KNOW YOUR MANAGER

Today I will discuss about two theories that will help you understand your manager better. Also all the future managers will get an idea of different aspects of managing human resources.

Theory X and Theory Y

Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human motivation created and developed by Douglas McGregor.

These theories discuss about the perception of the managers about their employees.

Theory X –

ü Assumptions-

This style of management assumes that workers:

• Dislike working.
• Avoid responsibility and need to be directed.
• Have to be controlled, forced, and threatened to deliver what's needed.
• Need to be supervised at every step, with controls put in place.
• Need to be enticed to produce results; otherwise they have no ambition or incentive to work.

ü Examples-

We can assume that these types of managers are not welcomed by workers. But in case of large production house/unskilled production line, X type of management is required.

              As in case of production house, doing the same work regularly workers become de-motivated. So strict supervision is required to achieve production goals.

Theory Y –

ü Assumptions-

This style of management assumes that workers:

• Take responsibility and are motivated to fulfil the goals they are given.
• Seek and accept responsibility and do not need much direction.
• Consider work as a natural part of life and solve work problems imaginatively.

ü Examples-

This more participative management style tends to be more widely applicable. In Y-Type organizations, people at lower levels of the organization are involved in decision making and have more responsibility.

              In case of research oriented works/professional services productivity depends upon the innovation of the workers. So this type of management can be implemented there.

Comparison between Theory X and Theory Y-

Point of discussion	Theory X	Theory Y
Motivation	Theory X assumes that people dislike work; they want to avoid it and do not want to take responsibility.	Theory Y assumes that people are self-motivated, and thrive on responsibility.
Management Style and Control	Centralized control	Participative
Work Organization	Theory X employees tend to have specialized and often repetitive work	In Theory Y, the work tends to be organized around wider areas of skill or knowledge
Rewards and Appraisals	Theory X organizations work on a ‘carrot and stick’ basis	Theory Y organizations also give employees frequent opportunities for promotion.

As a manager you will be manage different types of people, some motivated and some lazy. So a manager has to take a favourable position in between these two theories.

From experience in my former company I understood that a good manager firstly come to know about his workforce and their attitude towards work. That makes him decide which employees do need strict supervision and who don’t.

Now we will analyse what happens when these 2 types of managers’ meets up with 2 type of workers-motivated and lazy.

	Lazy Workers	Motivated Workers
Theory X manager	The manager fails in clear goal setting. A ‘Carrot and stick’ procedure has to be adapted by managers. But innovation lacks and productivity suffers.	Motivated workers get irritated by the strict supervision. Organisation suffers. Attrition rate goes up.
Theory Y manager	This type of situation is best to check the mettle of a manager. A good manager can understand & solve workers problems and motivate them to increase the productivity.	Win-Win Situation. Perfect combination for organisation’s prosperity.

After all “Achieving the highest possible return on human capital must be every manager's goal.”

 While taking about motivation let me share with you a small example that professor Mandi shared with us in the class.

“Khan Academy” which is a non- profit educational website which helps to reach free education everywhere in the world. The Khan Academy's ability to freely distribute lessons has demonstrated technology's ability to eliminate economic barriers that prevent effective education.

I know some of you have already heard about it. But the purpose will be served when you will share your knowledge with others via blogs, videos.

Stay Tuned.

Thanks for reading.

Arnab Mukherjee

NITIE

PGDIM-20,Roll-042

Dont be another brick in the wall, Be the WALL

In the past I had planned several times to write blogs,but that didn't happen. But all of a sudden I am writing my first blog because of an incident. So let me tell you the story behind it.

Date-17^th June

Place-Administrative Block , Syndicate 1,Nitie

Time-09.00 am

I entered a classroom as a student almost after 22 months. After I settled down one professor (T.Prasad aka Prof. Mandi) entered and the first thing that he said “I am a desi person. I don’t know very much English (In Hindi).”Then he opened his bag and bring out 2 butterfly toys, 2 soft balls, 1 sloped chicken toy and he threw the balls to the students and asked them to look into and pass them to others. So the class was like catch practice session for some time. I am sure many others like me didn’t expect such first class in a B-School. Many students like me feel lucky that we are studying MBA in the city of Mumbai for an amount of 6.25 lakhs but he made us realised the actual amount is about minimum of 15 lakhs. That comes about Rs.2500 regularly considering our expenses and the amount we could have earned in the coming 2 years. So Prof. Mandi gave us a slogan “Aaj Ki Roti Aaj hi Kamayenge” so that we can weight off our parents shoulders. We actually felt the concept of “Earning while learning” should be adapted. He also dared us to think out of the box and he discussed some of the alumni of the Institute who have flourished as Entrepreneurs for example   Mr. Mrinmoy Chakraborty.(http://in.linkedin.com/in/mrinmoychakraborty). We understood that we are lucky enough to get admitted into a Premier Institute like NITIE. But now it is our responsibility to spread this knowledge to the masses. So the best way for this is to write blogs, upload videos of the classes. When professor Mandi himself provided us the lyrics of Pink Floyd song “Another Brick In The Wall” and we hummed together, I became sure that this class going to be different from others. 

 

As this blog is for educational purpose the following blogs will be related to Prof. Mandi’s subject Principal of Organization Management (POM).Stay tuned for more POM concepts.

Special thanks to Prof. Mandi to encourage all of us to write blogs and spread the learning.

“In vain have you acquired knowledge if you have not imparted it to others.”

Thank you for reading.

Arnab Mukherjee

NITIE,PGDIM-20,Roll-042