Theory X vs Theory Y

Overview:

The theory X and theory Y are theories of human motivation created and designed by Douglas McGregor at the MIT Sloan School of Management. They have been used in human resource management, organization behaviour, organizational communication and organization development. Theory X and Theory Y have to do with the perceptions managers hold on their employees, not the way they generally behave. It is attitude not attributes. Both of these theories begin with the premise that management's role is to assemble the factors of production, including people, for the economic benefit of the firm.

Theory X:


According to this theory, employees will show little ambition without an enticing incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can.The Theory X manager tends to believe that everything must end in blaming someone. He or she thinks all prospective employees are only out for themselves. A Theory X manager believes that his or her employees do not really want to work, that they would rather avoid responsibility and that it is the manager's job to structure the work and energize the employee.


Theory Y:

In this theory, management assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and exercise self-control. It is believed that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties.Given the proper conditions, theory Y managers believe that employees will learn to seek out and accept responsibility and to exercise self-control and self-direction in accomplishing objectives to which they are committed. 

A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation.

Theory X and Theory Y in brief:

Conclusion:

 

We cannot say that theory X is better or Theory Y is better. It depends on the organization to organization. For some organization Theory X suits better and for some theory Y suits better. For McGregor, Theory X and Y are not different ends of the same continuum. Rather they are two different continua in themselves.