Theory of Motivation - X vs Y - the 2 viewpoints

What is it?

Douglas McGregor's 1960 publication which highlighted the concepts of Theory X and Theory Y managers have forever been used to explain the art of motivation based on human behaviour. It encapsulated a fundamental distinction between the different management styles and is a valid basic principle from which to develop positive management style and techniques to propel organisations towards excellence.

Theory X and Theory Y

Organisations consist of employees and managers. The theory delves on the attitude and outlook of managers - the direction and growth of the organisation is in the hands of managers and it is solely their way of managing things which leads to proper motivation of the employees and in the process, achieve growth in the organisation.It is important to note here that Theory X and Theory Y looks into managerial psychology and their way of planning and running the organisation. Thus, it focuses on the class of managers and their behavioral attributes and attitude. 

Theory X Managers

His Theory of Motivation states that there is a certain class of mangers who fall in the bracket of Theory X. In this theory management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they can. Because of this, workers need to be closely supervised and comprehensive systems of control put in place. A hierarchical structure is needed, with narrow span of control at each level, for effective management. According to this theory employees will show little ambition without an enticing incentive program and will avoid responsibility whenever they can.

The managers influenced by Theory X believe that everything must end in blaming someone. They think most employees are only out for themselves and their sole interest in the job is to earn money. They tend to blame employees in most situations, without questioning the systems, policy, or lack of training which could be the real cause of failures.

Theory Y Managers

Management influenced by this theory assumes that employees are ambitious, self-motivated, anxious to accept greater responsibility and exercise self-control, self-direction, autonomy and empowerment. Management believes that employees enjoy their work. They also believe that, given a chance, employees have the desire to be creative at their work place and become forward looking. There is a chance for greater productivity by giving employees the freedom to perform to the best of their abilities, without being bogged down by rules.

A Theory Y manager believes that, given the right conditions, most people will want to do well at work and that there is a pool of unused creativity in the workforce. They believe that the satisfaction of doing a good job is a strong motivation in itself. A Theory Y manager will try to remove the barriers that prevent workers from fully actualizing themselves.

The following diagram gives a clear explanation about Theory X and Theory Y managers:

Now we further discuss the role of such managers and the effect on employees through the following four cases. As and where possible, examples from my experience of working under such managers has been highlighted.

Decision making and Problem solving

Decision: - A conscious choice among alternative course of action. Therefore 3 elements are:

·        A conscious choice among alternatives

·        A specific purpose

·        A course of action

Decision-making maxims will help to reinforce the above decision-making process whether related to problem-solving or not, for example:

"We know what happens to people who stay in the middle of the road. They get run down."

In any moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing

A leader is expected to get the job done. To do so, he or she must learn to plan, analyse situations, identify and solve problems (or potential problems), make decisions, and set realistic and attainable goals for the unit. These are the thinking or creative requirements of leadership and they set direction. These actions provide vision, purpose, and goal definition. As a leader, you will make decisions involving not only yourself, but the morale and welfare of others. Some decisions, such as when to take a break or where to hold a meeting, are simple decisions which have little effect on others. Other decisions are often more complex and may have a significant impact on many people. Therefore, having a decision making, problem-solving process can be a helpful tool. Such a process can help you to solve these different types of situations.

In my opinion, the mark of a genius lies in solving complex problems in a simple manner, with a deft trick of sorts. Solutions which are not understandable to the masses and cannot be reproduced are of little use, especially in a managerial sense. And, they are not very attractive, to say the least, are they? On the other hand, the subtlety and guile of a simple solution of trick captivates the audience and a single piece of puzzle is sufficient to unravel the whole mystery. If that piece is found, you have conquered the whole thing!

Successful leaders are energetic. They exert a great deal of effort in order to communicate effectively, solve problems, make decisions, set goals,  plan, execute plans, and supervise valuate. These are a leader’s directional (or thinking) and implementing skills. As a leader, you cannot expect positive results from your subordinates unless you work equally hard at solving problems, making plans, and putting plans and decisions into action. Successful leaders also work hard at accomplishing their missions and objectives while maintaining only the highest possible standards of performance. In your professional and leadership development, you should strive to exercise the same degree of effort and excellence

Explanation of organisational structure using Navrang Puzzle

Navrang cube had 9-coloured blocks which could be dismantled and logic was to arrange the cubes such that all 9 colours are present on each face of cube. Each face of the cube must have all the 9 colours which also mean obviously that none of the colours can be repeated on any face - since there are only 9 slots in each. In other words, No two same colours can appear on the same side of the Cube.

So what are the things we learned after solving the above puzzle:-

1. As the cubes of same traits do not appear at the same face so should not be the people or resources of same skills and characters appear at the same strata - else there may be ego clash or skill deficiency.

2. It is the objective that determines the method in which we have to solve the problem. Any method we device, it must be capable of being easily replicated. Only then can we achieve economies of scale and get effective outputs.

3. The key to solving any problem is organization. The first step is to segregate the similar elements of the problem together. Once you have done that, everything else falls into place, and it is simply a matter of applying simple logic at each level

4. It is only state of mind that the resources are limited, but how you utilise those resources to reach the goal, shows true managerial skills.

Decoding the Valley crossing exercise

Having a talented individual can produce results only partly. For a complete solution/success, we need strong teams. That is why Organisations prefer a Team worker to an individual contributor even if the latter one is much more talented, because it increases reliability, flexibility and sustainability. There may be cases when that particular person is unavailable, simulated by hanging man in valley crossing exercise. Suddenly there may be some huge workload (two person carrying weight of pole and 3^rd person) or a new work may come where the same person may not be competent enough.

Every manager knows the power of Teamwork. In fact the very existence of a manager can be attributed to creation of Teams.  The following Valley Crossing exercise is telling the same story.

Understanding of the exercise:

·         Three people who are one side of a valley have to cross the valley using a rod. The gap between the valleys is more than one step long but less than two steps. At any time, all the three people have to hold the rod and using synchronous movements cross the valley.

·         Any person, while on top of the valley (the “risky” position to be in) will be supported by other two people. All the three members here have interchanging roles in the completion of task. As can be noticed in the above image, all the three members have equal distribution of risky, half-risky and safe situations.

·         The success of this exercise will depend upon how closely the three people work as part of a team, coordinate and communicate with each other through sound/signals and follow a synchronous movement

With all the strategies & processes in place we went ahead with the execution. But while executing we found that the Trust factor is missing which is the key ingredient in team building. Furthermore the Unity of Command a key ingredient for team success was not adhered to.

Apart from the necessity of teamwork this exercise showcased the need of following lessons too:-

1.Involvement: - Employee involvement, teams, and employee empowerment enable people to make decisions about their work. This employee involvement, team building approach, and employee empowerment increases loyalty and fosters ownership.

2.Neo-classical Tool of Management:- This simple demonstration actually leads us to some wonderful concepts of neo-classical management. Unlike classical theory of management, wherein the roles are delegated in a pyramid-like manner as to ensure unity of command, neo-classical theory speaks about empowerment of the employees. Here underlies the concept of matrix structures of organizations, where the groups are self-managed and everyone is capable of making decisions.

3. Shared vision:-  It is important to have a shared vision, which is clear and informs about where the organization  wants to head in the future. Vision needs to be shared with all the members of the organization so as to enable the members to work collectively in achieving the organization’s defined goal.

4.Need of Communication: For the successful completion of the task, it is very important to have proper communication and feedback mechanism. In fact, the feedback mechanism is instantaneous and hence of paramount importance.

Muhammad Yunus and the art of alternate organizational management

“There is at least one important thing that cannot be done unless you do it :- Unknown”

He is a Bangladeshi Banker, an Economist and above all a Social Business man, aiming to redesign the system as an inclusive system.  Having said that I saw a video where he was delivering a speech in Emory University and it helped me to understand what is microcredit but more over why any country in the world should include microcredit in its system?

Muhammad Yunus was teaching as a economics teacher in Atlanta when Bangladesh was cherished with the freedom. After this he returned to his homeland, and saw how LOAN SHARKS were taking control of the life of poor people by giving them small loans. Out of desperation he started to give small loans (which came from the conventional bank) to poor people. This led to the institution of GRAMEEN BANK which works on the following simple principle and these principles were opposite to the principles of conventional banks:-

1.Conventional banks give money to rich people, because they think poor people are not credit worthy. But Grameen Bank gives money to poor people which they need it to take control of their lives.

2.Borrowers of conventional banks were mostly men. On the other hand the borrowers of th Grameen bank are women (till now they have 97% women borrowers in total of 8 million borrowers).

3. Unlike conventional banks, Grameen banks are free from lawyers as they do not need collateral to give loans to people neglecting the past issues of these people.

The prime motto of the Grameen Banks is to increase literacy rate in Bangladesh and so they always motivate people to send their children to school, colleges etc. to get the education by giving them the opportunity in terms of small loans. We know a mind can only plan or work when it sees an opportunity of anything which leads to planning and put one in the driver’s seat of one self’s life. This education helped people to transform their life which consequently helped in the transformation of families and the villages. Now the question arises what creates poverty; is it in the person or it is imposed on him/her from outside. Looking at the successful results of the Grameen Bank we can say that poverty is created by the system and the institutions that had been built by us and in which we live in.

In the same terms Grameen bank replicate its model in America with the name of Grameen America and have more than 2000 borrowers (all women) in Queens and Brooklyn with average loan of USD 1500.

Muhammad Yunus is also the part of social business. Unlike other business the CEO of this social business looks after the number of children got out from malnutrition as the arsenic concentration in the water of Bangladesh is higher the many countries. With the help of several other companies this these people are helping the children, females and other malnourished people by giving them nutritious yogurts, micronutrient sachet, cheap mosquito nets etc. Currently with Adidas they are developing  low cost shoes so that the poor people can afford them to reduce the level of malnourishment.

Hence the answers of the questions asked in the first paragraph is that the micro-credit  is extension of very small loans (micro-loans) to impoverished borrowers who typically lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history. It is designed not only to support entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty, but also in many cases to empower women and uplift entire communities by extension. As people the are no different in any given countries so it can and should extend it's footprint to every country in the worlsd

The art of Alternative Organisational Management:-

The philosophy of organisational behaviour held by management consists of integrated set of assumptions and beliefs about the way things are, the purpose for these activities and the way it should be. These philosophies are sometimes explicit and occasionally implicit, in the minds of a manager. The selected elements are:-

1.       People should treat each other with consideration, trust and respect.

2.       Each person is valuable, is unique and makes a contribution

The basis of this type of management is trust, community and meaning. The managerial orientation is caring and compassion while the employee orientation is psychological ownership which leads to the passion and commitment to organisation goals in more effective manner. This model reflects the values underlying positive organisational behaviour, where managers focus their attention on helping employees develop feelings of hope, optimism, self-confidence and courage.

Teamwork & Productivity :- Explained by Three monks

Before explaining the insights of above terms I would like to showcase the below
video which explain the acitivites of 3 monks in it.

The film is based on the ancient Chinese proverb "One monk will shoulder two
buckets of water; two monks will share the load, but add a third and no one will
want to fetch water."A different music instrument was used to signify each monk as the
film does not contain any dialogues.

In this film there are 3 scenes, telling the story from the aspect of the each Buddhist
monk.

Now after analyzing the video I came to following things which explains the terms productivity
and teamwork :-

1. Productivity :- Productivity is about how well an organisation converts resource inputs
into goods or services.Workplace productivity is about how firms can utilise labour and skills, innovation, technology and
organisational structure to improve the quantity and quality of their output.
Basically it's about exploring all the ways that can make a working environment more
efficient.

2. Teamwork :- It's basically about individual vs collective approach. How well the contraints
can be reduced or removed while working in a team rather than working individually

Final Conclusion about the video :-

Sr. No.	Parameters	Method 1 : one monk activity	Method 2 :Two persons bringing one bucket	Method 3:3 monks + pulley
1	Input - Human Joules*	1	2	3
2	Effort (In Joule)	100	80	Very Less   (Almost Negligible)
3	Output - water in no. of Buckets	2	1	Many
4	Productivity(Output/Input)	100/1 = 100 J	80/2 = 40 J	Much More
5	Communication	Nil	Direct - Personal	Indirect – Instantaneous
6	Task role	Independent	Dependent	Highly Dependent
7	Work changes	Nil	Midpoint Identification	Innovative work practices

* Assuming 1 person is using 1 joule

Learning Goal setting and Performance: - What, Why and How?

Goals refer to future valued outcomes, it is the one thing that implies discontent with one’s present condition and desire to attain an objective and outcome. The feeling of success after pursuing important and meaningful goal is the primary standard of self-satisfaction.

So it makes the Goal Setting the first and foremost discretionary creating process in order to motivate people or to motivate yourself. The value of goal setting is so well recognized that the entire management system, like organisational management have goal settings basic incorporate within them.

But the question is How the Goals can be set? To answer this first let’s talk about objectives-which can be assigned by others (like the process of objective setting by our Bosses),which can be set in a group (like in a group task and a project when assigned to a team) or it can be self-set. However the most important thing is what are the parameters or principles which need to keep in mind while doing the Goal setting. We heard about the SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reliable and Time-bound) goals, but in my opinion and learning from the class the key moderators of goal setting are:-

1. Feedback: - which people need in order to track progress

2. Commitment to the Goal: -which is enhanced by self-efficacy and viewing the goal as important

3. Task complexity: - which measures our sense of accomplishment after completing it

4. Situational constraints: -which moderates the goal effect w.r.t the available resources that we have in order to accomplish a task.  

Now how Goal setting for any organisation affects the performance? Performance is related job/position for any employee. Goal setting and achieving those goals help to drive for the next assignment along with change in the satisfaction level. But one should remember that personal Goals must be aligned with the organisation’s objectives and goals, otherwise how SMART the goal is, it won’t be having any impact on organisational productivity.

In the end I will say it’s not like you must follow a well written or a well augmented process to set your Goal, it all depends on you that how you will interpret and how much you innovate in order to set your GOALS.