Theory X Theory Y (McGregor)
Theory Z (Ouchi)

Hard or Soft Management? Explanation of Theory X Theory Y of McGregor. ('60). Explanation of Theory Z by William Ouchi. ('81)

What is Theory X and Y? Description

Douglas McGregor, an American social psychologist, proposed his famous Theory X and Theory Y models in his book 'The Human Side Of Enterprise' (1960).
 

 

Theory X

Theory Y

Assumptions

 Humans inherently dislike working and will try to avoid it if they can. People view work as being as natural as play and rest. Humans expend the same amount of physical and mental effort in their work as in their private lives.
  Because people dislike work they have to be coerced or controlled by management and threatened so they work hard enough. Provided people are motivated, they will be self-directing to the aims of the organization. Control and punishment are not the only mechanisms to let people perform.
  Average employees want to be directed. Job satisfaction is key to engaging employees and ensuring their commitment.
  People don't like responsibility. People learn to accept responsibility and seek responsibility. Average humans, under the proper conditions, will not only accept, but even naturally seek responsibility.
  Average humans are clear and unambiguous and want to feel secure at work. People are imaginative and creative. Their ingenuity should be used to solve problems at work.

Application

 Shop Floor, Mass Manufacturing. Production workers. Professional Services, Knowledge Workers. Managers and Professionals.

Conducive to

 Large scale efficient operations. Management of Professionals, Participative Complex Problem Solving.

Management Style

 Authoritarian, Hard Management. Participative, Soft Management.

 

McGregor sees Theory Y as the preferable model and management method, however he thought Theory Y was difficult to use in large-scale operations.

 

Theory Z - Ouchi

In 1981, William Ouchi came up with a variant that combined American and Japanese management practices together to form Theory Z, having the following characteristics: long-term employment - collective decision-making - individual responsibility - slow evaluation & promotion - implicit, informal control with explicit, formalized measures - moderately specialized career paths - and a holistic concern for the employee, including family.

 

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Recent User Comments
Ammir Ch - pakistan Theory Z "theory Z is much formal as compare to other. Its must implicated on worker but in some way it reflect against reality like slow education and promotion and long term employment. Human beings are not just small part of conclusion which cant be define in few word or six seven bold point."    0
Nura Allumi - Nigeria No best way to lead "(1) The leader
(2)The follower
(3) The environment / situation / resources
one may choose to work today, but has to be forced to do same tomorrow as a result of 1,2 or 3 above. Some psychological additions and substractions are needed. In a nut shell, Theories X, Y and Z compliment one another. So there's no best theory, not at all."		    0
Frank Elikana - Tanzania The Role of Social Relationship "Human beings are not animals. The way you treat them determines their reactions and responses to you. We have to allow the theories to show us the way, not to be bounded by them since human behaviour is dynamic so we have to act accordingly."    1
Abdul Aziz Momad - Afghanistan Theory Z "I think theory Z is the best theory to be practiced around the world but as I see the system in Afghanistan government bodies, the best system is Theory X.
I mean great control is necessary and I think that if if we do not apply Theory X the government system in Afghanistan will get worse."		    3
Rachel - India Management Vs Administration "How can you differentiate between administration from Management ?"    2
Best User Comments
kamakshi - India Theory Y "Theory Y simply says " Building a Management with Professionalism as well as freedom""    59
Yasin Nasirov - Azerbaijan Game Theory "Game theory is the decision making skills in conflict situations.I think that it is the best way of management and economy to analyze the rational thinking by mutual understanding and bilateral relations among partners ,owners and managers . Therefore, Game theory has a profound effect on Theory X and Y . Salient outcomes and payoffs can be attained by applying Theory X and Y as well as Game theory"    48
Mahesha Goleby - Australia Z found in <5% "Spiral Dynamics & Personal & Corporate Values Journey research indicates that Z would be a 'yellow' - a systems type person - who works for the 'big picture'. A rare, but growing demographic, as the world's cultures advance in their thinking & behaviour."    29
 - Nigeria Theory X and Theory Y "In 9 out of 10 cases, the employer or leader determines the way workers behave. Workers who are treated as though they were incapable of responsibility are likely to become irresponsible even if they did not enter the organisation with such traits. Employees should be treated with a measure of respect and given good leadership."    18
Toby - Philippines Balance "The 2 theories presents 2 extremes of management styles in order for us to the opposite poles of peoples tendencies during work. Therefore it is a tool to help us strike a balance in managing people."    15
Wes - US BMGT "I don't believe there is simply one preferred management style. I believe situations and personality will dictate what style takes precedence."    15
David - U.S.A. Work Ethic (X) "I believe that most employee's want to work. There will always be a small percentage that will go against the grain. The problem is we fail each other. This happens by taking a motivated employee and not meeting his needs to do his job successfully. Examples: no parts to fix machine, no stock to run machine, no training."    13
Dr. C. Giri - India Theory X and Theory Y: Administration vs. Management "From what can be seen in the summary, in my opinion we can make a clear distinction between administration and management.
The way I see it, Theory X indicates characteristics of administration and Theory Y indicates characteristics of management."		    12
charu - india theory x & y "i think application of theory x and y also depends on the cultural backround of yhe enterprise. infact, they are two ends of the same continuum...."    12
Abubakar - Nigeria The Role of Favoritism in Recruitment "Theory X and Theory Y are dependent too on recruitment and selection processes. When favoritism plays a part in these exercises, definitely the model of the theories will collapse."    7

Theory X Theory Y Theory Z Education & Events



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Compare with Theory X Theory Y:  Leadership Styles  |  Managerial Grid  |  Leadership Continuum  |  Situational Leadership  |  Bases of Social Power  |  EPIC ADVISERS  |  Hierarchy of Needs  |  Expectancy Theory  |  Path-Goal Theory  |  Hawthorne Effect  |  ERG Theory  |  Herzberg Two Factor Theory  |  Change Management  |  Seven Surprises  |  Seven Habits  |  Eight Attributes of Management Excellence  |  Five Disciplines  |  Ten Principles of Reinvention  |  Fourteen Points of Management  |  Charismatic Leadership  |  Theory of Needs

 

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Copyright 2009 12manage - The Executive Fast Track. V10.3 - Last updated: 7/5/2009. All names tm by their owners.


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  ● Philip (Haiti) RE-No best way to Lead "Hi, Allumi, how do we marry the three together? theories X, Y and Z"

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  ● TK Rangacharylu (India) Y Theory of Management "Sometimes we apply X to Y and get confused in the industry."
  ● khmilevskaya (russia) BMGT "I think that theory Y is more preferable, but I agree McGregor that it is difficult to use. However, the X theory looks more like real."
  ● Venkateswaran (India) Theory X,Y & Z "While comparing all the 3 theories, theory Z seems to be applicable and effective than other 2 theories"

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  ● Subhadeep Dutta (India) Game Theory "That's something meaningful. It can be visualized and implemented in a very swift manner in the field of financial as well as people management."

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  ● Gopakumar.V (India) Theory Z "Theory Z can be rather related to the growth stage developement process, wherein on atainment of a particular age, one does not wish to take risk in life, looks for long term peace and enjoys lighter side of the event rather than involving in depth and consuming problems. A higher side inclination to Theory X and intrinsic value formation attachment to Th.Y to some extent. But the energetic involvement during the initial ages into explorative mood could be attributed to intrinsic motivation tending to Th.Y pattern and on the other hand at higher age level, leaving aside tougher things and enjoying lighter things can be an inclination to Th.X. So this Z Theory, is nothing but an integrated approach to Th X and Y if we account based on aging fator. This supports my research on 4359 persons of varying ages in Indian conditions."
  ● Nolana (USA) Theory Z "Interesting points about theory Z and stages of growth and aging. However, I would consider myself of this persuasion, but I am not even 40 yeras of age. What median age does the tyipcal person switch to theory Z thinking? I feel I have thought this way about working since I began doing chores as a child. Perhaps ideals about work are influenced by character traits as well as other factors. I would like to read your research; it sounds interesting."

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  ● Mohammed Fayaz (Luton) Communication Problem at Workplace "Helpful"
  ● Peter A Hunter (England) Theory X and Theory Y "Grace is absolutely spot on. Workers want to do a good job, they want to be proud of what they do. They are prevented from doing a good job by the behaviour of their managers. Their managers deny them the resources they need, they set wild unachievable targets, they never listen to the workforce and the only time they ever speak to them is to tell them that they are not achieving their targets. This is the behaviour that prevents the workforce from performing, this is the behaviour of a theory X managers.
But the manager is part of the workforce and he wants to do a good job too. If he understood how much more effective he could be if he abandonned his theory X behaviour then he would.
It is a responsibility to show managers how much more effective they could be and we should all be doing it."

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  ● Danylle (us) BMGT 364 "I agree I different styles of managment are going to depend on the specific situation and the needs of those being managed. what works for some may not work for others"

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  ● Eddie (Scotland) Work Ethic X "I agree with David, however, we also need to consider that the manager may have difficulty accessing the training required for the staff member and may not be supported in his/her role."

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  ● Gregg (USA) Theory X and Theory Y "I just read the new edition Art Kleiner's "The Age of Heretics" which provides a very readable history of many of those who led management philosophy development in the 20th century, including Douglas McGregor. My take is that Theory Y assumes people are basically good and should be empowered while Theory X assumes people are not so good and need to be controlled."
  ● Trilok (India) Human resource in theory -x and theory -y "Here we can clearly identify the differenct motives of an individual so according to the work we have to follow the necessary theories with reference to the work."
  ● Mehwish Kayani (Pakistan) Theory X Theory Y "I've come across these terms while working on a final project. According to these theories, while managing we can have two kind of people; one who don't want to work or are working due to some pressure and other highly ambitious and ready for a go. But there exist a third kind of people who are ambitious but their wrong counceling and their own wrong management led them nowhere. Managers in any organization need other tactics to handle this kind."

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  ● Shoaib (Pakistan) Favoritism really Collapse the Model "yes i can't work with core of my hearts due to favoritsm"
  ● Okpe Stevens (Nigeria) Change Management "I shared the same opinion with Abubakar as this is clearly demonstrated in Nigeria's work force. Where individidual(s) are not recruited on merit, despite good criteria for selection. A doctor is recruited to work as a cashier in the bank and a trained accountant is left to roam the streets."
  ●  (India) Theory X & Y "Nothing to do with Recruitment & Selection process but the behavior / attitudes which a worker is perceived as .... The theory is an out come of research."
  ●  (Nigeria) Theory X & Theory Y "McGregor was trying to analyse the attitude of people to work. Attitude manifests itself in the behaviour of an individual worker. External factors in the environment (e.g. supervision, tools, reward) influence a person's attitude but his total makeup or personality plays an important role."

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