What is Theory X management?

Theory X management assumes that employees work best when they have external leadership from a supervisor who directly manages them. The assumption built into Theory X is that most employees work to earn a paycheck, that they are not naturally self-motivated, and that the best performance is to be had when management sets goals and drives forward to completion. Under this theory, your employees work to earn money and avoid negative consequences, such as write-ups and termination for substandard performance.

Managers who apply Theory X usually lead from the front with regular meetings and impose goals on their workers from above. Theory X management is substantially a matter of crafting positive and negative incentives, such as bonuses or other rewards for meeting targets, or progressive discipline for falling short, which may include remedial training. Employees who are managed in this style are often asked to check in with management and report progress toward goals, usually getting feedback in the form of direct instructions from a supervisor.

Theory X managers may or may not be micromanagers, but they generally do have to take a close hand in the design and development of projects. Teams of workers can expect to have frequent contact with their Theory X manager, getting noticed for good work and receiving negative feedback for work that needs improvement.

What is Theory Y management?

Theory Y management proceeds from the assumption that employees can motivate themselves and are generally eager to do a good job, even above and beyond the minimum requirements of the tasks they’ve been assigned. Employees who can self-motivate and find work that is fulfilling beyond just a paycheck are expected to develop a strong work ethic and drive themselves toward goals with minimal supervision.

Managers who take this approach can still closely monitor their workers’ progress, but the attitude of a Theory Y manager is much more hands-off than their Theory X counterpart. The focus of a Theory Y supervisor is typically on building a team and infusing it with a sense of the company’s mission. The emphasis for this type of management is to foster creativity and let each employee use their talents to the best effect more or less on their own.

How management styles develop

As a manager, you might find yourself naturally drawn to one style of leadership or another. You might also be motivated to adopt one or the other style from the work environment you are supervising. If, for example, you try Theory Y to draw out workers’ creativity, only to find that the nature of their work allows for very little creativity or self-expression, it might be better to adopt a simpler Theory X approach and get predictable results instead. The best managers can switch from one style to another, or they can blend together elements of both to match the human resources they have and the tasks upper management expects to get done. Ideally, as a manager, you should be able to identify circumstances where either approach works best.

Related:How to Manage Employees

How to pick your management style

No matter how intuitive your management style feels to you, it never hurts to put some conscious thought into how you motivate your workers to do their best. If your teams have been struggling to meet expectations, run through this checklist to determine whether a change in management style can work to renew employees’ drive:

1. Play to your strengths.What is your natural management style? If you are generally well-rounded as a manager, you probably don’t skew too far to either X or Y as a rule, but you probably have an inclination toward one of them. If you naturally tend to manage closely and excel at designing incentive systems, then you might find a Theory X approach easier and less of a strain than forcing yourself to change into a more Theory Y manager. Your inclinations are not the only determinant of which approach you should take, but the way you naturally lead can point you in a productive direction.
2. Aim for the goals of the company. What does the company need to achieve? If the employer you work for is trying to set the world on fire with radically creative new ideas, you’ll certainly need to follow a strict Theory Y approach to your creative teams. Most jobs aren’t like that. Workers on an assembly line, for example, are probably much better off with an incentive system they can follow without too much wasted effort.
3. Meet with your team. How do your people feel? Try meeting with your team and asking them what they think about how they’re managed. Most people quickly develop a keen opinion of the management style their supervisor follows, and it can be very productive to hear how your past efforts, or those of your predecessor, have been received.

These steps get you off on the right foot, but it’s critical to always continue to adopt, adapt and improve. Within your team, you’ll certainly have a diversity of opinions, personalities and job duties to oversee. Not everybody has the same reaction to management, and some people need one style of leadership more than the other.

If, for instance, you generally follow a Theory X approach to managing a team of carpenters in a cabinetry shop, you’re probably trying to get everyone to work steadily toward maximum production at a certain quality level. If a single member of that team likes to come in early and experiment with different woodworking techniques, you and the company might do well to encourage creative experimentation for just this one person, who might come up with something new that works really well. Another member of the same team might feel lost and unsupported with this much freedom, and for them the best performance could come from a hands-on approach that keeps them busy.

Hiring based on management style

Y management theory and X management theory both speak mainly to the way you supervise your teams as they do their jobs, but both can also play a role in your hiring process. Assuming you’ve settled on a style you mostly use, let your understanding of how you run your teams guide your evaluation of potential new hires during the interview stage.

As you interview a new hire, apply what you’re learning about this candidate to how you think they will respond to your management approach. Fiercely independent personalities tend to thrive in a predominantlyTheory Y environment, and may feel hemmed in and unhappy at the same job under a Theory X supervisor. Think about more than just the applicants’ qualifications, but also about how they are likely to integrate with the management culture you run.

If you’re in any doubt about a candidate, feel free to ask some pointed questions about how they like to be managed. Directly asking an interviewee about their preferred supervision style can give you valuable insight and even motivate you to adjust your style for them if they wind up getting hired.

Read more:10 Recruiting Strategies for Hiring Great Employees

FAQs about Theory X and Y management

When is Theory X management appropriate?

Theory X management is generally appropriate when your workers have routine tasks that limit opportunities for creative expression, but which lend themselves to simple performance metrics. A good example would be line workers at a factory or customer service reps in a call center. You can also think about adopting elements of this style when you hear employees express a desire for more guidance and feedback, since it tends to be a very hands-on approach to leadership.

When is Theory Y management appropriate?

Theory Y management tends to get good results in highly skilled, independent and creative environments where individual expression is valued far more than rote operations. Creative staff at a marketing agency, for example, are generally encouraged to think independently and try out new ideas. Even very structured environments may benefit from a Theory Y approach. Police detectives, for instance, often work in the field with minimal supervision, think creatively about problems and develop personal contacts that don’t lend themselves to simple metrics of achievement.

What are the benefits of Theory X management?

Theory X has a strong upside in that it drives toward simple, intelligible goals and easily definable metrics for success. The approach allows direct management of methods and objectives, which shifts control up toward project planners, and the close monitoring it encourages can make some employees feel that they have the support they need from their managers. A solid Theory X implementation can also take even very poorly motivated employees and encourage them toward success and future advancement in the company by playing toward the incentives they really care about.

What are the benefits of Theory Y management?

Theory Y can be very beneficial in unstructured or loosely monitored environments, such as with workers who operate in the field, away from the supervision of a team leader. It encourages self-starters to give their best effort to a project, and when done correctly it can be an extremely efficient way to lead without expending too much effort on relatively routine supervisory work. Employees who thrive in these environments often do so because they feel their management is supporting them with freedom and the headspace they need to independently work toward shared goals.