A New Theory of Management
The carrot-and-stick theory of motivation works reasonably well under certain circumstances.So long as the worker is struggling for subsistence，his physiological and to some extent his safety needs can be provided or withheld by management.But once man has reached an adequate subsistence level and is motivated by higher needs，the carrot-and-stick theory does not work at all.The high standard of living created by our own modern technological know-how provides quite adequately for the satisfaction of physiological and safety needs.The philosophy of management by direction and control—regardless of whether it is soft or hard—is inadequate to motivate because the human needs on which this approach relies are today unimportant motivators of behavior.Direction and control are essentially useless in motivating people whose important needs are social and egoistic.Both the hard and the soft approach fail today because they are simply irrelevant to the situation.
For these and many other reasons，we require a different theory of the task of managing people based on more adequate assumptions about human nature and human motivation.I am going to be so bold as to suggest the broad dimensions of such a theory.Call it“Theory Y”，if you will.
1.Management is responsible for organizing the elements of productive enterprise—money，materials，equipment，people—in the interest of economic ends.
2.People are not by nature passive or resistant to organizational needs.They have become so as a result of experience in organizations.(https://www.daowen.com)
3.The motivation，the potential for development，the capacity for assuming responsibility，the readiness to direct behavior toward organizational goals are all present in people.Management does not put them there.It is a responsibility of management to make it possible for people to recognize and develop these human characteristics for themselves.
4.The essential task of management is to arrange organizational conditions and methods of operation so that people can achieve their own goals best by directing their own efforts toward organizational objectives.
This is a process primarily of creating opportunities，releasing potential，removing obstacles，encouraging growth，providing guidance.It is what Peter Drucker has called“management by objectives”in contrast to“management by control”.It does not involve the abdication of management，the absence of leadership，the lowering of standards，or the other characteristics usually associated with the“soft”approach under Theory X.