These were the presence of a capitalist system and a money economy, the Protestant work ethic and desirability of the increased size for obtaining the advantages of the division of labor and specialization of tasks. While classical writers concentrated more on the formal elements of organization, the next generation of organizational theorists was much concerned with social factors of work and human relations between the workers. One of the representatives of this generation is George Elton Mayo who is known for his active participation in the Hawthorne experiments which were carried out at the Hawthorne Works of the Western Electric company in Chicago in the period of 1924 and 1927. The studies aimed to reveal the effect of lighting on the worker productivity. However, in the process of experiments, there were discovered other factors which contributed to higher productivity of workers under research. The result of the experiment was that Elton Mayo disproved the beliefs of Tayor that a worker was motivated only by self-interest. The investigation was based on the classical approach and researchers were interested in how the intensity of lighting influenced the productivity of women workers. In the process of experiment, it was discovered that the production depends little on the physical conditions. The experiment was continued in another direction.