The affair between managers and workers

This blog is aimed to discuss a very popular theory studied and used in organizational management to understand the behavior of individuals at work. 

The theory constitute of two models, namely ‘Theory X and Theory Y’. The theory was originally given by the social psychologist Douglas McGregor in his book ‘The Human Side of Enterprise’ which was published in 1960.

Leaving aside the historical information, let’s just see what these two models are. It’s not very difficult to relate with these models as we lie in one or the other in different situations of the life ourselves.

Theory X:

Theory X says:

The average human being has an inherent dislike for work and he will try and avoid the work as much as possible. (Not so difficult to relate ourselves, is it?). Now, if we think about this very statement, the other assumptions could easily be deduced. Let’s see how!

• Because of their dislike for work, people need to be ‘pushed’ to work by controlling and threatening them to work hard enough.
• Since the person is not interested in his work, so he prefers to be directed, dislikes responsibility, is unambiguous and desires security above anything else
• The managers in such situation ends up being strict and stiff with the workers and find forcefully pushing the workers to work (in any circumstances) be the only way to extract the maximum productivity out of them.

Theory Y:

In contrast with Theory X, this theory is based on the hypothesis that expenditure of physical and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest for human. Hence the extension of this statement and the comparison with theory X gives us following further information:

• Control and punishment are not the only ways to make people work. There is a bigger commitment by the worker towards the organization and hence, he directs himself to work in the favor of the organization.
• The manager needs to motivate the workers to encourage them to contribute as much as they can to fulfill the goals of the organization.
• The employees/ workers also tend to use creativity, imagination and ingenuity at work to resolve many complex issues/problems.

 Now comes the important question: Which theory and behavior is beneficial? What are the comparison points between the two?

After presenting this theory to us, Prof. Mandi continued the lecture and introduced us to an interesting

theory to understand the different relationship combinations between manager and workers.

I will now try and make you understand the same in the following section.

Look at the figure…

For the convenience of our analysis, we consider that there are two types of managers (positive and negative). Similarly, there are two types of workers (lazy and hard-working).

  

Figure 1: Two types of Managers and two types of workers

Applying simple permutation and combination knowledge, we get to know that there are only 4 possible cases (2*2 =4 isn’t so difficult) as shown below:

Now, once I have told you what the combinations are, let’s just see what exactly the combinations in the matrix imply!!

Theory X managers:

  

Situation 1: Employees are good and the managers assume that they are lazy

Most of the people think that they have been through this situation. In this situation even if the employees are good and willing to work, their strengths and potentials are not used to that extent. They are never encouraged or motivated by their managers. Such team lacks the healthy communication and synchronization between the levels.

Situation 3: Employees are lazy and the managers also think that they are lazy

This situation the team does not perform at the level it can perform.

Theory Y managers:

Situation 2: Employees are good and the managers also think that they are good.

This is the best situation people can be into. This is the situation where we can expect maximum productivity out of the team.

Situation 4: Employees are lazy but the managers assume that they are good.

This is also a very good scenario for the organisation as the perception of the manager is positive and he can always motivate and inspire the lazy/ bad workers to work harder.

A classic example of this situation is that of a relation between parents and child. Even if their child is not doing good in the studies, parents still believe in their child. They always encourage their child to perform better by saying that their child is good.

This the way managers can make their employees work and channelize their potential in the right direction to produce the desired goals.

 
After analyzing the different scenarios, I hope you have understood these much of basics about the employee behavior in an organisation! And you have an understanding of the relationship between manager and workers!
This is all I have for now on the topic!
Will keep coming with my POM lessons for everyone to read.

Till then, keep reading!!