2. McGregor’s Profile
Bachelor’s from Wayne State
University
District manager of retail gas
company
Worked with transient laborers
Masters and PhD from Harvard
Psychologist at MIT
President at Antioch
3. McGregor’s Beliefs
“If there is anything he was trying to
overcome or destroy, it was the
institutional habit of talking about
the virtues of democracy while
running affairs autocratically.”
An Antioch College Professor
4. McGregor’s Beliefs
Employees are not machine parts to
be fixed, redesigned, or eliminated
They are individual people in all of
their complexity
5. Influencing McGregor’s
Work
McGregor challenges the prevailing mood
of Taylor, alienation, and dehumanization
Existing organizations model the church
or the military
50 years of political, social and economic
change
The problem is that management is
applying the wrong tools
8. Problems with Conventional
Performance Appraisals
Organizational objectives and
requirements evolve
Individuals skills, needs and
objectives change
Management’s judgments differ
Focus is on the past
Employee performance is related to
how he is managed
9. McGregor’s Contribution to
Performance Appraisal
Three uses of performance appraisal
Administrative – salary, promotion
Informative – feedback, suggestions for
behavioral change
Motivation – coach, council
10. McGregor’s Contribution to
Performance Appraisal
Drucker’s MBO
Subordinate provides a clear job
statement
Subordinate provides job-related
targets
Management and employee come
to terms on worker’s objectives
11. McGregor’s Contribution to
Performance Appraisal
Employees know their own strengths
and weaknesses best
The manager knows the goals and
objectives of the organization and
himself
12. McGregor’s Contribution to
Performance Appraisal
By using MBO, the emphasis is on:
Analysis not appraisal
The future not the past
Performance not personality
13. Critique of McGregor’s
Performance Appraisal
Performance issues are ignored
Salary and promotion issues
Some workers don’t want the
responsibility for setting their own
goals
15. McGregor’s Contribution to
Management Theory
Theory X assumptions
The average person dislikes work and
will avoid it
Most people must be coerced or
controlled
People avoid responsibility and have
little ambition
16. McGregor’s Contribution to
Management Theory
Theory X outcomes
Work becomes a means to an end
Reinforces the rigid lines of authority
Managers that assume Theory X get
Theory X
Satisfied needs are not motivators
17. McGregor’s Contribution to
Management Theory
Theory Y assumptions
Physical and mental work effort are natural
Committing to objectives will allow the full
range of control tools to be utilized
Commitment is a function of proper rewards
People learn to seek responsibility
People have the ability to creatively solve
organizational problems
Employees need the freedom to utilize their
untapped potential
18. McGregor’s X and Y Theory
Your belief structure (X or Y or ?)
does not limit you from employing
hard or soft managerial strategies
20. McGregor’s Critiques
Theory X and Y are insufficient in
accounting for all situations
Nathan Harter states that Theory X
managers are not necessarily
inhuman
22. McGregor’s Contribution to
Management Theory
People can achieve their own goals
by pursuing the organization’s goals
The organization will suffer if this
does not occur
23. McGregor’s Contribution to
Management Theory
The current management persona
is:
decisive, force, competitive, just
People are rational and emotional
Emotions often drive different points
of view
Motivation is an emotional force
24. McGregor’s View of
Organizational Maps
Current organizational structures:
Delegate some authority not
responsibility
You only have one boss
Strict span of control
25. McGregor’s View of
Organizational Maps
The organizational “maps” are not
real
Maps have limited usefulness
Authority often does not equal
responsibility
Informal organization is real
26. McGregor’s Contribution to
Management Theory
Three factor’s that make up a
manager’s style:
Cosmology
Identity of the manager
Organizational situation
27. McGregor’s Critique of
Current Management
Existing management uses extrinsic
rewards well
Intrinsic rewards are not utilized
You have to learn to see what is
really broken
28. McGregor’s Observation
Workers perceptions determine how
they respond to a policy or decision
Don’t apply mechanical system
rewards and punishments when
intrinsic rewards are called for
29. McGregor’s Suggestion for
Improving Organizational
Effectiveness
Independent teams become the operative
work groups
Teams have high self control/self
regulation
Supervision becomes support/instruction
Teams help fulfill “social man” needs
Teams remove reasons to fight the
system
30. Final Critique of McGregor
Do teams really remove the reason to
fight the system?
Describe the characteristics of a humane
Theory X. When would it be more
appropriate?
What evidence do you see of this today?