X and Y Manager

The Human Relations Movement. Discuss the Hawthorne Experiment and its implications as a legacy in the workplace; compare and contrast McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y assumptions about employees, and any personal experiences you have had with Theory X & Y managers, and which you prefer and why.

Harvard Business School in 1924 -1933 conducted research on work behavior, conditions and incentives to bring better working conditions to the people who worked at Western Electric in Cicero, Illinois. This company is so huge that it provided employment to over 40,000 men and women there where so many different types of positions that people held,  it is hard to believe that one company could employee so many people (Anteby & Khurana, 2011).

Online I was able to find the Harvard Baker Library Historical Collections website that provided me with detailed information about the study and the company that was at the forefront of changing worker lives based on many factors. These people were not just showing up to work they were being encouraged to talk about things going on in their lives, because we all know things happen that we have no control over.

To build company loyalty and discourage people from leaving to find work elsewhere the managers and the higher ups started to focus on the employee’s wellbeing and not just how much can this person produce for us and how quickly. This movement’s goal was to take interest in the employee as a whole is called welfare capitalism and the goal was to establish better working relations and to offer some really great benefits that would show the company cared about their employees.

Some of the benefits included pensions, sick pay, disability benefits and stock options purchase plans this enabled the employee to be prepared and have a resource in case some unexpected absence was required (Anteby & Khurana, 2011). When people have the option to purchase stock in the company it helps them to build loyalty and make some money off of something that they either have helped to create, design, produce or manufactured.

In one section of the website called Illumination Studies and Relay Test Room it gives a detailed description on the types of research they conducted to see what really happened when an employee was placed under certain conditions. This is an very interesting topic because how many times have you worked someplace that was too noisy, or cold, dark or that your desk was so small you felt the need to invade someone else’s space?

In the research they noticed that light did not play a big part in productivity but it did encourage them to develop new tests that were centered on productivity, rest periods, different types of monetary incentives were introduced (Anteby & Khurana, 2011). When in a test room with 6 women the researchers noticed the women chatted while they worked and that a sense of camaraderie was built because they were in a confined space that allowed them to feel free.

McGregor's Theory X and Y Theory

This was so interesting as I was reading along I was making a mental list of the things that occurred at my last job and I totally realized I picked the wrong job and I ended up having an X manager when I would have excelled under a Y manager. Right now I have totally sworn off working in the finance industry because I need to work someplace where being nice is the norm and not based off of production, some people may survive in that type of atmosphere but not me. After learning more about McGregor's X and Y Theory I feel more empowered to know what kinds of questions I need to ask during an interview. Like what is your company’s corporate culture?

What I am finding is the text books gives us some information and that there are so many sources online that finding more detailed information is as simple as typing in the topic or cutting and pasting the question being asked in the search engine of your choice. A lot of times different sites written by students or other teachers come up and they are sometimes the best source for receiving information because it is from someone just like you and me.

Alan Chapman has a wonderful article that he has written for Businessballs.com about Douglas McGregor’s X and Y Theory, he lists, charts and even has a quiz that I will enclose that allows you to find out what type of manager you have. Then he has a section that describes how to work with an X manager and I was able to see the error of my ways when trying to make my situation on a personal level with my manager. The X Theory managers generally don’t understand or have an interest in the human issues, so don’t try to appeal to their sense of humanity or morality (Chapman, 2011).

I was in an atmosphere which was based on high productivity and very few errors, we only were allowed a 30 minute break and although other departments were allowed two 15 min breaks my manager told me, “We don’t do this here”. When I talked to others I was aware something was not right but working at John Hancock meant that you are to comply with certain expectations or else you got spoken to by your manager.

Having an X type manager was really hard for me because I felt no bond with her at all, no matter how much I tried I just gave up and found other people to go to for support. One Y manager was a friend and she never looked at me like I was stupid when I asked her a question sometimes she ended up joking around. Answers from her came without judgment or fear that it would be brought up in a counseling session. This caused tension with my manager because she would feel jealous even though when I asked her for help she was grouchy and short with me. I worked at a call center so when I asked a question I would have to find someone who was quick and free so I could get back on the phones.

This article by Alan Chapman gives wonderful advice on how to deal with people around you especially those who are managers, not all managers are nice and some should not have their jobs but having the tools to deal with them in real life will give us the upper hand.

I am going to share with you some of the things on the X manager list and it may make you feel better after reading the article on how to handle your own X manager.

X managers

Results-driven and deadline-driven, to the exclusion of everything else

Intolerant, distant, detached, short tempered, one-way communicator

My favorite- fundamentally insecure and possibly neurotic

Seeks to apportion blame instead of focusing on learning from experience and preventing recurrence.

I really learned so much from this article I had to print it up and who knows maybe when I work in an HR office I can share it with others.

All of the things Alan Chapman listed for Y managers let me know if I wish and hope that one day I have one that I will be able to survive in any type of environment. Some of the things on his Y manager list are:

Effort in work is as natural as work and play.

Commitment to objectives is a function of rewards associated with achievement.

People will have control over how they handle an assignment without fear of losing their position or feeling threatened by a manager.

I hope you get a chance to look over the charts, quiz and lists that Alan Chapman has created for his very informative article on the difference between X and Y Theory managers.

Anteby, M., & Khurana, R. (2011, November 22). A New Vision. Retrieved from http://www.library.hbs.edu/hc/hawthorne/anewvision.html

Chapman, A. (2011, November 22). Douglas MCGregor's XY Theory, Managing an X Theory Boss, and William Ouchi's theory z. Retrieved from http://www.businessballs.com/mcgregor.htm