George Elton Mayo

George Elton Mayo was an Australian-born psychologist and sociologist who was credited as one of the pioneers of industrial sociology in the United States. He was born in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, on 26 December 1880. He studied mathematics, philosophy and psychology at the University of Adelaide, where he obtained a B.A. in 1910 and a M.A. in 1926. He then pursued a PhD at St John's College, Cambridge University, under James Ward, but did not complete it. He returned to Australia in 1911 and became a lecturer and later a professor of philosophy at the University of Queensland. He was interested in psychoanalysis and social psychology and wrote several books and articles on these topics, such as Democracy and Freedom (1919), The Quest for Certainty (1923), and The Psychology of Pierre Janet (1924). He left Australia for the United States in 1923 and became a lecturer and later a professor of industrial research at Harvard University. He initiated a series of industrial research projects at various factories, most notably at the Western Electric Company's Hawthorne Works in Chicago from 1927 to 1932. These studies involved observing and interviewing workers to understand how their social relations, motivation, and satisfaction affected their productivity and performance. The studies revealed that workers' productivity was influenced by factors such as group norms, leadership styles, communication patterns, and employee involvement. Mayo concluded that human factors were more important than physical or economic factors in determining industrial efficiency and that managers should pay more attention to the social and psychological needs of their workers. He also argued that industrial society had created a sense of alienation and loss of community among workers and that this could be overcome by fostering a sense of belonging and cooperation within small groups. He developed his ideas further in his books The Human Problems of an Industrial Civilisation (1933) and The Social Problems of an Industrial Civilisation (1945). He also founded the Human Relations Movement, which advocated a more humanistic approach to management and organization theory. He influenced many researchers and practitioners in the fields of industrial psychology, organizational behavior, human resource management, and organizational development. He died at Polesden Lacey, Surrey, England, on 7 September 1949.