Idea 44 - Theories X & Y (and Theory Z) Management's ideas about motivating employees have changed a bit since scientific management first considered how to make workers more efficient. Today, most managers would at least pay lip service to the idea that employees are human beings, with human needs and aspirations, and that you need to recognize this to get the best from them. This may seem obvious today, but as a management precept it owes much to Douglas McGregor and his Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X and Theory Yare a double act - a Mr Nasty and Mr Nice of human resource management - that leave you in no doubt as to which McGregor prefers, even though he insists that the optimal management style should draw from both. McGregor believed that the way a company was managed reflected its managers' view of human nature. His theories look at how satisfying the needs of employees can be used to motivate them, though each makes very dif(erent assumptions about what those needs