LE02 - Theory X and Theory Y

Managers and Employees are two important entities in any organization. It is very important for these entities to be in sync with each other for the productivity of the organization. Theory X and Theory Y is all about the attitude and the behaviour of the manager towards the employees.

Theory X managers are of “Authoritarian Management” style who thinks that an employee is not interested in doing work and hence they need to be pampered every now and then to meet the business objectives.  They believe that most of these employees are self-centered and lack ambition. Such managers usually try to force the employees to work.

Theory Y managers are of “Participative Management” style who works alongside the employees and provides his/her full support to meet organizational objectives. Such managers have full trust in their employees and provide as much support as they can.

Based upon the attitude and the behaviour of the managers, we can broadly categorize them into 4 different categories:

1.  Lazy Employee and Theory X Manager: The employee is lazy and the Theory X manager too thinks that the employee is lazy. Theory X Manager does not try to motivate his/her employees and hence the productivity of the organization is hampered. Please note here that the employee might be lazy/behaved as lazy for multiple reasons: he may not be interested in the work assigned to him or else, the work provided to him might not be good and hence he is disinterested. The growth of the organization is very limited in this case.
2. Not Lazy Employee and Theory X Manager: The employee is not lazy and Theory X manager assumes that the employee is lazy. This is one of the most dangerous situation for an employee to be in since he/she is totally demotivated because the efforts stands unrewarded. Such employees, dissatisfied with the behavior of the manager, will ultimately think of leaving the project/organization.
3.  Lazy Employee and Theory Y Manager:  In this scenario, the employee is lazy but the manager thinks that he is not lazy and motivates him to perform better in all circumstances. The management is too optimistic here and constantly supports the employees to work effectively. The employee can be motivated through multiple methods like employee engagement programs (carried out in my previous organization), discussing the objectives of the organization with the employee and bringing him/her on the same line, etc.
4. Not Lazy Employee and Theory Y Manager: In this scenario, the employee is not lazy and performs to the best of his abilities and the manager too thinks that the employee is not lazy and is performing efficiently. An ideal situation for any employee to be in since his efforts are highly appreciated and the motivation is present to achieve organizational objectives.  Such organizations will always witness a continuous growth and the employees too will be satisfied while working in the organization, resulting in low attrition rate for the organization.

Please note here that the Theory X and Theory Y is not about the employees but it is about the managers.

Some examples from my 4 years stint at TCS, depicting few of the above situations:

Situation 1: I know a great friend of mine with 5-6 years of work-experience, who was into a support/maintenance project and the project had technologies he had never worked in. He wanted to change the project as soon as possible but it was not possible since the manager did not agree and hence he was totally dissatisfied with the kind of work he was assigned.  Hence he could not perform the task assigned to him in an efficient way and his manager always use to complain about his lazy attitude.

Situation 2: I had been in this category for a very long time when I was working with a manager who always wanted us to work for long hours, even when the work gets completed on time. And it resulted in me outpouring of dissatisfaction in front of him.

Being a future manager, I learnt how important it is to be fair to your team members to improve the productivity of the organization. Each and every manager need to learn the art of motivation and should constantly strive to motivate his/her employees.