How to cut cost and motivate people at the same time

D theoretical assumptions on Theory X and Theory Y – on how to understand the motivation of people.

You’re a Theory X manager if you have a negative belief that your workers have very little ambition, dislike work, want to avoid responfor many managers to implement sibility, and therefore – must be both Theories X and Y in the closely supervised. real world. At most, we see only

Theory X being practiced every Theory Y manager if you have a day because of the proliferation of positive assumption that workers command-and-control managers, enjoy work, seek out and accept who think they’re God’s worthy responsibility, and exercise selfgift to mankind, tasked to rein in direction and initiative, so that recalcitrant workers. they don’t need close monitoring.

McGregor, who was a manchicken-and-egg situation. Which came first – toxic managers or that Theory Y was the best everybest philosophical answer could day-everywhere approach for every be found in Haruki Murakami’s acceptance speech of his Jerusalem he advocated that all workers must be allowed to participate in problemand an egg that breaks against it, solving and decision- making no matter how right the wall or be given challenging tasks to maxithe side of the egg. Why? Because each of us is an egg, a unique soul motivation at the same time. enclosed in a fragile egg. Each

The book was voted the fourth of us is confronting a high wall. most influential management The high wall is the system which forces us to do the things we would of the Fellows of the - dividuals . . .

“We are all human beings, individuals, fragile eggs. We have While it’s easy to understand no hope against the wall: it’s too the wall, we must join our souls together for warmth, strength. We must not let the system control us created the system.”

“hard and high a wall” management is, millions of us toiling every day for the minimum wage are represented by “a unique soul enclosed in a fragile egg” who must be respected and nurtured to become a productive and loyal

Now, let’s move on to the practical side of things. The “hard, high wall” of management wants all to work hard. There’s nothing wrong with that. But, what’s the best approach to motivate workers to deliver the best results that are satisfactory to management?

Enter – a Japanese management system, which focuses on the never- ending elimination, if not reduction, of operational wastes, with the active participation of the workers toward bringing a sense of joy and pride into the workforce, according to Hitoshi Yamada

is like shooting two which may have originated from the extensive work of W. Edwards the dynamism of quality and productivity improvement to the Japanese. The original American idea of continual improvement

elitism with its belt program. There is no better way but to motivate the workers as an army of problem- solvers who would be in the form of quality circles or individual suggestion programs to assist the employees achieve their full potential and gain recognition for it.

There’s one lesson here. Meaningless and mechanical task brings management fails to empower or engage their workers, then chances are – wittingly or unwittingly, it is wearing a Theory X hat. ReyElboisabusinessconsultantspe- to forhisrandommanagementthoughts onElbonomics.