The Development of Modern Management Courses

As most students of Management Theory know, Douglas McGregor, a pioneering American social scientist, first proposed his X-Y theory of management style in his popular early 60’s book 'The Human Side Of Enterprise'.

Theory X and Y and Management Courses

Theory X and theory Y form a basis on many modern Leadership Courses and are still highly respected in the area of management and motivation. Whilst up to date work questioned the rigidity of the model, McGregor's two theories remain good basic principles from which to develop creative management styles and techniques. Indeed McGregor remains central to organisational development, and to improving related culture.

Reading into his original work it is easy to see that McGregor was emotionally opposed to the theory X authoritarian style and used quite strong terms to describe the recognisable traits of these managers and their style.


McGregor's Impact on Management Theory

Theory Y, at the time, was a breath of fresh air and many of its proponents could see no limit to the benefits of its implementation. It was the beginning of a new type of management theory, which encouraged self worth and collaboration with workers.

Many large corporations to this day are heavily structured around the fundamentals of this democratic and delegation focused style and in some cases quite fixed in its implementation. However, nowadays few corprorations would follow McGregor, but his influence is great, as it can be said that he started the more democratic approaches the leadership style.

Democratic Schools of Thought

Management Training will often include McGregor in its syllabus, but the more complex and modern theories, such as Maslow or Herzberg are likely to receive more focus.

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Maslow actually developed his theories in the 1950s, but they are extremely popular to this day. Maslow argued that there was a pyramid of needs, which started with the basic physiological needs of food, employment, security for a worker. They then progressed through to gaining responsibility, showing creativity and gaining confidence in their own ability. This theory broke down into more detail the psychological needs of a worker and helped manager's focus on more collaborative styles of management. Meanwhile, training has focused on more psychological and behavioural factors, with NLP Courses, Communications Courses, Coaching as a Manager and much more.

Overall Impact

The overall impact on modern businesses is huge, as it has led to many business adopting flat structured organisations with democratic and collaborative approaches to management. This can be far more rewarding that the traditional top down companies.