Has the Hawthorne Effect Affected You? The Answer is Yes.

Here is a reality of human behavior.  Folks behave differently when they know they are being watched.  Consider two examples that we have all seen.  We are sitting in the driver’s seat of our parked car.  The driver in the adjacent car sees us and then opens his door with particular care so as to avoid dinging us. We wonder what his car door action might have been had our own car been empty.  Similarly, in most business scenarios, I suspect that the staff perform at a higher level when the boss is around.

This phenomenon is referred to as the Hawthorne Effect, whose name derives from some industrial research done in the Hawthorne suburb of Chicago nearly a century ago.

Do you behave the same way when someone's watching?

And yes, this truth exists also in the medical profession.

Consider the following proposed studies and if the results might be distorted by the Hawthorne Effect.

• The Chairman of the Department of Surgery announces an initiative to improve patient satisfaction.  Surveys have indicated that patients #1 gripe is being kept waiting for their appointments.  The chairman announces that physician punctuality will be monitored over the next 8 weeks to assess the extent of the behavior and who the outliers are.
• A hospital system is disturbed by an increase in breast cancer diagnoses over the past 6 months.  There is a concern that physicians may not be performing breast examinations adequately or at all.  The medical staff is informed that all female patients will be surveyed asking if they were examined and taught of the importance of breast self-examination.
• An orthopedic department wants to assess how well it is controlling post-operative pain.  Trained nurses will be interviewing all patients for 5 days after surgery.   Afterwards, the data will be shared with the department and with individual practitioners.

Clearly, the potential of a Hawthorne Effect in all of the above examples is self-evident.  This effect extends beyond medicine into all spheres of society.  It’s a psychological phenomenon and we need to be aware of it.  As an example, when I am reading a medical study that shows that an action benefits patients, is the action responsible or are the patients behaving differently because they know they are being studied?  This can be rather tricky and if you’re not tightly tuned in, the Hawthorne Effect will blow right past you.

Of course, managers and leaders can utilize the Hawthorne Effect purposefully just to influence behavior.  They may announce a new ‘research study’ when the intent is really to modify behavior.

Is this all just psychobabble?   Does your own behavior change when there’s another set of eyes on you?