The Human Side Of Enterprise By Douglas Mcgregor Essay

Charles M. Carson, (2005),"A historical view of Douglas McGregor's Theory Y", Management Decision, Vol. 43 Iss 3 pp. 450 - 460

Abraham Maslow developed a Hierarchy of Needs (appendix 3) which is used to understand human motivation, management training and personal development. This hierarchy is used to determine the responsibility of employers to provide a workplace environment that encourages and enables employees to fulfil their own unique potential.

Maslow identified that employees have the motivation to achieve certain needs. Once these needs have been achieved the employee will seek to fulfil the next set of needs.

Maslow’s theory of motivation is called the “hierarchy of needs”. Maslow believes that people have five main needs in the following order of importance;

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.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs was introduced in the mid-1940’s by Abraham Maslow; it is one of the most popular theories of work motivation to this day. the theory was originally used specifically in a psychological setting, but was made more popular by Douglas McGregor in the late 1960’s and began to be used by not only psychologists but managers as well (Steers & Porter, 1983). The hierarchy is based on the fact that human beings have needs, Maslow took these needs and separated them into five categories: physiological needs, safety, belongingness or social needs,

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

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.

Osland, et al. (2007) provide a good introduction to three basic motivational content theories. The first theory is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs that proposes man is motivated by a lack in the one or more of the five common needs. The needs that Maslow identifies are physiological, safety, social belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. Maslow believed that one fills needs from the most basic (like food and water) to the highest level (self-actualization). Maslow’s ideas are easy to relate to and attempt to provide an all-inclusive approach to the concept of motivation; however, there is little evidence to support the idea that man cannot have self-actualization without the other more basic needs first satisfied. The second content theory Osland, et al. discuss is McCelland’s learned needs. McCelland states that man is motivated by one of three things: achievement, power, or affiliation – or a mixture of the three. Each of these needs can possess a negative or positive connotation or implementation, but it is argued that people motivated by affiliation make better leaders. The third theory presented is McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y. McGregor asserts that Theory X people or employees are inherently lazy and must be controlled and forced to act, whereas Theory Y people are self-controlled, motivated, and ambitious.

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.

Douglas McGregor presented Theory X and Theory Y in his book “The Human Side of Enterprise”. In these two theories McGregor has presented two types of managerial style. Theory X says that management is responsible for directing efforts of the people, motivating them, controlling their actions

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,