To What Extent Should New Leisure Industry Managers Adopt the Ideas Set out in Douglas McGregors Theory X - Coursework Example

To what extent should new leisure industry managers adopt the ideas set out in Douglas McGregor’s Theory X? Contents Introduction 3 Discussion 4 Content 4 Analysis 5 Application 6 Evaluation 8 Conclusion 9 References 10 Introduction The topic encompasses that most professional workers require little direct supervision from the managers. Indeed many physicians and the professors of the University describes there structure as upside down keeping themselves at the top and the managers in the bottom in order to serve them. Many organizations do not follow Theory X because theory X is mainly applicable and followed in those organizations where the employees are not motivated to work and they are not interested in working. Theory X mainly deals with authoritarian style of leadership. This type of leadership results in allocating responsibility and supervision to the managers in order to control and supervise the staff or the employees of the organization. Mc Gregor himself recognizes that X type of staff is found less in the organizations (Mintzberg, 1998). Figure 1: Theory X and Theory Y Whereas the example provided in the topic that the professional workers and the physicians support and follow Theory Y because Theory Y mainly deals with the decentralized and participative style of leadership. The workers or the staffs feel self motivated, creative and happy to work. The organizations want their organizational structure should be upside down. Figure 2: Upside down Organizational Structure Discussion Content The professionals generally require less direction and supervision they require and need support and protection . The term managing is a process in which every manager has to develop a well coordination and connection with the management team and it has to perform all types of roles. Whereas Hanry Varnum Poor who has advocated that the Theory X mainly emphasizes on the structure of the organization that is bureaucratic that includes discipline and order in the organization (Carson, 2005).The theory X is most suitable for the military and the government organizations. He tried to develop responsibility and accountability in the organization. But slowly he realized that the leadership style that is Theory X type of leadership style should be changed and modified so that the leadership style develops a sense of encouragement that will flow down to the whole organization. Poor therefore felt the need and necessity to develop unity and cooperation in the operations of the organization. Taylor also supported Theory Y as he did not support with the view in assigning the whole responsibility to the workers but taking the whole as a consideration Taylor supported and advocated Theory Y type of leadership style. Mc Gregor advocated both Theory X and Theory Y (Bobic and Davis, 2005). The contribution of the Theory X and Theory Y signified a team that is self directed to work, enrichment of job, self management. Mc Gregor focused on providing more authority and responsibility to its employees and then waiting them to flourish. The main idea is that Theory X type of leadership style is followed by the traditional approach of management towards the workforce in the organization. But in modern days many organizations support Theory Y for example the boss of any organization would prefer to adopt Theory X while the leader of any organization will support Theory Y type of leadership style (Therese and Thomas, 2011). Analysis The Theory X and Theory Y leadership style is developed by Douglas Mc Gregor. It can be analyzed by understanding the concept of both Theory X and Theory Y. The manager who follows Theory X generally gets result that is poor for a long period of time. The manger who advocates Theory Y generally receives good results and performance. When Theory X is practiced it is found that the managers following and advocating Theory X leads to a style that is autocratic in nature (Northouse, 2012).The manager that follows Theory X usually provides more importance on completing the task and ignoring the development of positive relationship. It does not prioritize or provides importance towards creating and developing a good working environment. The employees or the staffs receive very less appreciation and recognition for their hard work and efforts. The workers working in the organization that tends to adopt Theory X type of leadership work and get motivated to work out of fear not for liking the job or work. They usually feel very unappreciated and neglected. Figure 3: Features of Theory X and Theory Y The managers that tend to practice or adopt Theory Y are very friendly and they take participation in the decision making process of the organization. They provide values to both the outcome as well as the relationships. The managers following this type of leadership generally empower and decentralize authority to their employees or staff because they have faith and confidence in their workers that they will perform their work efficiently and effectively. The managers following Theory Y that is democratic leadership style provide more importance to their employees and the employees like to receive appreciation and dignity from the managers and as a result they develop good and sound morale and feel more motivated to work (Mehrotra, 2005). Application The application that the new leisure managers tends to adopt Mc Gregor Theory X because theory X that is followed or adopted by the organization generally depends on the money and provides benefit and advantages to the employees in order to satisfy and fulfil their needs and when those needs of the organization are fulfilled the tendency of motivation diminishes. Theory X acts as an obstacle and barrier towards providing satisfaction for the fulfilment of the higher needs and wants (Lussier and Achua, 2009). The process or the method by which the employees or the staff can tend to fulfil and satisfy the higher level needs in the organization is by receiving more compensation. It is very clear that the organizations adopting Theory X will more focus and give importance in providing monetary rewards. Indeed money may not be considered as the only element for the self fulfilment. The workers working under Theory X type of leadership style may pursue it as the only type of leadership style to fulfil the lower level needs of the employees and the managers tend to fulfil the higher level needs of the employees in their leisure time. Satisfying the higher level needs of the employees by the managers may lead to the increase and enhancement of productivity. Mc Gregor suggests that the command and control environment in the organization may not be efficient and effective as it only fulfils the lower level needs of the organization. But now a day the lower level needs is already fulfilled and it no longer acts as an element of motivation. In such type of circumstances it is very obvious that the employees will dislike their work and tend to avoid taking responsibility and generally they do not have the interest in fulfilling or reaching the goals of the organization, they are more resistant to change in a way making Theory X a self fulfilling insight. Therefore Mc Gregor formulated and developed Theory Y (Iqbal, 2011). Theory Y is generally adopted by the organization in tying up together the motivational energy that is developed in the employees. The Theory Y has focused and provided more importance on delegating and decentralizing the authority among the subordinates and delegating the responsibility for taking decision. It provides a wide scope and opportunity to the employees to work and in a way the employees are able to satisfy their ego. Theory Y creates participative environment among the employees which helps the employees in decision making. The employees establish different standards and objectives and they themselves evaluate their performance by comparing and evaluating with the standard set. Theory X should be adapted to the extent of maintaining discipline in performing the work but not forcing them to work out of fear. It can be resembled that although Theory X type of leadership style is broadly accepted as inferior compared to other leadership styles but Theory X holds a position of importance in the operation and production process of the large scale organization and also the line of production that is unskilled. Theory Y is valued and supported by those organizations that provide importance to the value of the organization. Theory Y style of leadership is most suitable for the organizations that are related to providing professional services that evolve naturally. Evaluation While evaluating to what extent new leisure industry managers should adopt the ideas set out in Douglas McGregor’s Theory X, it is required to compare the two types of leadership style that is Theory X and Theory Y. When motivation is considered as an element it is found that the workers or the employees working under Theory X do not like to work and they tend to avoid their work. Whereas the workers or the employees working under Theory Y find that the employees take their own responsibility and they are self motivated. Considering the management style and controlling factor Theory X adopts autocratic style and Theory Y adopts democratic style (Bonnici, 2011). Considering the work organization it is observed that Theory X performs repetitive work and Theory Y performs varieties of working by applying skill and innovations. Regarding rewards and appraisals it is observed that Theory X follows carrot and stick method for appraising the employees whereas the organization adopting Theory Y provides various opportunities in promoting its staff. Modern research has revealed that Theory Y leadership style generally provides and fetches better result to both the employees as well as the managers (Burns, 2012). Conclusion Both Theory Y and Theory X type of leadership is required by the organization, it depends upon the organization which type of leadership it will adopt. These two types of leadership hold different nature and different principles of getting the work done by the employees and staff of the organizations. Theory X is required for controlling the workers and developing a sense of security among the employees. Theory Y gets the committed work done through the employees by satisfying them. Mc Gregor assumes the two theories of leadership founded by him in two different ways that is he found out that Theory Y is very difficult to practice and implement in the operations which deals with production in large scale. But it is suitable for the management of the professionals and the managers (Yukl, 1994). Theory X also plays an important role in the organization where the manager is required to exercise his authority and there are circumstances where the only path of achieving the desired and expected result in the organization where the employees holds a different view from that of the managers. It can be concluded that the new leisure industry managers should adopt the Mc Gregor Theory X only to the extent of maintaining discipline and getting the work done properly that is effectively and efficiently and by not binding restrictions on them. References Bobic and Davis, 2005. A Kind Word for Theory X: Or Why So Many Newfangled Management Techniques Quickly Fail. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 239-264.  Bonnici, C. A. 2011. Creating a Successful Leadership Style: Principles of Personal Strategic Planning. USA: R&L Education. Burns, J.M. 2012. Leadership. New York: Open Road Media. Carson, Charles M. 2005. A historical view of Douglas McGregors Theory Y, Management Decision, Vol. 43, No. 3, p. 450. Iqbal, T. 2011. The Impact of Leadership Styles on Organizational Effectiveness. Germany: GRIN Verlag. Lussier, R., Achua, C. 2009. Leadership: Theory, Application, & Skill Development. USA: Cengage Learning. Mehrotra, A. 2005. Leadership Styles of Principals. New Delhi: Mittal Publications. Mintzberg, Henry. 1998 .Covert Leadership: notes on managing professionals. Harvard Business Review, November-December 1998. Northouse, P.G. 2012. Leadership: Theory and Practice. USA: SAGE Publications. Therese Yaeger, Thomas C. Head, 2011. "Douglas McGregors legacy: lessons learned, lessons lost", Journal of Management History, Vol. 17 (2). pp. 202-216.   Yukl, G. P. 1994. Leadership in Organizations. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Read More