Intellectual Ambition at Harvard Business School: Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger

Jan W. Rivkin; Amram  Migdal

Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2017

Intellectual Ambition at Harvard Business School: Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger

by Jan W. Rivkin and Amram Migdal

Abstract

This case, set in the 1920s and 1930s, discusses the contributions of Harvard Business School (HBS) Professors Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger to management research and to the Human Relations Movement in management scholarship. The case focuses on their research program at the Western Electric Hawthorne Works manufacturing plant and the resulting insights, publications, course development, and impact. Brief biographical details of Mayo and Roethlisberger are given, along with a synopsis of the origins of academic research at HBS.

Keywords: Education; Business Education; Curriculum and Courses; Executive Education; Higher Education; Interdisciplinary Studies; Learning; History; Business History; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizations; Practice; Relationships; Groups and Teams; Labor and Management Relations; Rank and Position; Research; Social Psychology; Attitudes; Behavior; Emotions; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Status and Position; Trust; Society; Social Issues; Theory; Education Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Illinois;

Language: English

Format: Print

17 pages

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Citation:

Rivkin, Jan W., and Amram Migdal. "Intellectual Ambition at Harvard Business School: Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger." Harvard Business School Case 717-469, March 2017.

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Intellectual Ambition at Harvard Business School: Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger

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