lect02

In today's class Dr Mandi focused on theory X and theory Y managers. He again discussed a concept which is very relevant in today's organisation. This theory gives you a new way to classify the managers. 




THEORY X:It is about taking a pessimistic view of employees and don’t trust them. Theory X managers generally take an authoritarian stance with their employees and work better in control-oriented organizations. 

THEORY Y: It states that employees may be striving for the higher level of Maslow’s hierarchy and searching for creativity and problem solving. Theory Y managers provide encouragement and trust for employees fulfilment. The end of the management course suggested that we as new managers should seek to balance between the two.

these two cases can be combined with the situations when the workers are lazy or when they are active to generate the following four cases:
1) The workers are lazy BUT the manager thinks that the workers are NOT lazy: In this case the manager is a theory y manager. 
Example: when a person is not working hard but then also his manager supports him and thinks that his employee is good. this may lead to an increase in his self confidence and his efficiency may increase.

2) The workers are lazy and the manager thinks that the workers are lazy : The manager is a theory X manager.
Example: A teacher may think that the students are lazy and even if they are lazy they will  not improve. A good teacher will have confidence in them and help them to do right things.
3)The workers are NOT lazy and the manager thinks that the workers are NOT lazy : 
This is the case of a theory Y manager. 
Example: The manager thinks that the workers are not lazy and he has belief in them. The workers are also working efficiently and are not lazy. This is a very good situation for any company as both the manager and workers are working together for the benefit of the organisation as a whole.
4)The workers are NOT lazy and the manager thinks that the workers are lazy : 
This is the case of a theory X manager.
Example: The manager may not be able to judge the workers properly. He may think that they are lazy whereas the workers may be doing their work properly. In such a situation the workers do not get their due appreciation. They may feel cheated and their motivation level may decrease in the long run.



Implications of Theory X and Theory Y


1)Quite a few organizations use Theory X today. Theory X encourages use of tight control and supervision. It implies that employees are reluctant to organizational changes. Thus, it does not encourage innovation.
2)Many organizations are using Theory Y techniques. Theory Y implies that the managers should create and encourage a work environment which provides opportunities to employees to take initiative and self-direction. Employees should be given opportunities to contribute to organizational well-being. Theory Y encourages decentralization of authority, teamwork and participative decision making in an organization. Theory Y searches and discovers the ways in which an employee can make significant contributions in an organization. It harmonizes and matches employees’ needs and aspirations with organizational needs and aspirations.

But I'll just add one big point in a very few more words. It's one thing to accept the truth of Theory Y; quite another to apply it successfully, and without creating new and improved versions of Theory X torments for your underlings. And it is especially difficult to apply it in circumstances where Theory X has been ruling the roost without apology for the previous few decades. Which might explain why many and probably most schools nowadays are no nearer to doing Theory Y than they were half a century ago. Nevertheless, as a statement of the sort of world that a lot us now want for children, for the way they work and the way they learn, it still does very nicely, I think.