Are You Theory X Or Theory Y Leader?

The Y and X factors in your personality significantly influence your leadership and managerial style

What do you think is the primary factor that motivates people to work every day?

Do you think they take pride in completing their work in the best possible manner because it provides them satisfaction? Or do you believe that people see work as a burden and lack the inherent motivation for it but do it for monetary rewards?

These assumptions significantly influence your leadership and managerial style and the output of your team member.

What Motivates People to Work?

There are various things that motivate people to work. However, we will put these factors in two categories — reward and punishment.

And these two factors are common everywhere and are used to motivate team members and employees to work.

However, managers adopt the reward and punishment policy according to their perception of the team members.

If a manager views his employees that they avoid work and dislike it, according to Douglas McGregor, he will use an authoritative style to make his team productive.

And if the manager assumes that his team is innovative, motivated, and views work as a challenge to improve their skills, he will use a participative style of management.

Hence, McGregor named the authoritative style of management Theory X and the participative one Theory Y.

So, how do you motivate your team members to work and be productive?

Theory X and Theory Y — An Explanation

Professor Douglas McGregor, who teaches management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, provided two contrasting theories in the 1960s that explain the positive and negative assumptions of managers about their employees’ motivation for work.

McGregor named them Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X represents the negative view while Theory Y reflects the positive assumption of the manager about their employees’ motivation for work.

These theories are important even today and administration theorists use them to assess the personalities of managers and leaders.

A Detail Overview of Theory X

Managers of Theory X believe that people are inherently unmotivated and dislike work. They hold a pessimistic view about their team members and don’t trust their guts to work on themselves.

So, such managers provide repetitive tasks and micromanage every activity in their organizations. They use a “carrot and stick” policy to motivate people to work.

Such manager always keeps their employees in control and focus on their tangible results.

Theory X managers assume the following about their workers:

• Most people avoid work and they are inherently distasteful to it.
• Workers run away from responsibility and resist change
• They lack aspiration and keep job security as the top priority.
• People like to be directed to achieve their goals, hence managers believe they should be warned, persuaded, and compelled to work.

According to McGregor, leaders of the Theory X approach run their organization with an iron hand and adopt a dictatorial approach. They develop layers of supervisory tiers to direct and oversee the work of their employees.

They avoid delegating authority and control everything in a centralized manner.

Many administrators are of the view that such a type of leadership style is out of fashion now because organizations have evolved. But still, it is unavoidable because managers have to compete with other organizations or meet tight deadlines. They force their employees and apply this approach.

A Detail Overview of Theory Y

Theory Y managers are optimistic about the motivation of their employees and they believe that people are inherently motivated to work on their own. Thus, they adopt a participative approach and decentralize their authority into many layers.

They trust their workers and provide a supportive hand to them.

Managers of Theory Y provide opportunities for their employees to use their initiatives and appreciate them for their creative ideas. They also offer opportunities for their promotion and personal growth.

They also do appraisals of their works but in an open communicative environment where employees get the opportunity to explain their performance levels.

Such leaders are not highly demanding, and they use the process to improve the skills of their employees.

Theory Y managers assume the following about their workers:

• Employees view their work as satisfying and natural
• They use their initiatives and are self-directed.
• They utilize their creativity to achieve the common organizational goal and are committed to it.
• They take ownership of their work and participate in decision-making.
• They are ready to take responsibility and accept the change and adapt themselves to the change easily.
• They use their creative skills and abilities to improve the productivity of the organization and view the whole process as fulfilling.

Modern organizations focus on Theory Y qualities. It has become famous because it not only focuses on productivity and achieving organizational goals, but also provides meaningful careers that become the reason for employees’ fulfillment.

On the hand, organizations are disowning Theory X because it views employees as “cogs in a machine,” and instead of motivating, demotivates the workers in the long run.

Are You a Theory X Or Theory Y Leader?

Depending on your assumptions about your team members, you can easily find out what is your management style.

Are you authoritative? Or do you allow your team members and employees to take the initiative in work?

If you control and micromanage everything, you have pessimistic views about your employees’ motivation and you, knowingly or unknowingly, have adopted the Theory X style of management.

And if you have delegated the authority to your team members and employees to let them use their creativity to find solutions for the organizational problems and increase productivity, you are a participative leader. You have adopted the Theory Y style of management.

According to McGregor, this is a good approach when employees are surely motivated and work for the betterment of the organization. But this rarely happens because not all employees are self-motivated and self-directed.

Such employees need strict direction and need to be persuaded or coerced to do a task.

However, every manager and leader uses Theory X in the initial days of their start-ups and companies. They need to oversee and micromanage everything because the team needs directions and guidance to proceed.

Managers also use the authoritative style in crisis when an organization as a whole is at stake and needs an extensive revival.

But gradually, the leaders change their style from Theory X to Theory Y with the development of a competent team.

A leader also becomes supportive in style when he/she is involved with a team of experts because they know how to work and need little or no direction.

Theory X is also favored in larger organizations where the span of control gets damaged due to many employees. So, a leader uses a clear-cut strict policy to control the situations and increase productivity.

Again, it depends on how you see your team that you adopt a certain type of style in your management.

Final Words

The leadership role demands flexibility and rigidity at the same time. A manager or a leader must possess and understand the use of both aspects of managerial styles to run a successful organization.

Whether you use Theory X style or Theory Y style, depends on your nature and the structure of your organization.

However, modern organizations view Theory Y as a favorable style of leadership that gives space to nurturing the creativity of the employees and work on the development of their professional and personal skills.

But, a mixture of both styles is a safe way to run a healthy organization, increase productivity by utilizing creativity, attract skillful employees, and develop employees’ professional and personal skills.

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