Theory X and theory Y managers

The second lecture by Professor T. Prasad explained us the concept of theory X and theory Y managers. These are the human motivation theories put forward by Douglas Mcgregor of the MIT sloan school of management.

Theory X managers are not employee friendly. They always believe that the employee will avoid his work. Theory Y managers, on the other hand trust their employees with the responsibilities given to them. The two type of managers can be better understood from the following video:

Now lets check out the possibilities when various type of employees work under various types of bosses.

1.    Lazy employees work under theory X manager:- The productivity would be low due to the lazy employees. And it would decline even further due to lack of incentive given to employees.   

2.    Motivated employees work under theory X manager:-This situation is the most dangerous. The result could be that the productivity of good employees would decline due to lask of incentives. Also, good employees may leave the organization leaving behind only lazy employees in the organization.

3.    azy employees work under theory Y manager:- Since the employees are lazy, their productivity needs to be increased. Theory Y managers, being employee friendly would try to motivate them by giving them incentives. This, if successful would boost productivity.

4.    Motivated employees work under theory Y manager:- This is the most ideal situation. Since the employees are good, they are ensuring that their targets are met. Due to this, their boss is giving them due reward, motivating them further. Thus, finally the everyone is gaining from this favourable nexus.
  

Every organization should therefore try to achieve the last scenario. This is most favourable as the productivity is more, the work culture is better and all the things are moving towards better. This can be achieved by having more Theory Y managers in the firm who can motivate the employees to perform better.

Aaj ki roti aaj hi kamana !!!

                After working for 3 years, getting back to college was always going to be a unique experience. And so I marched towards the classroom to attend my first MBA class. As I walked toward the class, I thought of the various possibilities of how the class would unfold, but none of these matched what actually happened in my first MBA class! In fact, I’m pretty sure that none of my batch-mates would have ever predicted it.

                The first surprise, and a pleasant one, was our class was taken by Professor T. Prasad more fondly known as Professor Mandi. The next shock was that toys were distributed among the students. But the best part of the class was when we were told to throw the sponge balls at our batch-mates. I’ve always wanted to play catch catch in class, but least expected it to happen, not in an MBA class, nor while the professor’s back not facing us! I will always remember this; thank you sir for unique experience, you’d become our favorite by now!

                Now that he’d got everyone’s attention, it was time to get to real business. He called students forward and made them sell the toys distributed to each other. Then he gave suitable suggestions so that the student selling can increase the value of the product for the buyer, a simple but effective way to boost the value of any product. Then he encouraged blogging so that the content taught in his lectures is not restricted to NITIE, but open to anyone who has interest to study, this is one thing I appreciated the most.

However, the most significant take away from the lecture was ‘aaj ki roti aaj hi kamana’ i.e. the students should not rely on their parents for expenses but try to earn on their own, and that too in their area of study. Earning from one’s own area of study reinforces the gained knowledge and its application, thereby giving mastery in his field; a very easy concept, but equally difficult to implement. We were made to realize how big the opportunity cost was, for coming to NITIE; roughly around Rs.2500 per day and then we were inspired to earn this back by opening our own companies while in campus.

Overall it was a great lecture, and I feel that if the concept, ‘aaj ki roti aaj hi kamana’ is implemented even partially, the future seems great then!