by Amarendra Bhushan

Theory X and Theory Y

Douglas McGreagor developed a philosophical view of humankind with his Theory X and Theory Y. These are two opposing perceptions about how people view human behavior at work and organizational life. Theory X

People have an inherent dislike for work and will avoid it whenever possible.

People must be coerced, controlled, directed, or threatened with punishment in order to get them to achieve the organizational objectives.

People prefer to be directed, do not want responsibility, and have little or no ambition.

People seek security above all else. With Theory X assumptions, management's role is to coerce and control employees. Theory Y

Work is as natural as play and rest.

People will exercise self-direction if they are committed to the objectives (they are NOT lazy).

Commitment to objectives is a function of the rewards associated with their achievement.

People learn to accept and seek responsibility.

Creativity, ingenuity, and imagination are widely distributed among the population. People are capable of using these abilities to solve an organizational problem.

People have potential. With Theory Y assumptions, management's role is to develop the potential in employees and help them to release that potential towards common goals. Theory X is the view that traditional management has taken towards the workforce. Many organizations are now taking the enlightened view of theory Y. A boss can be viewed as taking the theory X approach, while a leader takes the theory Y approach.

Notice that Maslow, Herzberg, and McGreagor's theories all tie together: Herzberg's theory is a micro version of Maslow's theory (concentrated in the work place).

McGreagor's Theory X is based on workers caught in the lower levels (1 to 3) of Maslow's theory while his Theory Y is for workers who have gone above level 3.

McGreagor's Theory X is based on workers caught in Herberg's Hygiene or Dissatisfiers, while Theory Y is based on workers who are in the Motivators or Satisfiers section.

Keirsey Temperament Sorter

David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates based their work on the Myers-Briggs-Type-Indicator (MBTI - which is based on the work of Carl Jung. There are four temperaments or characters that our personality is based on. Although we have the capacity for all four temperaments, we typically develop a basic attitude or predisposition for one of them. They are described with the names of Greek gods of mythology, with whom they share preferences and behaviors: Dionysian (Artisan) - This temperament seeks freedom, values spontaneity, and resists being constrained or obligated. They do things because the process of doing them is pleasing, regardless of the goal or outcome. They are action driven, here-and-now, and thrive on situations requiring immediate response. They are optimists who are not easily controlled. They are the ultimate troubleshooters and negotiators. They tend to dislike bosses, policies, and procedures.

Epithean (Guardian) - People with this temperament have strong affiliation needs, a sense of duty, are keepers of traditions, get satisfaction from giving, and have strong work ethics. They want recognition and appreciation for they believe is merited, but will not request it. They are pessimists who elicits conformity to group norms. They like making clear cut decisions and will follow established organizational protocol without question.

Promethian (Rationalist) - This type of person understands, predicts, explains and harness phenomena. They value competence in themselves and others, thrive on challenges, and strive to control situations. They are the most self-critical of all and consistently set higher goals of perfection. They are almost never satisfied with accomplishments and are embarrassed by praise. They are imaginative, analytical, and like to build systems for the future. They will create sweeping changes if they see the need.

Apollonian (Idealist) - An Apollonian sets extraordinary goals, even transcendent, that hard for them to even explain. They strive to "be real" and are always in the process of "becoming." Work, relationships, efforts, and goals must be imbued with "meaning. "They are hard workers, if the cause is deemed worthwhile, and are tireless in pursuit of a cause. Can be a gadfly in pursuing one goal after another. They prefer the big picture over details, are centered on people and relationships, and would rather focus on ideas than tasks.

Leaders need all four types of temperaments on their team to make it well rounded. All to often, leaders tend to choose people with their same type of personality, or their favorite. But this makes a team weak, in that it cannot approach problems and implementations from all sides of the spectrum. Balance your team and choose people from all walks of life.

Existence/Relatedness/Growth (ERG) Clayton Alderfer, in his Existence/Relatedness/Growth (ERG) Theory of Needs (4) , theorized that there are three groups of needs: Existence - This group of needs is concerned with providing the basic requirements for material existence, such as physiological and safety needs. This need is satisfied by money earned in a job to buy food, home, clothing, etc.

Relationships - This group of needs centers on or is built upon the desire to establish and maintain interpersonal relationships. Since one usually spends approximately half of one's waking hours on the job, this need is normally satisfied at least to some degree by one's coworkers.

Growth - These needs are met by personal development. A person's job, career, or profession provides for significant satisfaction of growth needs. Noticed that this model is built upon Maslow's. Alderfer's ERG theory also states that more than one need may be influential at the same time. If the gratification of a higher-level need is frustrated, the desire to satisfy a lower-level need will increase. He identifies this phenomenon as the "frustration&shypaggression dimension." Its relevance on the job is that even when the upper-level needs are frustrated, the job still provides for the basic physiological needs upon which one would then be focused. If, at that point, something happens to threaten the job, the person's basic needs are significantly threatened. If there are not factors present to relieve the pressure, the person may become desperate and panicky. Expectancy Theory Vroom's Expectancy Theory states that an individual will act in a certain way based on the expectation that the act will be followed by a given outcome and on the attractiveness of that outcome to the individual. This motivational model (5) has been modified by several people, to include Porter and Lawler: Valence X Expectancy X Instrumentality = Motivation: Valence (Reward) = Is the amount of desire for a goal. (What is the reward?)

Expectancy (Performance) = Is the strength of belief that work related effort will result in the completion of the task. (How hard will I have to work to reach the goal?)

Instrumentality (Belief) = This is the belief that the reward will be received once the task is completed. (Will they notice the effort I put forth?)

The product of valence, expectancy, and instrumentality is motivation. It can be thought of as the strength of the drive towards a goal. For example, if an employee wants to move up through the ranks, then promotion has a high valence for that employee. If the employee believes that high performance will result in good reviews, then the employee has high expectancy. But if the employee believes the company will not promote from within, then the employee has low instrumentality. Therefore, the employee is not motivated to perform any harder.

Meet Amarendra Bhushan, A leading Strategic Human Resource Consultent, MBA from American university of athens, greece, also editing The European journal of NRI finance magazine TRIBUNE).

As one of the leading article writer, and corporate hotel professional. Advisor to various organizations and hotels. He is an elected member of south Indian hotel and restaurant federation. Now staying at city of Athens Greece.

Amarendra bhushan Dhiraj Athens, Greece PH-0030-6947667507 abdhiraj@mail.gr