Imagine that you are a manager. Or if you already lead a team,
how do you treat your team members?
Are you that kind of boss that supervises everybodys job closely?
Or are you a more easy-going leader
and trust your peoples choices and actions
without asking for your views?
According to Douglas McGregor,
your beliefs about people are going to affect
your leadership style.
And therefore, how your team members will behave and work.
This is explained in McGregors Theory X and Theory Y.
Theory X managers assume that workers are not motivated,
but rather, they just go to work to make a living.
And in most cases, they dislike the work they do.
As you can imagine, those managers who hold to Theory X
are going supervise everybodys job more closely,
based on the idea that their team members
need to be prompted, rewarded as a motivation
and punished as an example in order to complete their task.
And those leaders,
at the first sight of a threat in their goals or deadlines,
are going to tighten their control.
It is easy to see that those managers
are going to tend to oversee and direct workers.
And that authority is rarely delegated.
It is easy to see that it is a very authoritarian way of leadership.
And probably you wont feel comfortable being led this way.
On the other hand, we have Theory Y managers and supervisors.
They think that their people enjoy their job
and belief that their team members are happy to work
on their own. And they are going to be more motivated
and involved in their jobs.
This approach is very optimistic. And if you think about it,
probably you would be happier to be led this way.
The management style encourages team members to get involved
and to grow in the organization.
But in general, the real life can blend both theories.
Even when you are enjoining the best of teams, highly motivated,
different members of the same team could need different approaches
depending on the situation.
You can find more about this in the article after this video.