The Hawthorne Effect refers to people's tendency to work harder and perform better when they're part of a study or an experiment. Though individuals tend to change their behaviour due to the attention that they're receiving from researchers, especially in the context of a work environment, and so they tend to increase their productivity. The original thesis was based on experiments conducted in the 1920s and 30s, and this effect was due to the workers being observed and monitored when businesses got a hold of this nugget of information, they jumped on it completely out of context and used it to justify micromanagement. Subsequent research indicated that there may be other factors at play, such as the novelty effect, meaning that the novelty of having experimenters around can lead to an initial increase in productivity, which later gradually decreases. Various studies through the decades have shown that the Hawthorne effect wears off over time, every time, even if the attention from the observers continues. It is called the Hawthorne effect because it was discovered during a research project at the Hawthorne Western Electric Plant outside Chicago. It is not a scientific explanation for micromanagement.