It was Douglas McGregor who first postulated this theory back in 1960. Like Abraham Maslow (of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs fame), McGregor’s work was founded in motivation theory but unlike Maslow, most people have never heard of the XY theory. We learn about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in high school but McGregor’s work remains largely anonymous. That’s a shame because I think it is far easier for people to relate to and I believe that, if taught in schools, it would give young people a simple and approachable management model when they first enter the workforce and are often thrown into management and team leadership roles quite quickly.
At its core, the X theory assumes that employees dislike their work, lack ambition, and need close supervision and guidance while the Y theory assumes that employees enjoy their work, seek out greater responsibility, and thrive when given greater autonomy and less supervision.
X Managers
X Managers assume that the average person dislikes work and will avoid it whenever possible. This requires greater levels of supervision and more of a command and control approach. Since they believe that most people lack ambition and avoid responsibility, these leaders often choose to use incentives as a way to achieve organisational objectives. They are likely to implement strict rules and regulations, and direct their employees by assigning specific tasks to be completed.
Y Managers
While X managers can be authoritarian, Y managers are more participative. They believe that the average person can manage themselves towards their organisational objectives. They assume that employees enjoy their work and have the ambition to seek out greater responsibility. They believe that employees care greatly about their role and basically manage themselves with a high degree of creativity and desire to solve organisational problems. With this belief, Y managers often give more freedom and autonomy to their teams and do not micromanage.
Is One Leadership Style Better Than The Other?
In the modern business world, X managers would often be frowned upon. They are seen as the stereotypical bad bosses. The ones who manage their teams with an iron fist, micromanage every project, and hand out projects and tasks to each person without listening to feedback. Meanwhile, Y managers are in trend. Look at LinkedIn on any given day and you will be bombarded with posts about trusting your team to do their jobs. This has become especially pertinent with the rise of Work From Home (WFH) which has created an environment in which employees cannot be directly supervised.
But is it fair to label X leaders as bad and Y leaders as good?
In my opinion, no, it’s not.
As I say that, I can imagine you, the reader, raising an eyebrow or two. As a leadership trainer and team development facilitator, how can I say that? Surely everyone on LinkedIn is not wrong? Surely a more open manager who gives his or her employees autonomy to do their jobs is better?
Well, I do not believe that X managers are inherently bad. I think there is a place for the X theory of leadership. Likewise, the Y theory has its place as well.
Learn From Your Own Experiences
Let me tell you a story. Early in my career, I was the manager of a hotel’s recreation and team building department in Thailand. I had a team of 21 people to lead, including one assistant manager. Not long out of university, it was my first management role and I approached it in my ‘default’ management style. I used the Y theory because this is what came naturally to me. I did not want to command my team. I assumed they enjoyed the job as much as I did and that they would seek out responsibility on their own. I assumed that they valued the autonomy I gave them.
I would often ask my assistant manager “What are you working on today?” And on most days, he gave some sort of vague response, never specifically telling me what he was planning to get done. I didn’t think much of it. It was several weeks later when I asked him again. I liked to phrase it in different ways to keep things interesting so I said “What are your plans today?” He snapped at me and I could tell he was both frustrated and angry. His response was something along the lines of “Tell me what you WANT me to do!”
I was a little taken aback by his response so we had a little chat.
It turns out that he had basically been doing nothing for the last few weeks. There were plenty of jobs for him to be getting on with as we had discussed the ongoing projects for our department weeks earlier, agreed upon some very fair deadlines, and he had happily accepted responsibility for getting them done. I had then entrusted him to move forward with these projects at his own pace, come to me if he needed any support, and let me know when they were done. While I was happy for him to move forward at his own pace, I had not imagined that his pace would be stationary.
When given specific directions, he always carried out his duties promptly and to a high standard. But when given the freedom to make his own decisions and manage his own work commitments and time, he faltered. He required an X manager, not a Y manager.
This is why I say that an X manager is not inherently a bad boss. There are people out there who need to be specifically told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it. And without supervision, nothing gets done. There are certainly people who get by with the minimum amount of effort, call in sick whenever they can, and sneak out early when possible. There are also people who simply don’t want autonomy and empowerment, even when it is offered. They simply don’t want the responsibility of making important decisions (and possibly making a mistake) and so would prefer just to follow instructions from a boss.
It may not be politically correct to say that but I believe it is important to be realistic and understand that some personalities respond better to X leadership environments than Y environments. That is not to be condescending. It’s just real life and leadership should not shy away from acknowledging this, despite what LinkedIn would try to have you believe.
And it’s not the case that an X manager will automatically have a bad relationship with their team members. Some team members appreciate being told what to do and can maintain a healthy relationship with their manager. My relationship with my assistant manager was much better once we had had our little chat and I realised what he wanted from me was LESS autonomy!
When To Use The X Style Of Leadership?
- When introducing new employees to the work process.
- In a crisis, when decisions need be made quickly and centralised control may be necessary.
- When health and safety requires adherence to standards.
- When strict protocols must be followed (e.g. manufacturing and quality control)
- When you have team members who respond better to X leadership.
What’s My Take On All This?
The moral of the story is that you should not follow a particular team leadership style just because it’s the fashion at the moment. LinkedIn and leadership coaches around the world will tell you that Y leadership is the way to go. But the fact is that we do not live in a utopia. It’s not a perfect world in which every employee is highly motivated and self-managing – even if everything else has been done perfectly (a fair salary, feeling valued by leadership, shown respect, given growth opportunities etc.).
Some people simply do not thrive in a Y leadership environment. Over the next few years of my management career I met quite a few other people who, while happy to accept responsibility for a task based on my guidance and framework, failed spectacularly to achieve anything at all. However, when I stepped into my X leadership style (remember that I am a Y leader by nature) and gave them direct instructions and close supervision they got the job done swiftly and efficiently and we had (and still do to this day) a great working relationship and we are still working together over 15 years later.
This is one of my concerns about Work From Home (WFH). While it may be wonderful for the right type of person and offer them a flexible environment in which to live and work and the autonomy to get things done in their own time, it might not be efficient for someone else. An organisation’s productivity is at risk. But this is a topic for another blog post and some of you might not share my opinions on the subject!
My personal opinion is that a team leader should understand the difference between X and Y leadership and apply them intelligently depending on the situation and the people involved. Don’t just follow what is currently trendy. The world is far from perfect.