Now some management fundas...

I was very excited to attend Dr. Mandi's next class and eager to learn new things. This lecture was about different type of managers present in an organization and the effect of these managers on the employees and the growth of the organization. This theory was developed by Douglas Murray McGregor  and is known as Theory X and Theory Y. This theory for human force motivation is more to do with perception and and not the behavior of the managers towards their employees.

In simple language Theory X is a manager who is not at all liked by the employees. Some basic characteristics of these managers are that they are authoritative, they do not take any responsibility and initiative. They believe in blaming someone in most of the situation and assume that employees will try to avoid to work if they can and do not like the work.

Theory Y manager is liked by all the employees. They have optimistic thinking and create positive environment at workplace, where people and work and excel. They believe that continuous improvement can be achieved by enabling, empowering and giving responsibility.

This can be analysed as four different situations:

Employee is lazy and X think they are lazy

In this case as the management knows that the employee is lazy they try to closely supervise them. Managers do not encourage them to work and in turn employees are forced to work. This can lead to catastrophic effect to the management and stops the growth of the employee and the organization.  

Employee is not lazy but X think they are lazy

In this situation the employees want to work but are demotivated by the manager. Employees want to excel but they do not get positive environment for the same. Work of the employees is not justified and they do not get proper appraisal and. This creates lack of trust and hampers the growth of the employees.

Employee is lazy but Y believes they are not lazy

Here the managers create optimistic environment and motivate such lazy employees to work and excel. As lazy employees are not good for the growth of the organization. Such employees are given more responsibility and managers show faith on them which creates some significant changes.

Employee is not lazy and Y thinks they are not lazy.

This is the perfect situation which not only leads to the growth of the employees but also of the organization as a whole. Hard working employees get proper appreciation and appraisal  which encourage them to work more efficiently. In such case more innovation and fun can be sen at workplace.


Everyone would like to work in situation where we are rewarded with what we do, get positive environment and encouragement to work. So that we can excel and come up with innovative ideas, which will benefit the employees and take the organization to the zenith of success.

"If you pick the right people and give them the opportunity to spread their wings—and put compensation as a carrier behind it—you almost don't have to manage them."

— Jack Welch

Thanks,
Akash Kumar