THEORY X vs Y
Pygmalion phenomena is commonly observed in all fast growing companies. I had the opportunity of working for two years in one such company. Sapient Nitro deals mainly with eCommerce and specialises in designing and development of complex eCommerce websites.Since most of the project are very tightly scheduled and very critical to client's future financial projections, the managers usually set very high target to achieve desired result. When I joined my first project , the fresher team was asked to work on one practice module and finish it in 1 week. The team worked very hard and completed it in given time. However later team came to know that module was designed for 2 weeks and we did a commendable job. A classic example of Pygmalion effect. High expectation kept us motivated to slog hard and finish it spectacularly. However manager should remain cautious. There is a fine line between realistic high expectation and unrealistic target. Unrealistic target brings in frustration and affects productivity.
Theory X and Theory Y are solely about managers. It is based on assumptions of manager. The most dangerous situation to organisation is when workers dislike work and manager assumes that workers are not lazy.This is because workers are lazy but manager designs his policies based on his false assumption which further deteriorates condition.The best scenario is when workers like their work and manager assumes that workers are not lazy. This synchronization benefits the organisation.
Theory X type 1 Example: Worker dislikes the work and manager assumes that workers are lazy.
When I was leading a team of 11 in one of the project in my company. Two of them really disliked the software testing work given to them. I realised it soon though they never told. I discovered that they used to think testing as lowly job.So I pushed them hard to take complete ownership of their job and gave them opportunity to directly present their work to seniors, though I kept track of all they used to do. This new responsibility improved their performance considerably.Thus I employed idea based on assumption that they were unwilling to do the job
Theory X type 2 Example : Worker really like the work but manager assumes that they are lazy
This is responsible for many of the company switching done by IT professional. Workers are really talented and desire to handle more responsibilities but manager based on its assumption doesn't assign much work . This disheartens ambitious engineers and they switch to other company for better technology and work.
Theory Y type 1 Example : When worker really dislikes the work and manager assumes that worker is not lazy.
In between two projects I was on bench for couple of weeks.I was assigned some mundane Excel sheet work by my bench manager. I thoroughly disliked the work but I didn't want to give him the impression so I finished initial few on time. I was then overloaded with more Excel work and that thing so disheartened me that I contemplated switching job but thankfully I soon got into another project.
Theory Y type 2 Example : When worker really likes the work and manager assumes that worker is not lazy.
I really enjoyed being the team lead in one of my project. I worked very hard and continuously kept motivating my team. This was acknowledged by my manager by an appreciation mail but what encouraged me more was more responsibility given by the manager. This not only motivated me more to work hard for the organisation but also helped in shaping my career
Theory X type 1 Example: Worker dislikes the work and manager assumes that workers are lazy.
When I was leading a team of 11 in one of the project in my company. Two of them really disliked the software testing work given to them. I realised it soon though they never told. I discovered that they used to think testing as lowly job.So I pushed them hard to take complete ownership of their job and gave them opportunity to directly present their work to seniors, though I kept track of all they used to do. This new responsibility improved their performance considerably.Thus I employed idea based on assumption that they were unwilling to do the job
Theory X type 2 Example : Worker really like the work but manager assumes that they are lazy
This is responsible for many of the company switching done by IT professional. Workers are really talented and desire to handle more responsibilities but manager based on its assumption doesn't assign much work . This disheartens ambitious engineers and they switch to other company for better technology and work.
Theory Y type 1 Example : When worker really dislikes the work and manager assumes that worker is not lazy.
In between two projects I was on bench for couple of weeks.I was assigned some mundane Excel sheet work by my bench manager. I thoroughly disliked the work but I didn't want to give him the impression so I finished initial few on time. I was then overloaded with more Excel work and that thing so disheartened me that I contemplated switching job but thankfully I soon got into another project.
Theory Y type 2 Example : When worker really likes the work and manager assumes that worker is not lazy.
I really enjoyed being the team lead in one of my project. I worked very hard and continuously kept motivating my team. This was acknowledged by my manager by an appreciation mail but what encouraged me more was more responsibility given by the manager. This not only motivated me more to work hard for the organisation but also helped in shaping my career
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