UNLOCKING PRODUCTIVITY: LESSONS FROM ELTON MAYO'S PHILADELPHIA SPINNING MILL EXPERIMENT FOR EFFECTIVE WORKER MOTIVATION

This paper adopts a theoretical approach to explore the concept of motivation and its overarching influence in unlocking workers’ productivity using Elton Mayo’s groundbreaking research at the Philadelphia industrial complex as exemplar. The study revealed that motivation influences workers’ performance in Philadelphia Spinning Mill. It also revealed that workers are driven by needs, particularly the need for money in the form of wages, salaries, allowances, and bonuses. But beyond money, psychosocial needs such as recognition, communication and empathy from supervisors, and companionship are lacking in some workers. Satisfying these needs requires some management skills that entail needs identification, implementation, and evaluation. These management approaches were adopted in the Philadelphia Spinning Mill and were found to yield positive results. Therefore, industry managers should take a cue from Elton Mayo.