Douglas McGregor (1906-1964)
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- Born in Detroit, Michigan- an emerging motor city
- A social psychologist who became the president of Antioch College
- Became a professor in MIT and Harvard and was often associated with his works, particularly Theory Y.
- Worked at the McGregor Institute; a family business
- Affiliated with many organizations, labour unions, and business sectors.
Theory X
- Reflected a classical approach to management
- Assume that people are inherently lazy,dislike work, will avoid working hard unless forced to do so, and prefer to be directed rather than accepting responsibility for getting their work done.
- As a result, Theory X managers design structures and systems intended to ensure that people will work hard. ( such measures may include introducing control systems, setting the pace with assembly lines, implementing piece-rate pay systems, and threatening to lay off workers who fail to work hard enough.)
Theory Y
- More realistic approach to management practice.
- Here, workers are not merely seen as a set of hired “hands” and managers as the “brain” of an organization. Instead, managers allow workers to use their full selves.
- Theory Y managers assume that work is as natural as play, that people are inherently motivated to work, and that people will feel unfulfilled if they do not have the opportunity to work and thereby make a contribution to society.
- Theory Y also assumes that workers prefer to have as much control as possible over their own work, and that people will gladly take responsibility for their work providing that adequate structures and systems are in place to facilitate this.
- Theory Y perspective, the challenge of management is to provide the support necessary to allow people to excel at their work. This may be accomplished by allowing employees to set their own pace for their work, providing opportunities to work in teams, implementing profit-sharing plans, investing in ongoing training and development for workers, and providing a sense of long-term commitment to worker
- Would be able to maximize productivity