Theory X and Theory Y

“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