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Theorist Template - Frederick Herzberg
Theorist Template - Frederick Herzberg
BORN
ORGANIZATIONS Interviewed two hundred American engineers and accountants from nine
WORKED IN TO companies in the Pittsburgh area.
DEVELOP THEORY
MAJOR He suggested that job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction are produced by
CONTRIBUTION different work factors.
SUMMARY OF McGregor contended that managerial decisions and actions to motivating
THEORY employees are based on a set of assumptions about human nature and
human behavior. Grounded in this hypothesis, McGregor develop Theory X
and Theory Y as a means to describe the impact and implications such
assumptions would have on the work environment, production, and the
ability to effectively motivate a workforce. He asked the question, “What is
your assumptions about the most effective way to manage people?”
Theory X
Assumptions:
1. The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will
avoid it if he can.
a. Deeply rooted in the punishment of Adam and Eve thus
management must work to counteract the human tendency to avoid work.
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employees might find work to create either satisfaction or punishment.
2. External control and the threat of punishment are not the only
means for bringing about effort toward organizational objectives.
a. Employees will self-direct and demonstrate self-control to make
contributions toward objectives that he is committed to.
Themes of Theory Y:
- Theory Y holds that limits of human collaboration is not based on
human nature but management’s ingenuity in discovering how to realize
the potential represented by human resources – placing the responsibility
on management.
- Theory Y supports the Principle of Integration: the creation of
conditions such that the members of the organization can achieve their
own goals best by directing their efforts toward the success of the
enterprise. The organization will be more effective in achieving its
economic objectives if adjustments are made, in significant ways, to the
needs and goals of its members.
- Theory Y opens up a range of possibilities for new managerial
policies and practices. Accepting the assumptions of Theory Y promotes
innovation and to discover new ways of organizing and directing human
effort. (Note: McGregor is inviting the development of different and
innovative managerial approaches to motive employees, Not that Theory Y
is the answer).
- Theory Y is not the opposite of Theory X but instead an entirely
different approach.
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Fundamental beliefs:
- Human needs are based on a hierarchy (the most basic human
needs will predominate human drive until it is met. Once met, they will
move on to satisfy the next level of human need). As such, a satisfied need
is no longer a motivator for employees’ behavior. (Note: this is important
when determining the best incentive to motivate employees to meet the
organizational demands. Factory workers may be better motivated by an
increase in pay; whereas, a medical doctor may be better motivated by self-
esteem and professional recognition. In those situations, an increase in pay
but a lack of autonomy to pursue professional status may demotivate the
medical doctor. This is, McGregor argued, only a reflection of the lack of
opportunity to fulfill this need and not based on an inherent character to
underperform).
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management.
- Increase in countermeasures, e.g., sabotage organizational
objectives, restrict output, low standard of performance, etc.
- Relationships between management and employees in modern
industrial organizations requires a high degree of interdependence.
- Dependent relationships are sensitive ones. (Note: dependent
relationships are emotionally charged and may lead to rebelliousness).
- Authority is an inappropriate method of control if management’s
purpose is to influence behavior toward the achievement of organizational
objectives.
- When influencing others is not impacted by the more or less
authority then other means of influence must be sought out. (Note: “When
power and authority are believed to coextensive the losing authority is
seen as losing the power to control, which is a misleading assumption”).
McGregor challenged older paradigms of organizational management
- The conventional principles were derived primarily from the study of
models (military and church) which differ in important respects from
modern industrial organizations. (Note: McGregor argues there are no
universal principles common to all forms of organization).
- Classical organization theory suffers from “ethnocentrism”: It ignores the
significance of the political, social, and economic milieu in shaping
organizations and influencing managerial practice. (Note: classical theory
is views organizations from their own perspective believing they are the
correct or superior perspective).
- Underlying the principles of classical organization theory are a number of
assumptions about human behavior which are at best only partially true.
(Note: McGregor believed that theories on human behavior, i.e., Maslow’s
hierarchy of needs, had advanced providing more insight that previous
theories that organization theory build assumptions on).
REFERENCES
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