Elton Mayo

social skill cooperation technical war

„If our social skills (that is, our ability to secure co-operation between people) had advanced step by step with our technical skills, there would not have been another European War.“

— Elton Mayo (1880-1949)

defeat illusion

"Defeat takes the form of ultimate disillusion — a disgust with the "futility of endless pursuit."“

— Elton Mayo (1880-1949)

observer difference facts dogma correlation interpretation

"The difference between a good observer and one who is not good is that the former is quick to take a hint from the facts, from his early efforts to develop skill in handling them, and quick to acknowledge the need to revise or alter the conceptual framework of his thinking, The other — the poor observer — continues dogmatically onward with his original thesis, lost in a maze of correlations, long after the facts have shrieked in protest against the interpretation put upon them.“

— Elton Mayo (1880-1949)

social science sociology psychology individual group

"Viewed from the standpoint of social science, society is composed of individuals organized in occupational groups, each group fulfilling some function of the society. Taking this fact into account, psychology – the science of human nature and human consciousness – is able to make at least one general assertion as to the form a given society must take if it is to persist as a society. It must be possible for the individual as he works to see that his work is socially necessary; he must be able to see beyond his group to the society.“

— Elton Mayo (1880-1949)

human organization communication collaboration routine relation

“We have in fact passed beyond that stage of human organization in which effective communication and collaboration were secured by established routines of relationship.”

— Elton Mayo (1880-1949)

management successful plant group acceptance authority leader

“Management, in any continuously successful plant, is not related to single workers but always to working groups. In every department that continues to operate, the workers have whether aware of it or not formed themselves into a group with appropriate customs, duties, routines, even rituals ; and management succeeds (or fails) in proportion as it is accepted without reservation by the group as authority and leader.”

— Elton Mayo (1880-1949)

sickness acquisitive society acquisitiveness

“The problem is not that of the sickness of an acquisitive society; it is that of the acquisitiveness of a sick society.”

— Elton Mayo (1880-1949)

minor irrationality normal person breakdown individual industry

“What social and industrial research has not sufficiently realized as yet is that… minor irrationalities of the “average normal” person are cumulative in their effect. They may not cause “breakdown” in the individual but they do cause “breakdown” in the industry.”

— Elton Mayo (1880-1949)