Human Resource Development and Management

Human Resource Development and Management

Assumptions and Emphasis

Theory X and Y

Mac Gregor in his famous book, The Human Side of the Organisation, contrasted the classical approach to management and human relations. He argued that in order to understand the ways people (human resources) behaved and consequently were managed, two theories, namely X and Y need to be considered.

Theory X essentially is used by the followers of scientific management who assume people are lazy and incapable of supervising their own activities. They dislike work and do not wish to take responsibility. The solution preferred by the exponents of classical management is to use threats, coercion or motivate people by economic incentives and other material means to make them work. The assumption is since people are not capable of self management they ought to be fully controlled and supervised.

The followers of Theory Y believed in the principles of Human Relations School of thought, and suggested the opposite to the exponents of Theory X. They argued that people are basically interested in their job, like to take responsibility and are active and willing to undertake work. Therefore, management do not have to resort to carrot and stick as a means to manage people at work. People should be provided with meaningful jobs, one which offers satisfaction, responsibility and can contain elements of growth and development. Whilst the advocates of Theory X emphasised on control the followers of Theory Y placed emphasis on the transitory nature of people and the gradual move towards ensuring commitment and self management.

Walton (1985) has appropriately compared the approaches or points of emphasis, in so far as the management of human resources is concerned by the followers of the above two management schools as follows.

Contingency Approach

(Commitment)

With the emergence of open system thinking and the need to consider policy and procedures which are contingent upon the changing situation, explicit distinction was made between personnel management and that of human resource management.

Guest (1987) in his article, Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations, suggests that personnel management which has been adopted and preferred by the managers and officials who advocate to traditional and human relations principles, has been developed  based on the short, ad hoc and closed rather than integrated and open system approach (see table below)

Source: David Guest, Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations, Journal of Management Studies, 24 (5), 1987, p.507.

In agreement with Walton (1985), it is suggested that HRM nowadays has graduated and matured from its transitory state and thus ought to place more emphasis on commitment on the part of their employees and employers rather than control which is exercised by the employer alone. In this way, the individual employees and/or managers are expected to take responsibility for upgrading the system performance since the emphasis should be on job redesign, whole task, doing and thinking.

In a flat organisation structure with co-ordinating and controlling shared mechanism which is based on shared values and beliefs, teams are developed and utilised in order to achieve higher objectives. The whole affair should emphasise on flexibility of defining duties and orientation towards the need for contingency upon the changing market and business environment.

In organisations with less emphasis on hierarchical status and differentiation, the HRM will place emphasis on availability of information to all and reward system which is extended beyond individual pay towards orientation of equity, profit sharing, advancement and skills and mastery of work. Employees are provided with training and re-training with assurance that participation and commitment will not result in loss of employment. In such a new corporate governance environment the HRM policy will stress on the employees voice participation and a wider range of issues because it is believed that the employees as recipients of information will benefit from joining, participating in and contributing to meetings and other group and team related activities.

Theory Z

The unprecedented economic growth and development of Japan during the last few decades has drawn the attention of management theorists and specialists towards the ways in which Japanese organisations were organised and the ways in which they dealt with their employees and managed their human resources affairs at work. Ouchi, in his work Theory Z suggests that the success of the Japanese in comparison with contemporary American organisations is largely due to the adoption of human resources policies which encourage commitment, participation and as a result lead to innovation, better performance and flexibility to meet the changing needs of the market economy (see table below).

Source: Adapted from William Ouchi, Theory Z, Addison Wesley, Reading, Mass.,