successful project management - Commonwealth of Learning

our own things without interference. Would you go and work for somebody if you
enjoyed this situation? If you would, why would you?
Work is not always a source of joy for most people. Do you agree with this?
Yes
No
Keep your answer in mind and read on. There are many people who are unwilling to
work but still come to work, including you and me probably. The reason we talk of
supervision, teamwork, production, and communication when working on a project is
that we are dealing with human beings whose weaknesses and strengths need to be
balanced for increased production. For the team leader, a clearer knowledge about
the way people behave can be useful.
There was a person called McGregor who was interested in people at work. After
years of observation, he came up with some ideas. He had two sets of ideas, which
he called Theory X and Theory Y as follows.
Theory X
People are lazy
People dislike and avoid work
People need to be forced or persuaded
to work
Most people do not like responsibility and
are not very good at it
Theory Y
People look forward to work
People want to work and will look for it
People find their own satisfaction in work
and respond to encouragement
Most people can take responsibility and
look for opportunities to do so
Now, go over the points again before working on the next activity.
?? Activity
1. Spend five minutes reading the two theories quietly. Note down any points of
interest to you.
2. Share what you noted down, and contrast the two theories. As you do
that , cite examples from the project you are familiar with.
3. With the whole group, engage in a debate. Group A will debate in support of
Theory X, and group B will support Theory Y,
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