McGregor created Theory X and Theory Y of human work motivation and explained two styles of management known as authoritarian (Theory X) and participative (Theory Y). Theory X management assumes most people will attempt to avoid work whereas Theory Y managers trust their people to take ownership of their work.
About McGregor:
Douglas Murray McGregor (1906 – 1 October 1964) was a Management professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and president of Antioch College from 1948 to 1954. McGregor was born in Detroit. He earned a B.E. (Mechanical) from Rangoon Institute of Technology, an A.B. from Wayne State University in 1932, and then earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University in 1944 and 1955 respectively. His 1960 book “The Human Side of Enterprise” had a profound influence on education practices. In the book The Human Side of Enterprise, McGregor identified an approach of creating an environment within which employees are motivated via authoritative, direction and control or integration and self-control, which he called theory X and theory Y, respectively.
McGregor (1960) categorized leadership styles into two broad categories having two different beliefs and assumptions about subordinates. He called these Theory X and Theory Y.
What are Theory X and Theory Y?
This theory is an attempt to understand what actually motivates employees to go to work each day and whether people like to be independent and work hard themselves or they always need a leader to control and guide them. Whether people get great satisfaction from their work and they are proud of it or view it as a burden, and they just work as they need to work to survive. This theory tries to study this question of motivation to identify successful approaches to management.
Social psychologist Douglas McGregor developed two divergent theories on human motivation and called them as The X Theory and the Theory Y. One theory assumes that most people like working and the other contrasts that most dislike working. The management style of any manager will be strongly influenced by his beliefs and assumptions about what he thinks are the drivers of motivation for the team. If the manager believes that they dislike work, he might tend to adopt authoritarian style of management whereas the leader who assumes that employees like working will tend to adopt democratic style.
What is Theory X?
Theory X assumes that employees are naturally unmotivated and dislike working. As a result the Theory X style of leaders believes that most people dislike work and will avoid it wherever possible. Such leaders feel they themselves are a small but important group, who want to lead and take responsibility, but a large majority of people want to be directed and avoid responsibility. Therefore, this style of leadership exercises strong controls and direction and wherever necessary punish people if they do not do the work and this encourages an authoritarian style of management. If people do the work as desired, they may even get monetary or other rewards. According to this view, management must actively intervene to get things done.
This style of management assumes that workers:
What is Theory Y?
It assumes that employees are self-motivated, like working, self-motivated and take pride in getting greater responsibility. As a result, Theory Y leaders assume that people will work hard and assume responsibility if they can satisfy their personal needs and the objectives or goals of their organization. Such leaders do not sharply distinguish between the leaders and the followers in contrast to Theory X style. They feel that people control themselves within rather than being controlled by others from outside such as a leader or a manager or a supervisor. Theory Y explicates a participative style of management that is de-centralized. In Y-Type organizations, people at lower levels of the organization are involved in decision making and have more responsibility.
This style of management assumes that workers:
Comparing Theory X and Theory Y:
An effective leader needs to examine carefully their own ideas about the motivation and behavior of subordinates and others, as well as the situation, before adopting a particular style of leadership. Given below is a table explaining the contrast between Theory X and Theory Y.
Attribute |
Theory X |
Theory Y |
Motivation |
Dislike Work |
Self-Motivated |
Responsibility |
Avoid Responsibility |
Enjoy Greater Responsibility |
Management |
Authoritarian |
Democratic / Participative |
Control |
Centralized |
De-Centralized |
Decision Making |
Management Decides |
Jointly Decision Making Happens |
Skills |
Repetitive Work |
Specialized Work |
Training |
Skills Driven |
Competency Driven |
Awards |
Based on Performance |
Based on Performance and Values |
Delegation |
Not Possible |
Delegation Happens |
Delivery |
Forced to Perform |
Self-driven Delivery |
Change |
Resist Change |
Adapts to Change |
Direction |
Formal Directions |
Self-Driven |
Implications of Theory X and Theory Y:
Theory X and Theory Y relates to Maslow's hierarchy of needs in how human behavior and motivation is the main priority in the workplace in order to maximize output. In relations to Theory Y the organization is trying to create the most symbiotic relationship between the managers and workers which relates to Maslow's hierarchy of needs of Self Actualization and Esteem. For Self Actualization the manager needs to promote the optimum workplace through morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts. It can relate to esteem when the manager is trying to promote self-esteem, confidence, achievement, respect of others, and respect by others.
Very few organizations use Theory X techniques. Theory X encourages use of tight control and supervision and takes a pessimistic view of employees. It implies that employees are reluctant to organizational changes. Thus, it does not encourage innovation and encourages an authoritarian style of management. Many organizations use Theory Y techniques. Theory Y encourages decentralization of authority, teamwork and participative decision making in an organization. It tries to harmonize and match employees’ needs and aspirations with organizational needs and aspirations.
Theory Z also called the "Japanese Management" style is a leadership theory of human motivation focused on organizational behavior, communication, and development. It assumes that employees want to enter into long term partnerships with their employers and peers. Offering stable jobs with an associated focus on the well-being of employees results in increased employee loyalty to the company.
Have you ever resonated that there seem to be as many different ways to lead people as there have been great leaders? When we recall the success of Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte to Steve Jobs and Jack Welch, we also notice that they all used different approaches that were suitable to their specific situations and circumstances. Over the last century, researchers and psychologists have developed simple ways to describe the “Styles of leadership” and in this section, we will explore these commonly known leadership styles.
Trait theories of leadership identify the specific personality traits that distinguish leaders from non-leaders. The trait model of leadership is based on the traits or characteristics of leaders that make them successful in their leading role. These theories use heritable attributes to predict leadership effectiveness.
The multiple linkage model states that leadership effectiveness is based on six variables. Multiple variables of a leader's behavior and situation have a linkage to the performance of the individual follower and work unit performance. The theory is based on the notion of the link between the organization process and managerial influence.
Attribution Theory of Leadership
The attribution theory of leadership deals with the formation of individual opinions about the reasons for particular events or observations. People will always try to understand why people do what they do. The leader will make a judgment about his employees based on his attribution of the causes of the employees' performance. Individuals will also make inferences about the leader and react to poor performance by the leader.
Symbolic Interaction and Social Change
George Herbert Mead, an American philosopher, affiliated with the University of Chicago founded the theory of symbolic interactionism. A major aspect of this is that people interact by symbols both verbal and non-verbal signals and every interaction makes a contribution to the mental make-up of the mind thus every interaction with someone, changes you and you go away a different person signifying that humans and change go together.
Life cycle theory of Leadership
Situational Leadership Theory was first introduced in 1969 as the life cycle theory of leadership. This theory suggests that type of leadership style appropriate in a given situation depends on the maturity of the follower. As per life cycle theory, leader need to match the leadership style according to the situation and leader behavior varies as the group matures.
Continuum of leadership is a leadership theory based on the relationship between the level of freedom given to the team and the level of authority used by the manager. The chosen leadership style will depend on multiple factors, including the leader's personality.
Self-leadership is a normative model of self-influence by the use of several behavioral strategies to gain a comprehensive self-influence perspective about oneself. Self-leadership is developing an understanding of your capabilities and abilities to influence your own communication, emotions, and behaviors to lead and influence others. Self-leadership is about personal growth and developing foresight.
Rensis Likert studied the patterns and styles of managers and developed four management systems known as Likert's management systems. These styles developed by him are known as Likert management systems. System 1 - Exploitative Authoritative; System 2 - Benevolent Authoritative; System 3 - Consultative and System 4 - Participative.
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