Theories of Human motivation and management- X or Y??

Are you a truly committed worker? Are you motivated by a desire to work hard and help you and your co-workers achieve innumerable objectives – however those outcomes might be measured?
I’m sure you have just answered in the affirmative.
Now consider the following….would your manager describe your commitment in the same way?
We all recognize that some people work ‘harder’ than others. That is the case in just about every walk of life and is only natural in a world where we all have slightly different priorities. The lines between the different levels of commitment to a profession are often blurred and highly nuanced with a range of factors that should be taken into account – some people work long hours but are not as productive, whereas some leave earlier but use their time at work better. The point is that is is virtually impossible to divide workers into ‘Workers’ and ‘Shirkers’. However, studies have found that workers often feel pigeon holed into one of these categories.
To explain this we can draw upon Douglas McGregor’s (1970) Theory of X and Y. This draws upon Abraham Maslow’s (1943) Hierarchy of Needs and states two basic suppositions about human nature and, by extension, employees. Theory X assumes that employees are inherently lazy, must be coerced to achieve objectives and are incapable of self-regulation. Theory Y assumes that employees are highly motivated, capable of self-direction and want to accept responsibility. Most would doubtless describe themselves as being Theory Y. However, many feel that the perception their ‘bosses’ have of them is more Theory X and this assumption is based upon how they are treated in the workplace.



But, let us see what will happen if the below combinations are found in an organization.

1. Manager-Theory X, worker-Lazy:Highly unproductive environment will be created in the organization with a deadlock kind of situation. Possible dissatisfaction among workers will be there and needless to say it is not desirable at all.
2. Manager-Theory X, worker-Hardworking:For the organization, this situation is also not very desirable as even though the worker is diligent and performs his tasks, the manager simply fails to see his work and is not willing to reward him. In the long run, this will only lead to a internal conflict thereby productivity will be harmed.
3. Manager-Theory Y, worker-Lazy: Have you seen a typical father and a son relationship in India. This is it. The son does not study, never works hard and is not willing to finish the homework but the father always believes ki ‘Mera beta ek din mera naam roshan karega’. The son will either soon realize his mistake and  improve his mistakes or he will ignore his father’s expectations even more knowing that he will not say anything. The first case is always more likely as a positive attitude can shake even the best of foundations.
4. Manager-Theory Y, worker-Hardworking: Ah, the perfect situation and as you know perfect human beings are non-existent, this kind of situation is also virtually non-existent or is very rare. The worker works hard, manager appreciates, both are happy, go home movie over.

 

In my life, I have come across theory X managers who did not want to reward their subordinates however hard they may be working. Those managers were always interested in fault finding instead of focussing  on increasing the productivity of the organization.
I have also met theory Y manager who always motivated, encouraged and trusted his workers. He also awarded them with deadline extensions when he felt that the person was being overburdened and also gave commendable speeches .This produced benefits when our team got star team award.

Now talking about myself, although I have never been a professional manager but we all are managers in our daily lives and I am no exception. I have traits of case 3 as well as case 4. Most of the times, I tend to be relaxed whenever people under me are not ready to work and show a positive attitude because I know that they will eventually realize their mistakes. One of the instances which I can recall is that when I was working on my final year engineering project and my team members showed a carefree attitude and did not do any task which I assigned to them. I, however remained relaxed and kept on working myself and after a few days, they all realized that I am not a fool who is working on the project alone so they joined me and helped me out J.
I have also experienced a situation like case 4 when during my school days, I used to teach Maths to my younger cousins and they refused to complete the work I assigned to them. I used to get angry and insulted them which resulted in them showing even more casual attitude and they stopped doing homework altogether. They were also not willing to listen to my lectures.

Similar to these, many of us may have encountered many real life examples which we can now introspect and categorise. !!