Copy Of Douglas Mcgregor

Douglas McGregor

Luciana Peña

Introduction Douglas McGregor (1906 - 1964) was a Management professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management whose 1960 book The Human Side of Enterprise had a profound influence on management practices. In the book he identified an approach of creating an environment within which employees are motivated via authoritative, direction and control or integration and selfcontrol, which he called theory X and theory Y.

Theory X 'authoritarian management' style • •

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In this theory management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can. workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of controls developed. A hierarchical structure is needed with narrow span of control at each level. employees will show little ambition without an enticing incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can. Most people must be forced with the threat of punishment to work towards organisational objectives.

Managers in theory X •

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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 employees 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. Managers that subscribe to Theory X, tend to take a rather pessimistic view of their employees. 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. The result of this line of thought is that Theory X managers naturally adopt a more authoritarian style based on the threat of punishment.

Theory Y 'participative management' style • • • • • •

Effort in work is as natural as work and play. People will apply self-control and self-direction in the pursuit of organisational objectives, without external control or the threat of punishment. Commitment to objectives is a function of rewards associated with their achievement. People usually accept and often seek responsibility. The capacity to use a high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in solving organisational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population. In industry the intellectual potential of the average person is only partly utilised.

Managers in theory Y •

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A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work and that there is a pool of unused creativity in the workforce. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation in and of itself. A Theory Y manager will try to remove the barriers that prevent workers from fully actualizing themselves . Many people interpret Theory Y as a positive set of assumptions about workers. A close reading of The Human Side of Enterprise reveals that McGregor simply argues for managers to be open to a more positive view of workers and the possibilities that creates.

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