speak softly and carry a big stick - X 'AND' Y

The mighty will take it, the timid will be lost!!

-          Dr. Mandi

Hello and welcome to another adventurous journey of understanding and learning the concepts of “Principles of Operational Management”.

Today we go into the real world, into the organization, into the minds of people. Today we are going to discuss the mentality of a worker and that of a manager; and how the two are related.

This complex relation between how a manager perceives his employee and what effect it can have on the organization was explained way back in 1960 by Douglas McGregor, in his book “The human side of enterprise”. His idea is famously known as “Theory X and Theory Y”.

The only thing that differentiates human beings from other animals is our thought process. We think, we perceive and we draw conclusions. This perception is what drives the relationship between a manager and his employee. It is the way how a manager sees his employee that he comes to a conclusion how to handle the employee… To make it clear, let me put it more objectively.

There are two types of employees

1)      The one’s who are lazy, who do not want to do the work.

2)      The other who are not lazy, who are willing to work.

Now, according to the perception of a manager, McGregor devised two theories:

Theory X (Authoritarian Management Style) : 

This theory makes the primary assumption that the average person is unwilling to work. They must therefore be persuaded, rewarded, punished, controlled – their activities must be directed. Without some sort of motivation, the employee would be passive, even resistant to organizational needs.

In adopting the theory X, two situations would arise:

1)      The Manager assumes ‘LAZY’ workers as ‘LAZY’ and makes them work.

2)      The Manager assumes ‘NOT LAZY’ workers as ‘LAZY’ and makes them work.

While in the first case, the manager’s approach would lead to increased productivity and better profits, the second case will not result in desired outputs. Employees who are willing to work for the betterment of the company might take the behavior of the management as a demeaning gesture. Their self esteem and dedication to the company might fall drastically.

Theory Y (Participative Management Style) :

This theory assumes that people are inherently self-motivated and responsible. Which I suppose most of us are! J The management hence applies motivational tactics to encourage such people. They aim at creating better opportunities, removing obstacles, encouraging growth, etc.

However, in the adoption of this system also, two situations may arise:

1)      The Managers assume ‘NOT LAZY’ employees as ‘NOT LAZY’

2)      The Managers assume ‘LAZY’ employees as ‘NOT LAZY’

Again the first situation will be extremely beneficial for the company. The employee would see his potential being given due credit and would strive to work harder for the welfare of the company. However, in the second situation, the company might incur huge losses as the employees who were not willing to work are not forced to do so. Moreover, they are encouraged and appreciated for the work they have not done. This situation must be avoided.

Theory X and Theory Y can be summarized as follows:

  

Finally, what becomes the question of the day is how to handle all these situation and all the different scenarios.

The HARD and SOFT Approach:

In the hard method the management is strict, keeps a close supervision of all their employees and uses threats to get their work done. While on the other hand adopting the soft approach involves satisfying the needs of the employee and obtaining harmony. While both the methods are extremes, none of them would work successfully in handling all sorts of employees. As we discussed earlier, some people need force and persuasion while others need motivation and appreciation to work. Hence, a good manager needs to be ‘firm but fair’…

As Teddy Roosevelt once said, “speak softly and carry a big stick”.

Hope the post was informative and it’ll someday help you in making the right decisions when it’ll come to handling people and situations.

Thank you for your time and let me know what you think of the post!!