“Oh God, I am fed up of my
subordinates… They are too lazy… They do not work until I force them to do… They
are irresponsible and negligent towards their work… They don’t even feel a
tinge of guilt after the review meetings…”
Have you ever heard these lines at
your workplace? Yes, definitely. In fact, we hear them almost everyday from some
person or the other. Let us have another excerpt from a conversation…
“Well done… What a great job you have
done… You have worked really hard, why don’t you take a break and go on a
vacation… After this fine piece of work you have delivered, I think your
promotion is around the corner…”
What about these lines? They are familiar too but we
get to hear them less frequently than the previous ones.
Both the above examples have two dimensions: the
manager and the employee. Excepting a few, employees below decision-making
levels are, by and large, followers who take instructions from the manager and who
abstain from taking initiatives. This is a proven fact around the globe and is also
a generally accepted human trait. Then where these paradoxical views about
employees emerge from? The answer is ‘Attitude of the manager’. It depends on
how the manager perceives his employees and their behavior. The culprit lies in
the brains of the manager. This is where the concept of Theory X and Theoy Y
takes its birth.
What Is It?
Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human motivation created and
developed by Douglas McGregor at the MIT
Sloan School of Management in the 1960s
that have been used in human
resource management, organizational behavior, organizational
communication and organizational
development. They describe two contrasting models of
workforce motivation.
Douglas Murray McGregor was a Management professor at the MIT
Sloan School of Management and president
of Antioch College from 1948 to 1954. He also taught at the Indian Institute of
Management Calcutta.
Theory X:
An Authoritarian Management
In this
theory, management assumes that employees are inherently lazy, they dislike work and avoid working if they
can. As a result of this, management
believes that workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems
of controls developed. A hierarchical structure is needed with narrow span of
control at each and every level. According to this theory, employees will show
little ambition without an enticing incentive program and will avoid
responsibility whenever they can. According to Michael J. Papa, if the
organizational goals are to be met, theory X managers rely heavily on threat
and coercion to gain their employees' compliance.
Demerits
of Theory X
Beliefs of this theory lead to mistrust, highly restrictive supervision, and a punitive atmosphere. The Theory X manager tends to believe that everything must end in blaming someone. He or she thinks all prospective employees are only out for themselves. Usually these managers feel the sole purpose of the employee's interest in the job is money. They will blame the person first in most situations, without questioning whether it may be the system, policy, or lack of training that deserves the blame. A Theory X manager believes that his or her employees do not really want to work, that they would rather avoid responsibility and that it is the manager's job to structure the work and energize the employee.One major
flaw of this management style is it is much more likely to cause dis-economies of scale in large businesses.
Theory Y:
A Participative Management
In this
theory, management assumes that employees are ambitious and self-motivated and
exercise self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental
and physical work duties. According to them work is as natural as play. They
possess the ability for creative problem solving, but their talents are
underused in most organizations. Given the proper conditions, theory Y managers
believe that employees will learn to seek out and accept responsibility and to
exercise self-control and self-direction in accomplishing objectives to which
they are committed. A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right
conditions, most people will want to do well at work. They believe that the
satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation.
Merits of
Theory Y
Many
people interpret Theory Y as a positive set of beliefs about workers. Managers should be open to a more positive view of workers and the possibilities
that this creates. He thinks that Theory Y managers are more likely than Theory
X managers to develop the climate of trust with employees that is required for
human resource development. It's human resource development that is a crucial
aspect of any organization. This would include managers communicating openly
with subordinates, minimizing the difference between superior-subordinate
relationships, creating a comfortable environment in which subordinates can
develop and use their abilities. This climate would include the sharing of
decision making so that subordinates have say in decisions that influence them.
Choice Before Us
We, the students of the great science
of management, are the future of India Inc. Every lesson we learn today is
going to be a pillar of decision making frameworks we are going to handle tomorrow.
Our attitudes, notions and capabilities are going to decide the fate of business
opportunities we would endeavor to tap either as entrepreneurs or organizational
managers. Therefore, it becomes imperative that we start building now rational
perceptions about existing theories and associated choices. Theory X and Theory
Y is one of them.
We have already discussed in detail both
these theories and are now in a position to communicate our views about them. Theory
Y is undoubtedly the need of the hour when the importance of human resources in
the success of a business is gaining ground, ahead of capital and material
resources. Theory Y managers are the powerhouses who fuel the growth of an organization
by optimizing the use of its most valuable resources i.e. its workforce and
thus play a vital role in organizational excellence. So which type of manager
you would like to be? A nagging Theory X manager or an amiable Theory Y
manager? The choice is yours!
Kiran
Roll No. 76
IM 19, section B
Leadership
Motivation 
Leadership and motivation are synonymous with each other and are used interchangeably. But we must know that there is a fine line distinguishing the two. These are two inter-related but distinct traits that can or cannot be possessed by a single individual. Leaders aim at achieving work excellence for each task while motivation aims at achieving personal excellence for each group member. Both work in unison to achieve overall organisational excellence.
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When leaders make a mistake,
they say, "I was wrong." When followers make mistakes, they say,
"It wasn't my fault." A leader works harder than a follower and has
more time; a follower is always "too busy" to do what is necessary. A leader
goes through a problem; a follower goes around it and never gets past it. A leader makes and keeps
commitments; a follower makes and forgets promises. A leader says, "I'm good, but not
as good as I ought to be;" a follower says, "I'm not as bad as a lot
of other people." Leaders listen; followers just wait until it's their
turn to talk. Leaders respect those who are superior to them and try to learn
something from them; followers resent those who are superior to them and try to
find chinks in their armor. Leaders feel responsible for more than their job; followers
say, "I only work here." A leader says, "There ought to be a
better way to do this;" followers say, "That's the way it's always
been done here.".jpg)
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Theory Y:
A Participative Management
