Principles Of Management: June 2012

Theory of X and Y

A firm or any organization consist of mainly two entities : mangers and their employees. Now here X refers to managers who assume that their employees are lazy and Y refers to managers who assume that their employees are good and efficient irrespective of what their employees actually are . Now based on this there can be a variety of cases.

Scenario 1: Lazy Employees and Theory X Manager

In this kind of a scenario employees are lazy and the manager assumes them to be lazy . So this kind of scenario is not going to help in anyway in the growth of the organization . The manager will always treat his employees with a negative mind set. He will never encourage his lazy employees and will only be criticizing them. Criticism leads to discouragement and bad morale.It can also lead to stubborn defiance.

Scenario 2: Not Lazy Employees and Theory X Manager

In this kind of a scenario employees are not lazy but the manager assumes then to be lazy. This kind of a situation can be very harmful and demotivate the employees.The employees may be highly skilled and efficient person but the management underestimates their true potential.This kind of negative attitude discourages the employees to work in an organization and will ultimately hamper the growth of the company.

Scenario 3: Lazy Employees and Theory Y Manager

In this kind of a scenario employees lazy and the manager assumes them to efficient and hard working. A lazy employee can be a problem for a manager in many ways. A good manager knows her options when it comes to a lazy employee and is prepared to exercise the option that is in the best interest of the company.
So managers motivate lazy employees with compliments followed by constructive criticism .When people receive recognition for the good things they do, they feel more motivated to be productive.Also, when people are empowered and given choices, they tend to work harder. Incentives work well, also. If this kind of policies are adopted by the management then there will be rapid growth in the company.

Scenario 4: Not Lazy Employees and Theory Y Manager

In this kind of a scenario employees are not lazy and the manager also assumes them to efficient and hard working. This the most sought for situation in any organization . Hard working , dedicated employees are constantly motivated by the managers and the growth of the company becomes many fold. Goals set by the managers are easily achieved with high level of accuracy within a short span of time. The organization starts growing rapidly in this kind of a scenario .

Theory of Potential and Performance in an Organization- LEO2

Any organanization that aims at maximising its profit and sustaining in this ever evolving market,has to know its potential and then see their performance.This helps them to gauge their own ability and by looking at this figure they can carve out their own future ambitions.

As discussed in the class we all know that Potential > Performance . Now our main concern is to achieve performance which is exactly equal to the potential of a person.

Now the main question is to how we can make the performance equal to the potential..??

First of all let us equate potential with performance.

Performance = Potential - Inhibitor forces

Or we can say P = p -i ( where P = performance , potential = p and inhibitor forces = i )

We can say that by improving the performance of the employees we can achieve the desired result.For this to happen we have to provide the employees with some incentives which would act as external motivation

Take Aways From Lecture 01

In our very first class of Principles Of Management,we experienced a very simple but insightful game of tower building which involved putting one square block over the other and achieving the maximum height possible till the tower falls down.The game looked quite simple initially,but when our Professor asked just to use one hand,then it looked tricky.

The student was randomly chosen who had himself set the target of 10 blocks.Then our professor asked the class about the number of blocks with which the tower can be built. The students came up with varying responses for the number of blocks ranging from 10 till 30. The student performed the exercise and the height achieved was 17 blocks.

From this very interesting exercise,we learnt the following principles
1)The student who set a target of more than 17 blocks were termed to be "ambitious".This Ambitious goal set is subject to changes based on the performance and goal setting by an individual.

2) Students who set their target lower than 17 blocks were ambitious, but not over ambitious. They set their goal according to the situation and that target was achieved. This is because the potential of an individual should increase after having performed the exercise which would lead him to set higher target for next time

Now after completing this exercise,it was made even more tricky by asking the student to place the blocks this time by being blindfolded and with the aid of verbal instructions from a supporter

He asked us what your targets will now be. It was observed that:
1)Some of the students lowered the target from the previously stated one .This is not preferred since the organization shouldn't lower their targets despite the hurdles which come across as this portrays a negative outlook.Also,this strategy does not work in the longer run for the growth of the company.

2) Some of the students retained the target. This is preferable as the organization continues to work towards the defined target despite the hurdle through motivation and team effort and effective co-ordination

3) Some increased the target. Ideally, organizations need to expand even during tough times when others are contracting and avoiding risks. A good example can be Apple , which during recession perceived as threat to many used as opportunity to expand their market share and generate more products like iPad.This lead to increased profits and increased market share.