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14-6 Human Relations [CH 14

needs. There will obviously be periods when an individual is motivated by the need to
relieve thirst or hunger, but interest is most often directed toward the satisfaction of
safety, belongingness, and the other needs on the ladder.
Business organizations have been extremely successful in satisfying the lower-

order physiological and safety needs. The traditional view of workers as ingredients in
the productive process—as machines like lathes, drill presses, and other equipment—
led management to motivate them with money. The Hawthorne studies showed that
people are not like machines, and that social and psychological needs motivate as

effectively as money. Managers were forced to reconsider their assumptions about
employees and how best to motivate them.

Evaluating Theory X
Psychologist Douglas McGregor, a student of Maslow, proposed the concepts of
Theory X and Theory Y as labels for the assumptions that different managers make
Theory X
Managerial assumption that about worker behavior. Theory X is a managerial theory with the assumptions that
employees dislike work and employees dislike work and must be coerced, controlled, or threatened to be motivated
must be coerced, controlled, to become productive. According to McGregor, Theory X involves the following
or threatened to motivate assumptions:
them to work.

1. The average human being has an inherent dislike of work and will avoid it if
possible.
2. Because of this characteristic, most people must be coerced, controlled,

directed, or threatened with punishment to get them to put forth adequate effort
toward the achievement of organization objectives.
3. The average human being prefers to be directed, wishes to avoid responsibility,
has relatively little ambition, and wants security above all.

If true, this traditional view of workers is a depressing indictment of human nature.
Managers who accept the view may direct their subordinates through close and
constant observation, continually holding over them the threat of disciplinary action,
and demanding that they closely follow company policies and procedures. High-
technology monitoring systems include daily analysis of telephone calls made by
employees. At American Express, the call-accounting system sends instant reports to
supervisors on the frequency and length of calls, as well as how quickly the phones are
answered. Former Vice-President of Operations Edwin Sherin sums up the advantages:
"Telecommunications monitoring provides hard data with which to prod workers to
produce at a higher level."
Another means of nonhuman monitoring is the activity evaluation of two-thirds of
the 15 million workers in such industries as banking, hospitals, and airline companies
who use video-display terminals (VDT). These electronic monitors record when an
operator is off a VDT, count keystrokes by the second, time customer service actions,
and track errors. An airline spokesperson defends the use of these systems in
monitoring the work of the airline's reservations employees: "We have to do this.
When you're in a competitive business and pay the salaries we do, we have got to set
standards." Costco’s warehouse stores monitor their checkers for the number of items
checked, the time a customer is actually having his purchases charged, and the total
value of customer purchases against time at the point of sale—the cash register.
The Theory X manager's underlying set of attitudes and beliefs concerning
employee behavior typically results in the use of traditional economic incentives
designed to satisfy lower-order physiological and safety needs. Even though close
supervision and continual employee monitoring can significantly increase productivity
in the short run, concerns are frequently expressed about the Big Brother aspects of
electronic systems and the long-term results of all types of intense monitoring
activities. As Harley Shaiken, technology professor at the University of California in
San Diego, considers that, "In the short term, you can squeeze more out of people. But

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