"The
ingenuity of the average worker is sufficient to outwit any system of controls
devised by management"
-Douglas Mcgregor
While it might be confusing as to why I have
mentioned this quote at the beginning of this post, I would like to throw some
light on the person who made this statement, to start things off. Douglas
Mcgregor, while working at MIT Sloan School of Management, created and
developed the two great theories of human motivation, namely: Theory X and
Theory Y during the 1960s. These have been used extensively in human resource
management, organizational behavior, organizational communication and
organizational development.
While
the pictures are pretty self-explanatory, some more understanding should be
there about these two theories. Theory X has been deemed highly counterproductive.
It leads to mistrust, highly restrictive supervision and a punitive atmosphere.
Phrases and words like intolerant, deadline-driven, aloof and arrogant, demands
yet never asks are associated with a manager who follows this theory. It is
quite clear that such managers wouldn't last one day in the current world and
it is surprising that such class of managers do exist. On the other hand, Mr.
McGregor rates Theory Y quite highly. In 'The Human Side of Enterprise' he
simply argues for managers to be open to a more positive view of the employees.
He explains that this would go a long way in creating an environment of Trust,
that is indispensable for human resource development.
Something not as popular as these two theories is
called Theory Z. This was not developed by Mr. Mcgregor but by William Ouchi in
his book, 'Theory Z: How American management can meet the
Japanese Challenge'. Theory Z essentially advocates a combination of all
that's best about theory Y and modern Japanese management, which places a large
amount of freedom and trust with workers, and assumes that workers have a
strong loyalty and interest in team-working and the organization. Theory Z
also places more reliance on the attitude and responsibilities of the workers,
whereas Mcgregor's X and Y theory is mainly focused on management and
motivation from the manager's and organization’s perspective. There is no doubt
that Ouchi's Theory Z model offers excellent ideas, albeit it lacking the simple
elegance of McGregor’s model, which let's face it, thousands of organizations
and managers around the world have still yet to embrace.
Coming to the question of managers that I have personally
had a chance to work with, I have had two of them. Mr N and Ms. G. I am
choosing to avoid using their names to avoid talking about them in public forum
with their names. Both of my managers always went by Theory Y and it should be
mentioned as a credit to the work culture at my organization that all the
managers were encouraged to do so. I believe I’ll make a manager who will go by
Theory Y with a subtle hint of Theory X when something important needs some
urgent follow up and I am not sure if the concerned resource will get it done
on time.
