Theory X and Theory Y
X and Y Theory
Douglas McGregor proposed that a leader has the freedom to choose their approach to leading and managing others. Their choice of approach will be dependent upon how they view the people they need to lead and the context in which they lead. If you see your team as lazy and see the culture of the organisation is very much command and control, you are likely to choose a different management style than if you trust your team and the organisational culture supports decision making at the lowest level of authority.
In a Nutshell
Throughout the 1950s and 60s, Douglas McGregor developed two contrasting theories of leadership that are still relevant today. He called these theories X and Y and said leaders needed to realise they have a choice of which theory to adopt when leading others.
Both Theory X and Theory Y are based on three of the leaders assumptions about the people they are leading, the work they are doing and the culture within which they are working.
Theory X is based on the leader believing 3 things:
That their team are not self-motivated and therefore need close supervision
That the tasks people are involved in are straightforward and require little innovative thinking. The leader is more concerned with people working at speed and creating consistency in efforts and outputs across the team
That the organisation expects leaders to manage using ‘command and control’. Teams should be seen but not heard and leaders are expected to continually report on progress. To lead the team any other way would be seen as weak or inappropriate
Essentially, the leader believes they must be the source of motivation and will therefore rely on rewards and punishments to co-ordinate action. Freedom will be given as a reward to those people who show compliance. In this case people will be encouraged to develop a specialism and a position of responsibility. They become one of ‘us’ rather than ‘them’ unmotivated lot.
It can be seen from the above that adopting this approach maybe appropriate in production line work or situations where freedom of thought and decision making is not required. However, because the onus is all on the manager and teams are not required to take action, the leader should not be surprised when the team don’t think for themselves.
Theory Y is based on the leader seeing workers, and the context in which they work, very differently. When adopting Theory Y, leaders are likely to believe:
That their team members are self-motivated and therefore require guidance and support, not supervision.
That the tasks people are involved in are complex and will require a people to find innovative solutions to problems.
That the organisation will support them in allowing teams to make decisions and doesn’t expect the leader to be the only voice reporting on the team’s progress.
Based on these 3 assumptions, the leader is likely to believe their role is to ensure the team has the skills, resources and structure to manage themselves. They will believe the best people to make decisions are team members - they have the expertise after all - the leaders role is therefore to coach and mentor them to aid their decision making and develop the team’s expertise further.
It can be seen from the above that Theory Y is more appropriate in developing people’s problem solving skills and passing further responsibility to team.
What can also be seen is that, for leaders to adopt Theory Y, they will need an organisational culture that is willing to support this approach. It can also be seen that the difference between X and Y is the leader changing from being the source of motivation but investing their time in developing the team and removing blockers to the team’s motivation. This takes time and can feel unnerving. A great example of this journey is provided by David Marquet
Which theory do you more closely subscribe to and why?
We have a choice in how we lead. That choice is likely to be based on our view of the world. Our beliefs will drive our actions. In this article we look at some of the ways in which our choices shape our experience of leading others.