For a long time, centuries in fact, management was just done “off the cuff”. In other words, there were no models or theories, and each person had their own style. It would be fair to say that the situation has turned on its head somewhat. Partly, this is due to the emergence of education in business, and one only has to cast their eye over the Santa Clara University MBA program to see this in full detail.
However, there’s no doubt that theories have helped to change the culture of management. For the purposes of today we are going to hone in on two that were devised by social psychologist Douglas McGregor. Going by the name of Theory X and Theory Y, let’s take a look at how they are adopted in the workplace.
