VI. Match the words to their definitions
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1. Supervisor whose job involves meeting or communicating directly with workers.
2. The ability to make decisions and take action without waiting for someone to tell you what to do.
3. When workers in a company are given more responsibility by allowing them to organize their own work, make decisions without asking their managers.
4. The work of making sure something is done properly and according to all the rules.
5. When the managers of a company decide to reduce the number of people working for the company in order to save money or increase profits.
6. Someone who has a lower position and less authority than someone else in an organization.
7. Reducing the number of management levels an organization has.
VII. Look through the text. In the second part of the text you will find a mixture of the Theory X and Theory Y basic principles. Arrange these sentences into the Theories X and Theory Y
Douglas McGregor’s XY Theory
Douglas McGregor, an American social psychologist, proposed his famous X-Y theory in his 1960 book ‘The Human side Of Enterprise’. Theory X and theory Y are still referred to commonly in the field of management and motivation, and whilst more recent studies have questioned the rigidity of the model, McGregor’s X-Y Theory remains a valid basic principle from which to develop positive management style and techniques. McGregor’s X-Y Theory remains central to organizational development, and to improving organizational culture.
McGregor’s X-Y Theory is a salutary and simple reminder of the natural rules for managing people, which under the pressure of day-to-day business are all too easily forgotten.
McGregor maintained that there are two fundamental approaches to managing people. Many managers tend towards theory X, and generally get poor results. Enlightened managers use theory Y, which produces better performance and results, and allows people to grow and develop.
Theory X (‘authoritarian management’ style) | Theory Y (‘participative management’ style) | ||
V _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ | · The average person dislikes work and will avoid it. · Effort in work is as natural as work and play. · In industry the intellectual potential of the average person is only partly utilized. · People usually accept and often seek responsibility. · Therefore most people must be forced with the threat of punishment to work towards organizational objectives. · The average person prefers to be directed; to avoid responsibility; is relatively unambitious, and wants security above all else. · People will apply self-control and self-direction in the pursuit of organizational objectives, without external control or the threat of punishment. · Commitment to objectives is a function of rewards associated with their achievement. · The capacity to use a high degree of imagination, ingenuity and creativity in solving organizational problems is widely, not narrowly, distributed in the population. | ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ | |
VIII. Which theory do you prefer?