s in the van of a growing band of enlightened management savants who appreciated this aspect of our behaviour and realised that most of the problems to do with lack of morale and performance at work are directly created by the way that managers behave towards their workforces.

To explain how this works McG

Have you ever noticed when you are in traffic and in a hurry to get somewhere, it is almost impossible not to creep up closer to the person in front?

It is as if there is a force field around the front bumper of your vehicle and that by creeping up to the car in front it is possible to push their car faster so that we can get where we want to go quicker.

But have you ever thought what happens when someone starts to creep up too close behind your own car. Do you accelerate away smartly leaving them to catch up? Or do you slow down?

The fact is we are all human beings and the human reaction to being pushed in one direction is to resist or to push back in the opposite direction. (Remember what happens when a teenager is told to clean their room?)

If someone is trying to make us hurry up by driving too close we will almost invariably resist by slowing down. Even when we know this, we ourselves will still drive too close to the person in front when we want them to go faster and as a result we become even more frustrated when they slow down.

Our own behaviour is creating the conditions for our failure.

Fifty Years ago there was an American Business Guru called Douglas McGregor. Douglas McGregor was in the van of a growing band of enlightened management savants who appreciated this aspect of our behaviour and realised that most of the problems to do with lack of morale and performance at work are directly created by the way that managers behave towards their workforces.

To explain how this works McGr

r so that we can get where we want to go quicker.

But have you ever thought what happens when someone starts to creep up too close behind your own car. Do you accelerate away smartly leaving them to catch up? Or do you slow down?

The fact is we are all human beings and the human reaction to being pushed in one direction is to resist or to push back in the opposite direction. (Remember what happens when a teenager is told to clean their room?)

If someone is trying to make us hurry up by driving too close we will almost invariably resist by slowing down. Even when we know this, we ourselves will still drive too close to the person in front when we want them to go faster and as a result we become even more frustrated when they slow down.

Our own behaviour is creating the conditions for our failure.

Fifty Years ago there was an American Business Guru called Douglas McGregor. Douglas McGregor was in the van of a growing band of enlightened management savants who appreciated this aspect of our behaviour and realised that most of the problems to do with lack of morale and performance at work are directly created by the way that managers behave towards their workforces.

To explain how this works McG

pushed in one direction is to resist or to push back in the opposite direction. (Remember what happens when a teenager is told to clean their room?)

If someone is trying to make us hurry up by driving too close we will almost invariably resist by slowing down. Even when we know this, we ourselves will still drive too close to the person in front when we want them to go faster and as a result we become even more frustrated when they slow down.

Our own behaviour is creating the conditions for our failure.

Fifty Years ago there was an American Business Guru called Douglas McGregor. Douglas McGregor was in the van of a growing band of enlightened management savants who appreciated this aspect of our behaviour and realised that most of the problems to do with lack of morale and performance at work are directly created by the way that managers behave towards their workforces.

To explain how this works McG

ill drive too close to the person in front when we want them to go faster and as a result we become even more frustrated when they slow down.

Our own behaviour is creating the conditions for our failure.

Fifty Years ago there was an American Business Guru called Douglas McGregor. Douglas McGregor was in the van of a growing band of enlightened management savants who appreciated this aspect of our behaviour and realised that most of the problems to do with lack of morale and performance at work are directly created by the way that managers behave towards their workforces.

To explain how this works McG

s in the van of a growing band of enlightened management savants who appreciated this aspect of our behaviour and realised that most of the problems to do with lack of morale and performance at work are directly created by the way that managers behave towards their workforces.

To explain how this works McGregor coined the two terms, “Theory X” and “Theory Y”

“Theory X” being the model that describes the management behaviour that creates problems and “Theory Y”, the model that, recognising the problems created by the directive “Theory X” manager, creates the environment for the workforce that allows them the space they need to work as well as they can.

To explain these models briefly, “Theory X” management assumes that the workforce is lazy and ignorant and would rather do anything except work. The job of the “Theory X” manager therefore is to drive the workforce to do their work, to create an environment in which it is so difficult for the workforce to avoid work that they have no option but to work. This is seen as the traditional role of the manager by both the manager and the workforce.

“Theory Y” on the other hand assumes that the workforce is skilled and experienced, is willing to share that experience and take pride in what they do. The job of the “Theory Y” manager is therefore no longer to tell the workforce what he thinks they ought to be doing. The “Theory Y” manager’s job is to create the environment at work that will allow the workforce to take pride in what they do and to give them the support that they