McGregor's legacy: the evolution and current application of Theory Y management

Abstract

Purpose -This paper is dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Douglas McGregor's The Human Side of Enterprise. The paper identifies major management approaches cited by McGregor as being examples of his Theory Y management principles. The paper traces the historical development of each of these approaches and their application today. The paper also addresses two major contemporary issues, namely, the relation of Theory Y management to today's positive change theories based on social construction, and the question of the universal/global applicability of Theory Y. Design/methodology/approach -This paper reviews McGregor's original article, then traces the historical development and application of McGregor's major concepts through the identification and review of relevant historical and contemporary literature. Findings -Major findings provide strong evidence that McGregor's Theory Y concepts and related management approaches have grown in application, are closely related to appreciative inquiry and social construction. There is also evidence that McGregor's concept of management may be universal and has application across national cultural boundaries. Practical implications -The findings indicate that McGregor's concepts have widespread acceptance and application today, and have been systematically and empirically related to organizational success and effectiveness. More important, however, are the enormous implications related to the growing body of empirical evidence that these concepts have universal application considering the continued movement toward globalization. Originality/value -Although well known, McGregor's Theory Y management has received little systematic efforts at identifying its historical growth and contemporary applications, particularly in terms of contemporary issues relating it to appreciative inquiry, social construction and universal applicability.

Develop effective incentives for employees through motivation theory

“…At the same time, managers need to offer money or more senior jobs to keep employees focused (Lawter et al, 2015). On the contrary, in Theory Y, managers have a positive view of employees and encourage them to participate in decision-making and solve problems creatively (Sorensen & Minahan, 2011).…”

Humanism Under Construction: the Case of Mexican Circular Migration

“…Many national immigration regulations are increasingly oriented towards attracting such migrants, in some case offering preferential access to citizenship to mobile elites who are seen as the human equivalent of footloose capital (Strauss and McGrath 2017). Sense of achievement, accomplishment, recognition, responsibility and professional growth are the motivating factors for these workers (Sorensen and Minahan 2011). They face none of the challenges, procedures and situations that their unskilled counterparts do.…”

Employee Performance and Retention: A Comparative Analysis of Theory X, Y and Maslow's Theory

“…At times the researchers argued that the use of stick approach and having a theory X perspective had a long lasting and favorable effect on employees in terms of maintaining a discipline and meeting the time schedules (Davison & Smothers, 2015); thus, making employees perform better. On the other hand, the researchers argued that being flexible and regarding employees for their efforts remains fruitful when it comes to making people productive (Sorensen & Minahan, 2011); thus developing no consensus on the concrete findings regarding application of the leadership approaches to manage employee performance. Similarly the deficiency in needs fulfillment distracts the attention and energy of the employees from their work (Kumar & Jauhari, 2016).…”