UNIT – I Lesson 1 HRM – AN OVERVIEW Lesson Outline Nature of ...

Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y
The theory is based on two distinct views on the nature of human beings. According to
Douglas McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y, different strokes are meant to be given for
different folks. The theories say that there are two main categories of workers namely the
X type and the Y type. First type of assumption is that people are basically lazy, dislike
work and wait to be told formally about what is to be done and would attempt to avoid it
whenever possible. They would require external control, constant monitoring, continuous
prodding or even punitive measures to do their work, according to Theory X. Because the
theory believed that employees dislike work, it advocated that they must be coerced,
controlled or threatened with dire consequences to achieve desired goals.
The other types of people like to work and produce results and are self-driven. In
order to make them work well, theory Y advocates that the organization will have to
merely create congenial conditions to work and provide them with the autonomy and
respect they deserve. This is also referred to as the Carrot approach, a phrase arising from
the metaphor of tying carrots before horses to make them run forward with desire, as
against the opposite approach of using “stick” to cause pain and make a horse run faster
with fear. Theory Y believes that once given the right conditions, the rest would be taken
care of by these incumbents. Theory Y views employees from a positive perspective and
believes that employees can view work as bringing pleasure as natural as rest or play and
that the average person could learn to accept or even seek responsibility.
Three-Need Theory – Salient Features:
• This theory propounded by David McClelland related motivation with the three
types of needs namely Achievement, Power and Affiliation. People score
differently in each of these needs. There are national differences in the importance
given to one type of need. For instance, Indians usually have high need for
affiliation while citizens of western nations are found to be high on the other two
needs.
• The relationship between achievement need and job performance has been wellsupported
by research. McClelland found that high achievers differentiate
themselves from others by their desire to do things better. High achievers are those
who tend to dislike succeeding by chance. They prefer the challenge of working at
a problem and accepting the personal responsibility for success or failure, rather
than leaving the outcome to chance or action of others. They perform best when
they perceive that their probability of success as being 0.5, that is, when they
estimate that they have a fifty-fifty chance of success. They dislike gambling when