DOUGLAS MCGREGOR AND HIS “THEORY X” AND “THEORY Y”

REPORTER: MELDGYRIE MAE M. ANDALES

PA 201: THEORY AND PRACTICE OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

DOUGLAS MURRAY MCGREGOR controlling their actions, modifying their

behavior to fit the needs of the organization.
- born in the metropolis of Detroit, Michigan
3. Without active intervention by the
- In his High School years, he worked as a night
management, people would be passive –
clerk in a family-owned business at McGregor
Institute even resistant – to organizational needs.
- considered becoming a lay preacher They must therefore be persuaded,
- enrolled for Psychology at College of the City rewarded, punished, controlled – their
Detroit (now widely known as Wayne State activities must be directed. We often sum it
University) up by saying that management consists of
- decided to drop out from school at the age of getting things done through other people.
19 and got married and earned his living as a
gas station attendant in Buffalo In terms of the employee/individual:
- In the year 1932, he finally finished his
1. The average man is by nature indolent – he
College studies and earned his first degree at
works as little as possible.
McGregor Institute
2. He lacks ambitions, dislikes responsibility,
- further continued his graduate studies at
Harvard University which he earned his and prefers to be led.
Masters and PhD in Psychology 3. He is inherently self-centered, indifferent to
- became one of the lecturers of Psychology in organizational needs.
Harvard University 4. He is by nature resistant to change.
- In the year 1960, he published his first book 5. He is gullible, not very bright, the ready
entitled “Human Side of Enterprise” dupe of the charlatan and the demagogue.
- Considered as the contemporary Abraham
Maslow Two Extremes of Theory X
- first theorist to apply behavioral science to the 1. Hard or Strong Approach - inclined with
world of business and leadership command and control
HUMAN SIDE OF ENTERPRISE 2. Soft or Weak Approach - is endowed with
being permissive, satisfying people’s
- An attempt to alter the traditional and demands, and seeking and achieving
conventional managerial approach towards its harmony between managers and employees
employees.
* Neither of these extremes is optimal*
The book is divided into three (3) parts. The first part
of the book discusses about his Theory X and the Loopholes of Two Extremes
underlying theoretical assumptions of managers 1. Hard or Strong Approach
towards its employees. The second part discusses
about his alternative theory which is the Theory Y and “Force breeds counterforces: restriction of
its theoretical assumptions. In this part, McGregor output, antagonism, militant unionism, subtle
also presented the practical applications of his Theory but effective sabotage of managerial
Y. And lastly, in the third part of the book, he objectives” (Management Review, 1957).
discussed about how managerial talent can be
developed (Venkatraman, No Date). 2. Soft or Weak Approach
THEORY X
“It leads frequently to the abdication of
- management by control (Peter Drucker) management – to harmony, perhaps, but to
- the conventional and traditional management indifferent performance. People take
approach of a manager towards its employees advantage of the soft approach. They
- reflects the conventional organization continually expect more, but they give less
structures, managerial policies, practices and less (Management Review, 1957)”
and programs
SATISFACTION OF NEEDS
Theoretical Assumptions:
- Drawing from the hierarchy of needs of
In terms of the management: Abraham Maslow, McGregor emphasize the
levels or hierarchy of needs which is very
1. Management is responsible for organizing important in the people management
the elements of productive enterprise – approach for this is the determining factor if
money materials, equipment, people – in one’s organizational goals can be achieved
the interest of economic ends. through its employees. Similar with Abraham
2. With respect to people, this is a process of Maslow, McGregor elucidate the importance
directing their efforts, motivating them, of satisfying those needs to bring out the best
 capacity of each individual to be able to CRITICISMS
perform well, effectively and efficiently in the
organization. 1. Miner (2003)
- “a satisfied need is not a motivator of o the theory presented by McGregor has
behavior” few direct tests of formulation
- Higher compensation is not the most effective o McGregor himself did not conducted
way to self-fulfillment, in the Theory X nor attempted to test his assumptions
environment, it may be the only way for him to be able to prove the
(Arab British Academy for Higher Education, operational capacities of the variables
No Date). he presented in his theory (Kopelman,
et al., 2008).
THEORY Y o Elucidates that although the
assumptions of McGregor in his theory
- management by objectives (Peter Drucker)
are evident and visible in the working
- belief that successful management depends
environment that does not seem to
on how one can predict and manage human
prove that such exist without testing
needs and behavior.
the operational variables of the theory.
- success of one organization through achieving
2. Kopelman, Prottas, and David (2008)
its organizational goals is through
o McGregor’s assumption that the
understanding human needs and behavior in
order to motivate them to do great not just for impact of managerial assumptions
themselves but for the organization as well towards its employees has remained
- This is the approach of creating new virtually unexamined due to the
opportunities, releasing potentials of absence of prior construct validation
employees, removing obstacles, encouraging research
growth within the job environment and within o the practices of management which
its fellows, and providing guidance by its McGregor believes to be in
managers. consonance with his Theory Y are
“often interpreted as a proxy for
Theoretical Assumptions: assessing the validity of McGregor’s
theorizing”
1. Management is responsible for organizing the
o “Theory X/Y measure is content valid,
elements of productive enterprise – money,
has adequate reliability, and behaves
materials, equipment, people – in the interest
as postulated with respect to a
of economic needs. theorized nomological network”
2. People are not by nature passive or resistant 3. Fiman (1973)
to organizational needs. They have become o The said existence of Theory Y was
so as a result of experience in organizations. positively related to job satisfaction but
3. The motivation, the potential for development, totally unrelated to job performance.
the capacity for assuming responsibility, the
readiness to direct behavior toward CONCLUSION
organizational goals are all present in people. McGregor in presenting his theoretical
Management does not put them there. It is the assumptions in his book entitled “Human Side of
responsibility of management to make it Enterprise” has few loopholes to which other
possible for people to recognize and develop researchers and social scientist have seen and
these human characteristics for themselves. pointed out, but it is also offending not to mention his
4. The essential task of management is to contribution in the field of organizational behavior,
arrange organizational conditions and organizational management, motivational theory, and
methods of operation so that people can leadership which have shifted the conventional
achieve their own goals best by directing their viewpoint of previous studies. McGregor’s Theory X
own efforts towards organizational objectives. and Theory Y spur not only the capacities of the
organization on how to deal with its employees and on
Loopholes of Theory Y how to handle the needs and behavior of its
employees but also the empirical studies of
- its application to the industrial organization understanding human behavior in the context of
and its vantage point in organization cannot organization and business.
be easily imposed and adopted since
conventional and traditional approach is Needless to say, McGregor has not only
deeply rooted in the people management challenged the theorists and scholars in the field of
organizational management but also the managers
Innovative Approaches: itself in how effective and efficient they could get in
managing their subordinates since they play a vital
1. Decentralization and Delegation
role in the achievement of the organizational goals.
2. Job Enlargement
3. Participation and Consultative Management
4. Performance Appraisal