Theory X/Y Douglas Mcgregor Formulated

Theory X/Y

Douglas McGregor formulated Theory X and Theory Y of management in 1960. Theory X posits that workers are inherently lazy, avoid responsibility and therefore need coercion in order to be motivated. Theory Y posits that workers enjoy working, want responsibility and can be motivated by positivity and self-actualization. The management style survey shows that my personal preferences are entirely on Theory Y management, and this is consistent with most people. At my company, however, while the slant is towards Theory Y, there remains some Theory X elements to the management style. This paper will analyze the divergence between my company and my own views of management, in relation to McGregor's two theories.

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The survey of the company shows that the company has a management style that is characterized as generally Theory Y management, with a score of 51. The company receives a low score on a number of elements, however. Many of these low-scoring elements relate to communication -- lack of communication about personal development, lack of praise and no exit interviews. As a result, the company still retains some Theory X traits in its management style. The company in particular does not engage the employee in organizational goals, which follows the Theory X assumption that the worker does not care about organizational goals (NetMBA, 2010).

McGregor posited that most workers have a strong preference for Theory Y management, and this has been supported in surveys. In this self-assessment, Theory Y is strongly preferred in all instances. Today, many workers see themselves as building a relationship with a company, and taking more control over their own careers. They want to see Theory Y management.

There may be reasons why the company does not fully implement Theory Y management. The company may still cling to Theory X beliefs, either as a result of corporate inertia or as a result of older managers who came up in the company with these beliefs. It can take a long time to change organizational culture. The company may not see the benefits of having a fully Theory Y managerial style, or the managers involved may not fully be able to implement such a style as it demands a high level of trust in the employees.

In theory, the survey results should reflect fairly accurately on my work experience. However, the conclusion is that my company has a management style that is skewed towards Theory Y I would actually argue that this is overly generous, that my company is more towards Theory X What I see is that some of the high scores -- for example my boss finding extra responsibility for me or calling me by my first name -- are overly generous in their weighting. These elements do not necessary reflect the openness and trust inherent in a Theory Y organization as they do not reflect management granting more trust to the employees, not even myself. The general sentiment in the daily work is more of a Theory X company. Even with being able to work independently, rest assured if something goes wrong the independence will wane.

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