Management Theory of Douglas McGregor - Theory X and Theory Y
McGregor's theories define about the attitudes of managers and
workers, as well as how workers are perceived by management, and how
workers perceive their role in the company. He identified two styles
of management, which he called Theory X and Theory Y. These theories
put forward to the managers, not the workers.
Theory X basically holds the belief of autocratic managers that their
employees has in inherent dislike for work and will avoid it if
possible. These managers like to retain most of their power and
authority, by making decisions on their own, then instructs their
employees to carry out the work task. They often describe as
"authoritative", because they act as "authorities". This
type of
manager places great deal of concern on the accomplishment of the
work, whilst much less concern for the worker's opinions/attitudes
toward the manager's decision. This is like self-fulfilling, as the
managers give less opportunities for the employees to participate, the
employees will probably lead to decrease of work motivation. It is
held that employees will end up only respond to monetary rewards,
their payment. This would lead to lose of ground in the work place for
the managers.
Theory X managers also believe that their employees need some kind of
direct pressure and control in order to get them work effectively.
This turns out to be wrong because man actually needs more than
financial rewards at work, he also needs some deeper higher order
motivation in order to fulfill himself. Theory X managers should give
their employees more chances to share their opinions, i.e. having
decision making with the group members.
Theory Y management situation, it's often found that the relationship
between managers and workers are more popular view, which explains the
concepts of Theory Y. Theory Y managers believe that their employees
are creative, eager/enjoy to work and that they want to contribute
ideas and effort. These managers are also known as "participative
managers", because they more likely to involve employees in decisions
and give them more responsibilities which takes part in the business.
A participative manager's leadership style is often defined in two
styles, democratic and consensual. A democratic leader would allow
their employees to vote on decisions, whereas the consensual leader
would encourage group discussions and decisions which reflect the
consensus of the group. These managers would have a great deal of
control, and would keep the power to implement the decision.
Employees managed by participative managers were much more capable of
excising self-control and self-direction if they are motivated to
achieve goal, and are often seeks for responsibility rather than only
accepting it. They are also far more prevalent in the work place. For
instance, their ingenuity, creativity, and imagination result
increasingly present throughout the ranks of the working population.
Leadership
Power & Authority
Employees
Conflict
X
- more authoritarian
- retain most of their authority - lose ground in the work place
- only respond to monetary rewards - might lead to decrease of work
motivation
---------------
Y
- more participative
- share more authority - still retain power to implement the decision
- much higher productivity - far more prevalent in the work place
-might be given the opportunity to exert "Negotiating" strategies to
solve their own differences
X & Y
- remain a great deal of control
- both keep most of the power and authority
---------------
-more likely to exercise a great deal of "Power" based conflict
resolution style (esp. X)
Motivation Theory of Abraham Maslow
[IMAGE] Maslow believes that most of the people want more than they
have; they are always not satisfied with what they have. As one desire
is satisfied, another need would be find, which just pops up in its
place. Most human beings would just keep on wanting more until reaches
to a point, where all needs are met. Maslow pointed out that there're
only 2% of people in this world who can reach up to that point. Even
though most of the people want to satisfy themselves more, the basic
needs must be satisfied until they reach to another need.
Maslow sees that human beings' needs should be arranged like a ladder.
He took the idea above and created the hierarchy of needs. He laid out
five broader layers: the physiological needs, the needs for safety and
security, the needs for love and belonging, the needs for esteem, and
the need to actualize the self, which is in the order of importance of
these basic needs. In the ladder he laid out, he shows that the basic
needs (physical needs) are most important, which must be satisfied
first. He also pointed out that unfulfilled needs lower on the ladder
would inhibit the person from climbing to the next step.
1. The Physiological needs. This is the basic needs for living, which
includes oxygen water, protein, salt, sugar, calcium, and other
minerals and vitamins. They are also known as the "Biological
necessities". Also includes the needs to be active, to rest, and to
sleep. These needs are the strongest because a person needs to have
the factors above in order to survive. This is involving with good
payment, and good environment for working.
2. The safety and security needs. When physiological needs are
reached, the second need comes into place, which interested the
employees in finding the safe circumstances, stability, and
protection.
3. The love and belonging needs. When the both satisfaction are
reached, this layer would start to show up. Employees might begin to
feel the needs of friendships, affectionate relationships in general,
or even a sense of community. But if they are too concerns about this,
they might end up with increasing susceptible to loneliness and social
anxieties.
4. The esteem needs. Maslow put it into 2 versions of esteem needs, a
lower one and a higher one. The lower one is the need for respects for
others, whereas the higher one requires self-respect, which includes
the sense of confidence, achievement, independent, and freedom. This
is known as the higher form because once you have self control, it's
unlikely to lose. Basically, this is the need to feel valuable.
5. Self-actualization needs. This is the level, when employees satisfy
all their needs, including the 4 needs above. For business
implication, it would provides employees the opportunities for
developing new skills, scope to meet challenges and room to perform
incentive and creativity. Basically it introduces new task to
employees, and gives satisfaction of innermost desire, to achieve your
desires.
However, there are some draw-backs occur, because some employees might
reach to a higher level before reaching to a lower level. For
instance, employees may reach a satisfaction in social needs (love and
belonging needs) before reaching to the physiological needs. A
employee can meet and engage with people in teams/groups but not
having a good environment for working. In other words, employee might
enjoy working with the people they're working with, but at the same
time, not having satisfaction on his/her working environment.
