McGregor's X & Y theory

Abstract

Douglas McGregor was a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and developed in the 1960’s the two motivation theories X & Y, alongside the work of the American Psychologist Abraham Maslow. The theories described the two different manager styles, how the project manager believes his/ her employee are and how they are motivated.

Finding how the employee are motivated, is intriguing because a motivated co- worker is more likely to help the manager achieve the project objectives.

Theory X is based on the opinion that the employer does not want to work and must be externally motivated. The X illustrating the employee crossing his/hers arms in front of him/her and symbolize “I do not want to work”.

The alternative approach is theory Y which are more recognizable in today’s manager style. Here the manager believes the employer to be motivated internally by work satisfaction and are encourage without direct supervision. The Y describes an employee with open arms. “I am happy to work.”

These theories are not particular used in practice, however an interesting way of viewing the two different aspects of project management and employee motivation. The motivation topic is time accurate because of the continues aiming for self- actualization. To understand how a project manager can use motivation as a tool, it is essential to consider what motivates, and the factors that influence motivation such as relationship and the managers soft skills.

Douglas McGregor's "I do not want to work" - X employee and "I am happy to work" - Y emplyee

Theory X & Y

Theory X

For this theory the manager tends to think that the workers are naturally unmotivated, avoids reasonability, must be controlled, needs supervision in every step, have no work ambition and do not like employment. To be sure the workers complete their task the manager often motivated with money or penalties, also referd as a carrot to stick approach. To control staff performance tangible results are used, example of this is sales figures.

Usually this type of managing has an authoritarian style and a top- down approach, where they are micromanaging people's work and is often seen in process-driven workplaces. These types of workplaces are often hug organizations with a big number of employees and tight deadlines.[1] [2]

Theory Y

Theory Y describes the managers to have a positive opinion of their employee, which encourage to a more trust-based relationship. This means that the employees get more responsibility and encourage to a more open communication. The workers assumed to be happy to work on their own initiative, taking ownership of their work, little direction needed, think of work as fulfilling and challenging, solves problems creatively and imaginary. The workers are individualized and going toward a higher level of self-actualization, which also is referred in the Maslow hierarchy of needs. [3][4] [5]

Motivation

There are several different tools and theories that point out the importance of the human aspect in project management. The ability to motivate and the relationship between employee, teams and individuals are some of the regulars.

The importance of motivation related to work, started with the human relation movement. Motivation, social relation, and employee satisfaction was investigated in relation to factory productivity in the 1930s’. Here the workers were viewed in terms of their psychology rather as replaceable bricks. The movement realized that organizational structures and processes influenced worker behavior and motivation.

Elton Mayo was one of those who laid the foundation of the human relation movement and was especially interested in groups effect on the behavior of individuals at work. He stressed the power of naturel groups, two-way communication, and high-quality leadership.link title[6] [7]

Later, the Organization development also called OD, emerged from the human relation movement founded by Kurt Lewin. The basic processes of OD are the idea of group dynamics and action research. OD looks at the whole system or organization including the environment. Groups and individual behavior are a focus point because their behavior is influencing the organization. [8][9]

What motivates

Common to human relation movement and OD are the Maslow hierarchy of needs, which lays the foundation for every human being and the universal needs of society. Human have several needs, which follow the step of the pyramid where the basic needs at the bottom must be satisfied in some extend to be able to climb upwards. They are not fixed, but they are basic needs which influence our phycological and our tendency to growth, identity, and excellence. For individual to complete their hierarchy a portion of internal sensation must be met. The five steps that human motivations generally move are: physiological, safety, belonging and love, social needs, esteem, and self- actualization.

The hierarchy is also the main base on how effort and motivation are correlated. This also relates to the two theories, X & Y. Theory X describes motivation relative to the employees needs of financially safety. This need is one of the basic needs, and therefor the most effective remedy to make people work. In some extend this need will always be important. This does not mean the work will give you as a project manager or an employee, any other reason to keep on working in that specific firm, other than money.

Whereas esteem and self- actualization is essential motivation tools in theory Y, where the project manager use these to drive their employees to achieve success. This also have ripple effects on the associated team, group, and organization. [10][11]

Interpersonal relationship

To be able to accomplish the need for belonging, love, acceptance, and social exchange relative to esteem and self- actualization, relationships are substantial. The concept of interpersonal relation also called relationship science demonstrates why relationship is meaningful. Interpersonally skills are useful to communicate and create a reliable relationship and personally develops growth. By using soft skill or development of interpersonal communication, it is possible to exchange feelings with use of verbal or non- verbal massages. This competence leads to preferable qualities such as effective and good communication, decision-making, problem solving, optimism and teamwork.

There are several types of relationships that involves social associations, connections, or affiliations between two or more people. One of them are business relationship and relates to partnership, employer/ employee, contractor, costumer, and coworkers. These relationships are dynamic system and continuously vary from start to end.

Business relationships are different, but some includes power and dominance.

A dominant relationship is when the relation has an unequal distribution of power, one is dominant and the other are submissive. Dominant people can influence the behavior of other and submissive people may follow without disagreement or disagree at first but follow instruction when pressed. This type of relation is often seen in hierarchical organizations.

Top- down management is an example of hierarchical organization where a group of people form a dominance hierarchy. Here submissive people will be beneficial because they cause less discussion and disagreement. This may save time, prevent inconsistent decisions, maintain the owner’s organization goals, and use those who have the best expertise on the subject to make important decisions. This can be beneficial in some cases, but the organization will not experience democracy.

According to the German- born psychologist George Levinger the naturel relationship follows five stages of 1) Acquaintance and acquaintanceship, 2) buildup, 3) continuation, 4) deterioration and 5) ending.

The five stages describe all types of relationship and can provide a valuable understanding of how a relationship accrues. [12]

1. This first step is based on first impression and may lead to the next stage, if the two parts like each other or at acquaintance or acquaintanceship.

2. At this stage the buildup of trust and care for each other is a key- point weather or not the interaction continues.

3. This face is about mutual commitment and continuation of a long- term friendship in form of growth and trust.

4. If the communication and self-disclosure are absent at this stage, the relationship tend to deteriorate.

5. Without resolving problems or reestablishing trust, ending would be the final stage.

In relation to Project management

The motivation theory applies for both management and leadership, although management have a tendence to directing people from one way to another by using the skill of expected behavior, and a leader on the other hand, would rather use discussion to guide. To be successful as a project manager, balancing both skills in different situations is needed. A project managers task is to achieve a project’s objectives by leading a project team. The role of a project manager may vary from project to project, and organization to organization, but includes the communication role between team members, stakeholders, and project sponsors. To do this it is important to be able to manage people. This can be done using soft skills, such as interpersonal competence. This type of proficiency can be used as a tool to avoid or solve conflicts and to achieve consensus with the project stakeholders.

What is a successful project manager manager?

To be the most effective project manager, recent PMI studies have showed that the skills needed is combined competences seen in The PMI Talent triangle. Here it is not only the technical, strategic, or business aspects of management competence that are important, it is also the knowledge and art to guide, motivate and direct a team to achieve the project objective’s. This type of competence is also seen in qualified leaders.

A reoccurring theme in every project, is people. To deal with people is not as elementary as dealing with logistics, numbers, charts, graphs, or programs. Therefore, the knowledge of people’s behavior is essential to be able to motivate and guide. To accomplish success, a project manager should have the ability on goal to be a good leader. This type of expertise applies when working with project stakeholders, project team and sponsors.

Good qualities and competence for a good project manager is to managing relationship and conflict by building trust, seeking consensus, being respectful, friendly, honest, ethical, service minded, problem solver and be able to build effective teams.

[13]Marcus Buckingham wrote March 2005 the article “What Great Managers Do” in the Harvard Business review magazine after researching top performers and a number of general managers. He found out that there is one quality that separate great manager from the rest “They discover what is unique about each person and then capitalize on it. Average managers play checkers, while great managers play chess.” The difference was that great managers treated the employees with the knowledge of each unique value and abilities rather than like checkers where the piece moves at the same pace on parallel paths. It is a plan and a coordination behind every movements, but each employer is treated the exact same way.

Admirable managers discover people’s uniqueness and like in general to work with people. «Fine shadings of personality, though they may be invisible to some and frustrating to others, are crystal clear to and highly valued by great managers.”

Why is this interesting in a project manager prospective?

In a business case, leadership and management is about get things done and achieving goals. To obtain the projects objectives, the skills and qualities of a god project manager is essensiell.

When a project manager has the skill and ability to motivate employees, the managers own goals are more likely to be fulfilled. This means that both parts are rewarded. To understand what motivates people, it is important to understand what makes a person work towards a particular goal or result with a high level of commitment. This is because motivated employees are more productive and therefore more profitable. [14]

Application

Based on these two theories, the assumption made about the team members or employees can have an influence of how they are managed. Based on evaluated circumstances, a project manager can also choose the most preferable method to fit the project by investigating the employees and working environment.

A combination of the two theories are often used rather than picking one over the other. The military is often associated with theory X. The particularity reason for this is how the military works as a hierarchy, where the compandors rank indicates degree of power over the soldiers. They are the one who are taking the decisions. The exact purpose of this is to obtain control and command by using highly constrained patterns with limited information. The strict rules have changed a bit, and a more modern way of doing this, is the possibility of individual initiative. This can be in form of individual judgement and action, within defined constraints. Mission command is an example of this, and this management concept are often used modern military. This actively demonstrate that combining the two theories can be beneficial.

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