Mcgregor's Theory X and Theory Y

McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y

  Background：

Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human motivation created and developed by Douglas McGregor at the MIT Sloan School of Management in the 1960s that have been used in human resource management, organizational behavior, organizational communication and organizational development. They describe two contrasting models of workforce motivation. Theory X and Theory Y have to do with the perceptions managers hold on their employees, not the way they generally behave. It is attitude not attributes.

  Introduction：

  Theory

 X:

With Theory X assumptions, management's role is to coerce and control employees. Ø People have an inherent dislike for work and will avoid it whenever possible. Ø People must be coerced, controlled, directed, or threatened with punishment in order to get them to achieve the organizational objectives. Ø Ø People prefer to be directed, do not want responsibility, and have little or no ambition. People seek security above all else.

  Theory

 Y:

With Theory Y assumptions, management's role is to develop the potential in employees and help them to release that potential towards common goals. Ø Ø Work is as natural as play and rest. People will exercise self-direction if they are committed to the objectives (they are NOT lazy). Ø Commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement.

Ø Ø

People learn to accept and seek responsibility. Creativity, ingenuity, and imagination are widely distributed among the population. People are capable of using these abilities to solve an organizational problem.

Ø

People have potential.

  Application：

McGregor had identified Theory X and Theory Y differently for the basic characteristics stated previously in the above sections of what these theories represent. Theory Xassumptions are that individuals dislike their careers. Theory X people have to be...