Evolution of Management Thinking and Practices – Modern Contributors I – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #918

Evolution of Management Thinking and Practices – Modern Contributors I – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #918

Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #918 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans  aims to share knowledge and wisdom from Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here.

Abraham Maslow

Douglas McGregor

Credit: Olena Bohovyk

The purpose of this series is to show how major changes evolved in the management thinking and practices.  I understand it is presenting a very large subject in a digest form, and is particularly for those who believe in understanding management, practicing it, and experimenting to develop new ideas for better performance.

From the beginning of 20th century, interest in management increased further because of rapid technology changes, greater academic research, and higher emphasis on human resources. The scope of thinking and research expanded from industrial production to services and other kinds of businesses.

Abraham Maslow (1908-1970)

Abraham Maslow, the American Psychologist, was born in New York in 1908. He was the son of poor Russian-Jewish parents, who, like many others at the time, immigrated from Eastern Europe to flee persecution and secure a better future for their family. Throughout, Maslow described himself as neurotic, shy, lonely, and self-reflective during his teens and twenties. This was, in part, because of the racism and ethnic prejudice he experienced owing to his Jewish appearance. He himself, however, was non-religious.

Maslow is best known for his ‘hierarchy of needs’ which is taught everywhere. According to Maslow, all human beings have needs relating to five key domains.

• Physiological

• Esteem

• Love/Belonging

• Safety

• Self-actualization

Maslow initially argued that these needs have a hierarchical order, saying that needs at the lower levels must be fulfilled before a higher level could be attained. However, over the years, he made some important revisions to his initial theory, admitting that:

- The hierarchy order is not as rigid; instead, it is flexible based on external circumstances and individual differences.

- Most human behavior is multi-motivated, meaning that any behavior simultaneously aims to fulfill many needs.

- Three more levels could be added” cognitive needs, aesthetic needs, and transcendence needs.

In my experience, our understanding of Maslow’s theory is narrow and limited. We have not aligned leadership styles with this hierarchy, nor we have applied motivation models in practice. An article published on Ukessays states, “With significant influences by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Malone and Lepper (1987) have integrated a large amount of motivational research into a summary of seven ways the leadership of organizations can design environments that are self motivating:

a) Motivation through Challenges 

b) Motivation through Curiosity 

c) Motivation through Control 

d) Motivation through Fantasy 

e) Motivation through Competition 

f) Motivation through Cooperation 

g) Motivation through Recognition”.

Another interpretation at Keap is very interesting and enlightening.

Physiological → Seen

Employees who are only seen, do the bare minimum, are highly disengaged, and tend to be more dissatisfied, as they don’t feel as if they’re a part of anything, have minimal commitment to their teams, and usually only show up to collect a paycheck–the basic incentive of any job. It could be as simple as the employee is afraid to speak up with the anticipation that their ideas would get rejected.

Safety → Accepted

An employee who feels accepted is apt to build stronger working relationships with their boss and coworkers with the intention of getting the job done. There would be no social interaction of any kind, just the collaboration it would take to meet a goal. 

Social → Included

Once employees start to feel included, the entire team starts working well together, applying different ideas toward outcomes and solutions that deliver projects successfully, improve sales quotas, elevate customer service levels, and help individual employees feel a sense of achievement.

Esteem → Trusted

When employees begin to feel trusted, they become more valuable to leadership and their peers. They also exhibit high levels of belief in themselves, team members, and management that will help drive motivation yielding increased performance. These individuals in turn will start demonstrating leadership traits and embrace more serious roles in the company, as they inspire those around them to do their highest quality of work for the organization.

Self-actualization → Empowered

Finally, there is the level of empowerment. These employees want to feel to be independent and have their actions influence and inspire others in the company. These individuals are proactive and pursue opportunities to better themselves and encourage those around them to perform at their highest levels.

Douglas MGregor (1906-1964)

The idea that a manager’s attitude has an impact on employee motivation was originally proposed by Douglas McGregor, a management professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology during the 1950s and 1960s. In his 1960 book, ‘The Human Side of Enterprise’, McGregor proposed two theories by which managers perceive and address employee motivation. He referred to these opposing motivational methods as Theory X and Theory Y management.

Theory X

According to McGregor, Theory X management assumes the following:

- Work is inherently distasteful to most people, and they will attempt to avoid work whenever possible.

- Most people are not ambitious, have little desire for responsibility, and prefer to be directed.

- Most people have little aptitude for creativity in solving organizational problems.

- Motivation occurs only at the physiological and security levels of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

- Most people are self-centered. As a result, they must be closely controlled and often coerced to achieve organizational objectives.

- Most people resist change.

- Most people are gullible and unintelligent.

Essentially, Theory X assumes that the primary source of employee motivation is monetary, with security as a strong second. 

Drawing on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, McGregor argued that a need, once satisfied, no longer motivates. The company uses monetary rewards and benefits to satisfy employees’ lower-level needs. Once those needs have been satisfied, the motivation disappears. 

Theory Y

In strong contrast to Theory X, Theory Y management makes the following assumptions:

- Work can be as natural as play if the conditions are favorable.

- People will be self-directed and creative to meet their work and organizational objectives if they are committed to them.

- People will be committed to their quality and productivity objectives if rewards are in place that address higher needs such as self-fulfillment.

- The capacity for creativity spreads throughout organizations.

- Most people can handle responsibility because creativity and ingenuity are common in the population.

- In such conditions, people will seek responsibility.

Under these assumptions, there is an opportunity to align personal goals with organizational goals by using the employee’s own need for fulfillment as the motivator. McGregor recognized that some people may not have reached the level of maturity assumed by Theory Y and may initially need tighter controls that can be relaxed as the employee develops.

However, both theories have their challenges. The restrictive nature of Theory X, for instance, could cause people to become demotivated and non-cooperative if the approach is too strict. This may lead to high staff turnover and could damage the reputation in the long term. Conversely, if Theory Y approach is adopted that gives people too much freedom, it may allow them to stray from their key objectives or lose focus. Less motivated individuals may also take advantage of this more relaxd working environment by shirking their work. If this happens, some control may need to be taken back to ensure that everyone meets their team and organizational goals.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intention to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, however, it happens unintentionally, I offer my sincere regrets.

References:

https://positivepsychology.com/abraham-maslow/

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wmintrobusiness/chapter/reading-douglas-mcgregors-theory-x-and-theory-y-2/

https://www.mindtools.com/adi3nc1/theory-x-and-theory-y

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/business/leadership-implications-of-maslows-hierarchy-of-needs-business-essay.php

https://keap.com/business-success-blog/business-management/leadership/maslow-in-the-context-of-leadership-and-employee-engagement