MANAGERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS PEOPLE
238
PART 3 THE ROLE OF THE MANAGER
MANAGERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS PEOPLE
The way in which managers approach the performance of their jobs and the behaviour they display towards subordinate staff is likely to be conditioned by predispositions about people, and human nature and work.
Drawing on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model (which is discussed in Chapter 12),
McGregor put forward two suppositions about human nature and behaviour at work. He argues that the style of management adopted is a function of the manager’s attitudes towards people and assumptions about human nature and behaviour. The two suppositions are called Theory X and Theory Y, and are based on polar assumptions about people and work.4
Theory X assumptions about human nature Theory X represents the carrot-and-stick assumptions on which traditional organisations are based, and was widely accepted and practised before the development of the human relations approach. Its assumptions are that:
■
■
■
■
the average person is lazy and has an inherent dislike of work; most people must be coerced, controlled, directed and threatened with punishment if the organisation is to achieve its objectives; the average person avoids responsibility, prefers to be directed, lacks ambition and values security most of all; and motivation occurs only at the physiological and security levels.
The central principle of Theory X is direction and control through a centralised system of organisation and the exercise of authority. McGregor questions whether the Theory X approach to human nature is correct, and the relevance today of management practices which are based upon it. Assumptions based on a Theory X approach, and the traditional use of rewards and sanctions exercised by the nature of the manager’s position and authority, are likely to result in an exploitative or authoritarian style of management.
Theory Y assumptions about human nature At the other extreme to Theory X
PART 3 THE ROLE OF THE MANAGER
MANAGERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS PEOPLE
The way in which managers approach the performance of their jobs and the behaviour they display towards subordinate staff is likely to be conditioned by predispositions about people, and human nature and work.
Drawing on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model (which is discussed in Chapter 12),
McGregor put forward two suppositions about human nature and behaviour at work. He argues that the style of management adopted is a function of the manager’s attitudes towards people and assumptions about human nature and behaviour. The two suppositions are called Theory X and Theory Y, and are based on polar assumptions about people and work.4
Theory X assumptions about human nature Theory X represents the carrot-and-stick assumptions on which traditional organisations are based, and was widely accepted and practised before the development of the human relations approach. Its assumptions are that:
■
■
■
■
the average person is lazy and has an inherent dislike of work; most people must be coerced, controlled, directed and threatened with punishment if the organisation is to achieve its objectives; the average person avoids responsibility, prefers to be directed, lacks ambition and values security most of all; and motivation occurs only at the physiological and security levels.
The central principle of Theory X is direction and control through a centralised system of organisation and the exercise of authority. McGregor questions whether the Theory X approach to human nature is correct, and the relevance today of management practices which are based upon it. Assumptions based on a Theory X approach, and the traditional use of rewards and sanctions exercised by the nature of the manager’s position and authority, are likely to result in an exploitative or authoritarian style of management.
Theory Y assumptions about human nature At the other extreme to Theory X