Hello everyone, so how are you
feeling after the last session? I hope the E’s didn’t trouble you much. Well I
am back to load your brain a little more. We will learn about one more basic
thing of organization ‘maalik aur gulam ka’ relation…..joking not exactly that
but yes, we will learn about one of the most important relation Boss and the
subordinate. This is the microfiber common to any organization irrespective of its
size.
Douglas McGregor at the MIT Sloan
School of Management proposed Theory X and Theory Y in the 1960s that have been
used in human resource management, organizational behavior, organizational
communication and organizational development. Wait; don’t be scared we will
understand this theory in a very lucid manner thanks to Prof. Mandi’s method of
teaching.
Broadly workers can be classified
as:
· Good Workers (GW): Who take initiatives to
complete the job and who are genuinely interested in working for company.
· Bad Workers (BW): Who have to force to complete
jobs, they have no interest whatsoever in the work.
Similarly, managers can be
classified as:
· Manager X / Hopeless Managers: These managers in
general have a perception that employees are inherently lazy and will avoid
work if they can and that they inherently dislike work. In short, these
managers have an attitude that every worker is a Bad Worker and should be dealt
with close supervision and comprehensive systems of controls developed.
· Manager Y / Hopeful Manager: These managers have
a perception that employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and exercise self-control. It
is believed that employees enjoy their work duties. They possess the ability
for creative problem solving, but their talents are underused in most
organizations. Given the proper conditions, theory Y managers believe that
employees will learn to seek out and accept responsibility and to exercise
self-control and self-direction in accomplishing objectives to which they are
committed. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong
motivation.
Every organization has a mix of
both types of managers as well as workers. Let’s see what happens when they
interact. We will take all the possible cases.
Quadrant I: In this scenario, the
manager gives the required amount of freedom to the workers. The workers enjoy
the job as well as the freedoms and opportunities provided to them. The
productivity and motivation level of workers remain high. In short the
atmosphere in the office remains conducive for working.
Quadrant II: This is a situation
where opposite poles are pushed together, which results in an unstable
combination. Here the worker is keen to showcase his abilities by working hard.
But the manager thinks that the worker has some selfish interests and is just portraying
to be interested. The manager perceives that in order to get the maximum output
of employees, they should be dealt with force and austerity. This disheartens
the workers and infuriates them making them resentful. Soon the productivity
decreases.
Quadrant III: This is as abysmal
as it sounds, the manager who is skeptical about the interests of all workers
and behaves like a task manager. Workers on the other hand are least bothered
about the job, organization. They have their own set of reasons as to why they
linger in the organization. In this situation, both try to pull the things in
their own style of operation leading to drastic reduction in productivity and
tensions across the organization. This is the worst kind of situation for any
organization.
Quadrant IV: Here the worker is
not interested in the jobs or organization. The manager however is interested in
the productivity of the organization. If the manager handles the situation
tactfully the productivity generally doesn’t get hampered much.
On a personal note, I have
experienced situations wherein I have worked for managers who were like angels.
These managers know how to get the best of every employee and generally their
teams fare nicely in terms of productivity. Also, not to mention the happiness
one gets in the office working.
I have worked for managers who
used to behave like a tyrant. They would listen to everything with a salt of
suspicion and would leave no stone unturned to make the working hours in office
a hell. In such situations the morale of the whole team soon plummets. The team
may fare well in terms of productivity, but soon the side effects would show
up. This situation results in attrition. As has been said by Mr. Azim Premji as
well “People leave managers, not companies”, for people managers matter more
than company.
Also, in real world situations
the condition is always a mix of more than one type. The workers generally have
some proportion of good and bad among them. Managers also have shades of both
personalities. It is how they act in general and how they behave with the
workers defines the outcome. This also decides the attrition for a company.
I know this one had too much of theory. Well I promise the next would be fun to learn.
