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.