What is it?
Douglas McGregor's 1960 publication which highlighted the
concepts of Theory X and Theory Y managers have forever been used to explain
the art of motivation based on human behaviour. It encapsulated a
fundamental distinction between the different management styles and is a valid
basic principle from which to develop positive management style and techniques
to propel organisations towards excellence.
Theory X and Theory Y
Organisations consist of employees and managers. The theory
delves on the attitude and outlook of managers - the direction and growth of
the organisation is in the hands of managers and it is solely their way of
managing things which leads to proper motivation of the employees and in the
process, achieve growth in the organisation.It is important to note here that
Theory X and Theory Y looks into managerial psychology and their way of
planning and running the organisation. Thus, it focuses on the class of
managers and their behavioral attributes and attitude.
Theory X Managers
His Theory of Motivation states that there is a certain
class of mangers who fall in the bracket of Theory X. In this theory
management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they
can. Because of this, workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive
systems of control put in place. A hierarchical structure is needed, with
narrow span of control at each level, for effective management. According to
this theory employees will show little ambition without an enticing incentive
program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can.
The managers influenced by Theory X believe that everything
must end in blaming someone. They think most employees are only out for
themselves and their sole interest in the job is to earn money. They tend to
blame employees in most situations, without questioning the systems, policy, or
lack of training which could be the real cause of failures.
Theory Y Managers
Management influenced by this theory assumes that employees
are ambitious, self-motivated, anxious to accept greater responsibility and
exercise self-control, self-direction, autonomy and empowerment. Management
believes that employees enjoy their work. They also believe that, given a
chance, employees have the desire to be creative at their work place and become
forward looking. There is a chance for greater productivity by giving employees
the freedom to perform to the best of their abilities, without being bogged
down by rules.
A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right
conditions, most people will want to do well at work and that there is a pool
of unused creativity in the workforce. They believe that the satisfaction of
doing a good job is a strong motivation in itself. A Theory Y manager will try
to remove the barriers that prevent workers from fully actualizing themselves.
The following diagram gives a clear explanation about Theory
X and Theory Y managers:
Now we further discuss the role of such managers and the effect on employees through the following four cases. As and where possible, examples from my experience of working under such managers has been highlighted.
Situation I: Employee dislikes his work and
manager assumes he is lazy
This kind of a situation is seen in many organisations where
lack of clear directive principles and ineffective goal setting leads to
disillusionment and non-motivation among the employees to perform better.
During my working days, while working in various committees as junior members,
I often found seniors at the leadership didn't care much about us or the
betterment of the club as a whole. Gradually, we assumed a stance where we also
didn't work or care much and slowly started disliking working in it. They
assumed we were lazy and went about it in that manner. This is a classic case
of Theory X Managers where both the management and employees assume that the
top rung will be giving orders to the lower rungs and they will follow the
same.
Situation II: Employee likes his work and
manager assumes he is lazy
This is probably the most dangerous out of all the four
possible situations where the employee likes his work and finds himself highly
motivated from within to work and contribute, however the manager still assumes
he is lazy and thus is greatly harmful to the motivational growth of the
employee and the organisation as a whole. I had the (mis)fortune of
having such a manager during my initial days at my workplace. The team members
would work extra hard to achieve already stringent deadlines and produce quality
work, often doing value addition on their own and inspiring each other to work
harder and stay focused. However, our manager still assumed we were a
group of lazy employees and would constantly point out minor issues, without
focusing on the larger picture of employee's performance. Even with
whole-hearted contributions, the team was deemed to be performing below par and
not meeting objectives. Such managers can be detrimental to the success of the
organisation as often, good employees might leave the organisation to other
rival companies, leading to further attrition.
Situation III: Employee dislikes his work and
manager assumes he is not lazy
In this case, even though employees dislike their work,
there is a strong focus from management to think they can do better and
perform much more to aid the organisation. Immense morale boosting attitude, a
definite belief that employees will perform better given more optimistic
managers at the helm, performance based incentives at all levels are some of
the means of getting the employees up to speed. This kind of a workplace is
where the Theory Y managers exhibit their true mettle and where the attitude
they adopt crucially shapes the future of the organisation.
Situation IV: Employee likes his work and manager
assumes he is not lazy
In a diverse world of different organisations with different
philosophies, I believe that managers should try to become Theory Y managers in
situation IV as this leads to successful growth of all stakeholders involved.
Even in the case where such a situation becomes hypothetical, I feel that
Theory X managers shown in situation II above are the worst managers as the
negative vibe they give out harms all the parties.
Informative Read...Explained well with real-life scenarios
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