|
...subordinates, managers should assist in reaching their full potential. At the foundation of McGregor's Theory Y are the assumptions that employees are: (1) not inherently lazy, (2) capable of self-direction and self-control, and (3) capable of providing important ideas/suggestions that will improve organizational effectiveness. Thus, with appropriate management practices, such as providing objectives and rewards and the opportunity to participate in decision making, personal and organizational goals can simultaneously be realized. In contrast to Theory Y, McGregor posited that conventional managerial assumptions (which he called Theory X) reflect essentially an opposite and negative view--viz., that employees are lazy, are incapable of self-direction and autonomous work behavior, and have little to offer in terms of organizational problem solving. Hereafter, we refer to McGregor's theorizing as Theory X/Y.
Indicative of McGregor's impact, Miner's (2003) review of 73 established organizational behavior theories found that Theory X/Y was tied for second in terms of recognition and in 33rd place with respect to importance. By the time The Human Side of Enterprise was republished in 1985, it had become a classic with the book jacket reading like a Who's Who in Management. Drucker hailed it as "ever more relevant, more timely, and more important." Townsend called it "the most powerful and useful book about people I've ever read." Kanter claimed it contained "profound and timeless truths." Waterman declared it "a classic text that is a fundamental touchstone for anyone in management and organizational development." Bennis wrote "... this book, more than any other book on management, changed an entire concept of organizational man and replaced it with a new paradigm that stressed human potentials, emphasized human growth, and elevated the human role in industrial society" (McGregor, 1985: iv).
However, as Miner noted in his comprehensive (2002) text on organizational behavior theories and research, "[t]here are very few direct tests of McGregor's formulation in the literature ... Furthermore, McGregor himself conducted no research related to his formulations, nor did he attempt to make his variables operational in any kind of measurement procedures" (2002: 261). In our view, McGregor's theorizing about the effects of individual differences in managerial assumptions has remained virtually unexamined due to the absence of prior construct validation research. Clearly, it is not possible to test McGregor's theory if the central construct--the assumptive world (or cosmology) of the focal manager--lacks a published, construct-valid measure. In light of this long overdue undertaking, the present research reports on the development and construct validation of a measure of Theory X and Theory Y assumptions/attitudes.
McGregor identified a number of management practices that he thought were consonant with Theory Y assumptions (such as participative leadership, delegation, job enlargement and performance appraisals). Consequently--and unfortunately in our view--tests of the efficacy of these management practices were often interpreted as a proxy for assessing the validity of McGregor's theorizing. Successful implementation of participative leadership, for example, is at best only tangentially related to McGregor's theorizing. Moreover, McGregor recognized that implementation of these practices with a Theory X mindset will be limitedly successful, with employees seeing such techniques as disingenuous manipulations (Heil et al., 2000; McGregor, 1966, 1967).
At the heart of McGregor's argument is the notion that managers' assumptions/attitudes represent, potentially, self-fulfilling prophecies. The manager who believes that people are inherently lazy and untrustworthy will treat employees in a manner that reflects these attitudes. Employees, sensing that there is little in the job to spur their involvement, will exhibit little interest and motivation. Consequently, and ironically, the manager with low expectations will lament that "you can't get good help nowadays," oblivious as to the actual nature of cause and effect. Closing the serf-reinforcing cycle, the manager feels vindicated; that is, his/ her low expectations were warranted. Conversely, the manager who believes that employees are generally trustworthy and desirous of growth will facilitate their achievement. McGregor's explanation was that the manager had created conditions that enabled "the individual to achieve his [her] own goals (including those of self-actualization) best by directing his [her] efforts toward organizational goals" (1967: 78). Subsequently, numerous, more intricate, psychological and social-psychological mechanisms have been invoked to explain this phenomenon (e.g., Bandura and Locke, 2003; Eden, 1990; Heil et al., 2000; McNatt and Judge, 2004).
McGregor (1957, 1967) noted that some businesses were adopting practices that could be expected to yield superior results, such as decentralization and delegation, job enlargement, participative/consultative management, and performance appraisal. However, he also observed that these programs often were unsuccessful due to the way they were implemented. When those executing the programs did so with Theory X attitudes or within organizations with Theory X climates, the programs would be likely to fail--perhaps another self-fulfilling prophecy.
Eden (1990) reported on numerous field experiments demonstrating that when managers were led to have high expectations of some subordinates (based on fictitious information), the subordinates outperformed their peers. Attempting to apply this finding to leadership training--but without using deception--Eden et al. found weak results in seven field experiments, results they characterized as "a disheartening basis for practical application" (2000: 195). Indeed, Eden et al. went on to say that leadership training, in general, may be unrealistic; some managers "have it naturally and some do not, and those that do not cannot be trained, coaxed, or coached to have it" (2000: 204; emphasis added). However, neither the early nor the latter studies by Eden and his colleagues speak to McGregor's theorizing; in all of Eden et al.'s research, expectations were artificially manufactured. In contrast, McGregor's theory relates to organic differences in managers' assumptive worlds (or cosmologies). To wit: perhaps the Theory Y managers "have it."
To our knowledge, only one field investigation (Fiman, 1973) has been conducted that speaks directly to the posited effects of Theory Y managerial attitudes. In Fiman's study of female clerical employees and their supervisors in one corporation, a perceived Theory Y managerial orientation was positively related to job satisfaction but unrelated to job performance. Fiman's X/Y attitude items were never published and the only construct validity information Fiman (1973) reported was split-half reliability coefficients.
Although McGregor's Theory X/Y may be characterized as representing a dispositional mindset suggestive of a one-best-way to manage, McGregor recognized that a Theory Y managerial style will not be appropriate in all situations (Heil et al., 2000; McGregor, 1967). In any event, before McGregor's theory and numerous theoretically-related propositions can be researched (see the Discussion section), it is necessary to develop a construct-valid measure of...
NOTE: All illustrations and photos
have been removed from this article.
More articles from Journal of Managerial Issues
A production self-efficacy scale: an exploratory study., June 22, 2008
Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.
Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication
name or publication date.
About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company
analysis or best practices in managing your organization,
Goliath can help you meet your business needs.
Our extensive business information databases empower business
professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible,
authoritative information they need to support their business
goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting,
company research or defining management best practices -
Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.
|
