Mcgregor's Xy Theory

McGregor first published his ideas in his book, The Human Side of Enterprise. One of the experiences he had that influenced his thoughts was from work that he did at his grandfather’s establishment for temporary workers in Detroit. Because he was a close acquaintance of Abraham Maslow, who developed “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs,” McGregor wished to counter the scientific approach on management (“Douglas McGregor,” 2008) and named Theories X & Y.

When managing people, McGregor’s model, indicated below, shows to styles of management. Theory X is directive, whereas Theory Y is enabling, and looks at employee engagement/ teamwork in order to achieve the

Theory X and Theory Y represent two sets of assumptions about human nature and human behaviour that are relevant to the practice of management. They describe two contrasting models of workforce motivation. Theory X represents a negative view on of human nature that assumes individuals generally dislike work, are irresponsible, and require close supervision to do their jobs. Theory Y represents a positive view of human nature and assumes individuals are generally hard-working, creative, and able to take on responsibility

Theory X and Theory Y, developed by Douglas McGregor, grew out of opposition towards classical management methods. Classical management theorists, such as Fredrick Taylor, focused on scientific training and efficiency and did not account for personal and behavioral issues, such as management styles or job satisfaction. McGregor saw these deficiencies in the classical school of management which lead him to develop a theory of management that would factor the importance of the individual worker. If a manager could tap into the feelings and attitudes of their workers, then the manager would be able increase their employee’s motivation which would then increase production. McGregor’s theory viewed the employee as a person and not as a machine

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Hubbard, G, Rice, J and Beamish, P 2008, Strategic Management, Pearson Education Australia, 3rd, Frenchs Forest, Australia.

McGregor’s Theory Y has a positive view on employees. This theory believes that employees will do well when they are given the ability to do so. This is a Theory that trusts that humans are mostly committed to making the company that they work for successful.

If managers cannot adapt a leadership style when required then staff will become unengaged and have low morale. Not recognising their own role in the organisation or the vision of organisation and where it wants to be.

Motivation according to Kelley (2014) is the ‘process through which managers build the desire to be productive and effective in their employees’. If an employee is motivated, they are more likely to be productive and generally staff turnover is low. The problem of worker motivation is that workers are not seen as humans, they have a lack of freedom at the workplace and lack of job fulfilment. Taylor and McGregor Theory X argue that there is not a problem with worker motivation, workers will be obedient because of fear of losing their job motivates them to do well. Whereas Maslow and McGregor’s Theory Y argues that there is a problem with worker motivation because of class conflict between the worker and the manager. The

Douglas McGregor was a management professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He introduced a new motivational theory in his book ‘The Human Side of Enterprise’, stating that all workers were divided into two groups: Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X workers were lazy, irrational and unreliable, and were only motivated by money and threatened by punishment. Theory Y workers were able to seek and accept responsibilities and fulfil any goals given.

Human Resources is dependent on the success, happiness, and contentment of employees that keep the business on course. Motivation is one of the best ways to push employees forward while making sure everyone is in a comfortable position in their job. Motivational theories just attempt to explain what motivates or makes people act the way that they do. The goal of understanding these theories and their outcomes is to ensure a better performance from each employee, and to give each of those employees the best situation they can have in the workplace. Visionaries such as Abraham Maslow, Frederick Herzberg, and Henry A. Landsberger also brought forward new ways of management and ways to handle internal situations that changed the landscape of human resources as a whole. Motivational theories instituted in the workplace have a commonly positive effect on both employees and management, showing that it is important to strive for proven motivational practices.

2007). Kermally (2005, p.36) explain that McGregor believed ‘how managers manage people in practice depends on what assumptions they make about workers’. It means that which kind of leadership managers choose, according to how managers perceive workers’ attitudes toward their job. Managers believe their workers related to Theory X and Y normally use strict supervision approaches to reduce workers’ control on their job, in contrary, managers allow workers to be innovative and willing to authorise more responsibility to Theory Y workers (Waddell et al. 2007).

10. McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y • Taught psychology at MIT. • At Antioch College, McGregor found that his classroom teaching of human relations did not always work in practice. • From these experiences, his ideas evolve and lead him to recognize the influence of assumptions we make about people and our managerial style. Content Theories of Motivation McGregor‟s Theory X and Theory Y – Theory X • Assumes that workers have little ambition, dislike work, avoid responsibility, and require close supervision. – Theory Y • Assumes that workers can exercise self- direction, desire responsibility, and like to work. – Motivation is maximized by participative decision making, interesting jobs, and good group relations.

As Douglas McGregor began working on his book, The Human Side of Enterprise, he encountered Abraham Maslow’s theory. Maslow believed that people had 5 basic ascending needs. It was this theory that not only supported McGregor’s thinking about a hierarchy of motivation, but it also provided a strong theoretical foundation for his assumptions (Bobic, 2003). With a firm foundation McGregor shared his theory with the world, and his theory has had a lasting impact on management theory.

In this philosophy there was a large focus on rules and lack of discretion, thus meaning that the main focus of this philosophy is high control (DeNisi & Griffin, 2014) . This theory of Human resource management is thought to be best suited for X-type workers according to the McGregor X and Y Theory (Robbins & Judge, 2013). Human Resource Managers who would use this viewpoint intend on increasing Productivity by forcing workers to abide by the rules of a strict script because the workers are considered to be lazy and lacked motivation therefore they are need to pushed to perform tasks and have to be forcibly directed to doing tasks the do not like (French & Rees,