1. Are You a Theory X or a Theory Y Leader?
This famous distinction was created by Douglas MacGregor in The Human Side of Enterprise. Theory X leaders, he suggests, are those who believe approximately as follows:
employees dislike work and do whatever they can to avoid it.
bosses maintain control primarily by threats and punishment.
tasks must be kept simple so that dull-witted employees can learn them and then do them over and over. [7]
We’ve all had at least one Theory X leader in our careers. This leader was the one who expected us to fail, emphasized the negative whenever possible, and made it seem that each day on the job might be our last. Not surprisingly, most of us did not develop much loyalty for this kind of boss. We may have cowered ...
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