Cambridge Business Association
The Human Side of Enterprise
Book

The Human Side of Enterprise

Douglas McGregor
McGraw-Hill, 2005
First Edition: 1960
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Douglas McGregor was a great boss. Wise, witty and insightful, he had extraordinary respect for his employees and believed that if they had the opportunity, they would be enthusiastic, responsible and ethical in the workplace. He believed this so strongly that he wrote this book in 1960 and forever changed management, whose predominant philosophy at that time was that people were inherently lazy, and would work only if you forced and punished them. McGregor was only 58 when he died in 1964, but his contributions to management theory and practice ensure his enduring legacy. In his introduction to this edition of McGregor’s classic, commentator Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld points out that in 2004 and 2005 – nearly 50 years after it was published – business journalists and theorists still referred to McGregor’s work repeatedly in print. Furthermore, you can apply his philosophy and principles to your everyday life and relationships. McGregor has a tendency to overwrite and, at times, he doubles back over territory that he’s already covered. But these are quibbles. getAbstract believes this persuasive book will alter your views about management and your fellow workers. If you supervise others and you haven’t yet read it – what are you waiting for?

Summary

Theory X

“What are your assumptions (implicit as well as explicit) about the most effective way to manage people?” “Theory X,” maintains that people are inherently lazy and need authoritarian oversight to be productive. Theory X may have been relevant at one time, but it is becoming outmoded for three reasons:

  1. It uses obsolete paradigms – Hierarchical models, such as the military or the Catholic Church do not apply to modern businesses. For example, rather than reporting only to “one boss,” members of today’s workplace teams may have crossdepartmental responsibilities.
  2. It is “ethnocentric” – It failed to account for an organization’s “political, social and economic milieu.”
  3. It makes unreliable assumptions about human nature – For example, it assumes that only the exercise of authority can force people to work. Yet authority has its limits. Persuasion and cooperation often work better.

Theory X takes a pessimistic view of human nature and establishes an adversarial relationship between management and employees. Managers who operate under this theory assume that workers are incapable...

About the Author

Douglas McGregor was president of Antioch College and a founding faculty member of MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

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    C. N. 1 decade ago
    This book is considered one of the 20th-century classics on management theory and development. Along side F.W. Taylor's scientific management and Henri Fayol's theory, McGregor presented two opposites of the managerial spectrum: theory X and theory Y. Theory Y has become the idolized model of humanitarian management versus the mechanical style of theory X.