Leadership Effectiveness: Foundations

The manager I have worked with reflected the proposition of the theory X by McGregor. This manager used an authoritarian leadership style, and he would continuously check the way every employee is working. He always assigns people specific tasks and gives them deadlines within which they must complete the task. He forces people to take responsibilities for every work they do and believes that employees are generally lazy. He could, therefore, use various measures such as punishment and threats of firing to have people accomplish their work. This, he believed would be the most appropriate method to have people work. He never felt that employees could be happy and love their work as they pursue their objectives through self-direction and self-control. According to him, unless people are controlled and strictly supervised, they would just lazy around without working or taking any responsibilities for their work. 

According to the theory X of leadership by McGregor, the manager assumes that people are naturally lazy, want to avoid work and must be pushed to have the job done ( Robbins, Judge, & Breward, 2003 ). McGregor further states that the most appropriate leadership style that should be adopted is the authoritarian leadership style. It relies on the assumption that people must be given strict supervision to make them work, and that the primary motivational factors include financial incentives. The system of rewards and punishment, therefore, works best to have people coerced to work. It further states that the tasks and the responsibilities of each employee should be laid down in detail because they don’t like taking responsibilities for their work ( Robbins, Judge, & Breward, 2003 ). This is contrary to theory Y which sees people be happy about their work and does not need to be controlled or forced to work. Theory Y makes assumptions that people have career goals and objectives which they pursue through having self-control and self-direction. 

Reference

Robbins, S. P., Judge, T., & Breward, K. (2003).  Essentials of organizational behavior  (Vol. 7). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.