Financial Times

Do you know your X, Y & Z?
By Nilooka Dissanayake
I am not talking about the alphabet here. The X, Y & Z relate to your assumptions and attitudes about people. These things matter to you whether you are a housewife trying to manage a domestic aide, a small business operator managing a small workforce, a CEO in a blue chip company or a politician. In other words, whatever you are, if you have to manage people, you had better learn your X, Y & Z.
Why? Because, people will almost always give you what you expect. So, you have to be careful in how you display your ideas about them and your expectations. Let us now find out about X, Y & Z.

They are all theories and each theory starts with a set of assumptions about people.
A social psychologist called Douglas McGregor, proposed Theories X and Y in his book titled 'The Human Side of Enterprise'.

Theory X assumes that the average worker:

· dislikes work and attempts to avoid it
· prefers to be directed
· avoids responsibility and
· wants security above all else

Theory Y assumes the average worker:

· finds work fulfilling and enjoyable
· is self-directed to meet objectives if he/she is committed to them
· seeks and accepts responsibility and
· wants to learn, grow and develop

Theory Z was developed by William Ouchi in his book, Theory Z: 'How American Management Can Meet the Japanese Challenge'.
Theory Z assumes the average worker:

· is loyal
· can be trusted
· is able to handle freedom in doing his/her job
· is interested in teamwork

Which theory do you subscribe to? What you get out of people depends much upon them as upon your attitude towards them.In his book, 'The Triangles of Management and Leadership', Paul B. Thornton introduces us to the self-fulfilling prophecy triangle.

The self-fulfilling prophecy maintains that "what you expect is what you get". High expectations lead to high performance; low expectations lead to low performance. The three parts of the self-fulfilling prophecy triangle include:

· Assumptions - you have about others
· Manager's or leader's expectations and behaviour
· Employee reactions

Obviously you need to be careful about how and what feelings you show and do not show to your employees. Since hiding emotions and feelings tend to be quite difficult, the easier thing would be to throw out your old assumptions and develop a set of positive ones that could help you get the best out of people.

At least, this is definitely under your control because no one else other than yourself can decide what your attitudes are. I sense some dissenting thoughts and doubts arising in your mind about society, peers and so on. Just forget all that.

You are trying to manage your business. And your attitudes are your own. At least take responsibility for that. Change as and when necessary and you will be on your way towards success.

If you have a problem, get in touch with us and we will tell you how to get a set of positive attitudes for yourself. According to Thornton the concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy can be summarized in three key principles:

· Managers and leaders form certain expectations about people.
· They communicate their expectations through goal setting, planning, providing feedback and day-to-day interactions.
· People tend to respond and behave in ways that exemplifies what is expected of them. So, says he: "the bottom-line is to raise the bar. Be demanding.

Expect more than what others think is possible." Of course, if you are a firm believer in Theory X, you will find this difficult. We have developed a solution for that also.
We look forward to hearing from you. Please send in your views. You can reach us on ft@sundaytimes.wnl.lk or call on 075-552524.

The writer is the Managing Editor of Athwela Vyaparika Sangarawa (Athwela Business Journal), the only Sinhala management monthly targeting the small and medium-sized business operators and its English version, Small Business International magazine.

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