Editing Douglas McGregor

{{short description|American management professor (1906–1964)}}
{{About|the professor from MIT|others named|Douglas Macgregor (disambiguation)}}
'''Douglas Murray McGregor''' (September 6, 1906 – October 1, 1964) was an American [[management]] professor at the [[MIT Sloan School of Management]] and president of [[Antioch College]] from 1948 to 1954.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://antiochiana.antioch.edu/PresidentsList.htm| title=Presidents of Antioch| access-date=4 September 2011| publisher=Antioch University| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001132949/http://antiochiana.antioch.edu/PresidentsList.htm| archive-date=1 October 2011}}</ref> He also taught at the [[Indian Institute of Management Calcutta]]. His 1960 book ''The Human Side of Enterprise'' had a profound influence on education practices.

McGregor was a student of [[Abraham Maslow]]. He has contributed much to the development of the management and motivational theory, and is best known for his [[Theory X and Theory Y]] as presented in his book 'The Human Side of Enterprise' (1960), which proposed that manager's individual assumptions about human nature and behavior determined how individual manages their employees.<ref name="Ibrahim, 2012">Jeong Chun Hai @Ibrahim, & Nor Fadzlina Nawi. (2012). Principles of Public Administration: Malaysian Perspectives. Kuala Lumpur: Pearson Publishers. {{ISBN|978-967-349-233-6}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
McGregor was born in [[Detroit|Detroit, Michigan]] on September 6, 1906, to Murray James and Jessie Adelia McGregor. When he was young he volunteered in homeless shelters, played piano, and sang.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Wren|first=Daniel|title=Management Innovators: The People and Ideas That Have Shaped Modern Business|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1998}}</ref> When McGregor was in high school, he worked for his family business, the McGregor Institute.<ref name=":0"/> The McGregor Institute, first known as the Mission for Homeless Men, served the Detroit homeless population with spiritual and career services.<ref name="Andy Sowards">{{Cite web|url=https://mcgregorfund.org/who-we-are/founders/|title=Our Founders|last=Andy Sowards|website=McGregor Fund|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-14}}</ref> McGregor's uncle, his father Murray's brother, is Detroit philanthropist [[Tracy W. McGregor]].<ref name="Andy Sowards"/>

He earned a [[Bachelor of Engineering|B.E. (Mechanical)]] from [[Yangon Technological University|Rangoon Institute of Technology]], a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] from [[Wayne State University]] in 1932, then earned an [[Master of Arts|MA]] and [[PhD]] in psychology from [[Harvard University]] in 1933 and 1935 respectively. McGregor originally dropped out of Wayne State to work as a gas station attendant in Buffalo, New York, and was a regional manager by 1930, though he later returned to school. When the McGregor Institute was given a grant by the Detroit Department of Public Works, McGregor returned to Wayne State to finish his degree in 1932.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Douglas M. McGregor |url=https://mitsloan.mit.edu/institute-work-and-employment-research/douglas-m-mcgregor |access-date=22 September 2022 |website=MIT Institute for Work & Employment Research (MIT IWER) at the MIT Sloan School of Management}}</ref>

==Career==
After teaching at [[Harvard University]] and then [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]], where he was one of the first professors in the [[MIT Sloan School of Management|Sloan School of Management]], he served as president of Antioch College Ohio, now known as [[Antioch University Midwest]], from 1948 to 1954. In 1954, McGregor returned to teaching at MIT, where he taught until his death in 1964.<ref name="Douglas McGregor">{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/2008/10/03/douglas-mcgregor|title=Douglas McGregor|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=2020-04-14|issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

He later served as a member of the Antioch College Ohio Board of Trustees.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://antiochiana.antioch.edu/McGregor%20cv.htm |title=Douglas McGregor |publisher=Antioch University |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071023063315/http://antiochiana.antioch.edu/McGregor%20CV.htm |archive-date=23 October 2007 }}</ref>

==''The Human Side of Enterprise''==

In the book ''The Human Side of Enterprise'', McGregor identified an approach of creating an environment within which employees are motivated via authoritative direction and control or integration and self-control, which he called [[theory X and theory Y]],<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/specials/mit150/mitlist/?page=full|title=The MIT 150: 150 Ideas, Inventions, and Innovators that Helped Shape Our World|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]|date=15 May 2011|access-date=8 August 2011}}</ref> respectively. Having an attitude that workers generally lack motivation, enjoyment, and responsibility in their work is a manager that subscribes to Theory X. Having an attitude that workers are content, motivated, and long for responsibility is manager that subscribes to Theory Y.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carson |first=Charles M. |date=March 2005 |title=A historical view of Douglas McGregor's Theory Y |url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/00251740510589814/full/html |journal=Management Decision |language=en |volume=43 |issue=3 |pages=450–460 |doi=10.1108/00251740510589814 |issn=0025-1747}}</ref> He is responsible for breaking down previous management styles with The X and Y Theory which created a new role for managers to assume.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Kopelman|first1=Richard E.|last2=Prottas|first2=David J.|last3=Davis|first3=Anne L.|date=2008|title=Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Y: Toward a Construct-valid Measure|journal=Journal of Managerial Issues|volume=20|issue=2|pages=255–271|jstor=40604607|issn=1045-3695}}</ref> Theory Y is the practical application of Dr. [[Abraham Maslow]]'s Humanistic School of Psychology, or Third Force psychology, applied to scientific management.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/2008/10/06/theories-x-and-y|title=Theories X and Y|date=2008-10-06|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=2019-12-18|issn=0013-0613}}</ref> He is commonly thought of as being a ''proponent'' of Theory Y, but, as [[Edgar Schein]] tells in his introduction to McGregor's subsequent, posthumous (1967), book ''The Professional Manager:'' "In my own contacts with Doug, I often found him to be discouraged by the degree to which theory Y had become as monolithic a set of principles as those of Theory X, the over-generalization which Doug was fighting....Yet few readers were willing to acknowledge that the content of Doug's book made such a neutral point or that Doug's own presentation of his point of view was that coldly scientific".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ldcOQAAACAAJ|title=The Professional Manager|last1=McGregor|first1=Douglas|last2=Bennis|first2=Warren G.|last3=McGregor|first3=Caroline|date=1970|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=978-0-07-094191-5|language=en}}</ref>

[[Graham Cleverley]] in ''Managers & Magic'' (Longman's, 1971) comments: "...he coined the two terms [[Theory X and theory Y]] and used them to label two sets of beliefs a manager might hold about the origins of human behaviour. He pointed out that the manager's own behaviour would be largely determined by the particular beliefs that he subscribed to....McGregor hoped that his book would lead managers to investigate the two sets of beliefs, invent others, test out the assumptions underlying them, and develop managerial strategies that made sense in terms of those tested views of reality.
"But that isn't what happened. Instead McGregor was interpreted as advocating Theory Y as a new and superior ethic – a set of moral values that ''ought'' to replace the values managers usually accept."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9i_WydvqCawC&q=managers+and+magic|title=Managers and magic|last=Cleverley|first=Graham|date=1971|publisher=Longman|isbn=978-0-582-10376-4|language=en}}</ref>

''The Human Side of Enterprise'' was voted the fourth most influential management book of the 20th century in a poll of the Fellows of the [[Academy of Management]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Bedeian |first1= Arthur G. |last2= Wren |first2= Daniel A. |author-link1= Arthur G. Bedeian |author-link2= Daniel A. Wren |date= Winter 2001 |title= Most Influential Management Books of the 20th Century |journal= Organizational Dynamics |volume= 29 |issue= 3 |pages= 221–225 |doi= 10.1016/S0090-2616(01)00022-5 |url= http://www.bus.lsu.edu/bedeian/articles/MostInfluentialBooks-OD2001.pdf |access-date= 2012-05-05 |archive-date= 2015-10-17 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20151017015937/http://www.bus.lsu.edu/bedeian/articles/MostInfluentialBooks-OD2001.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>

== Research interests ==
McGregor's research focused on managerial leadership<ref name=":0" /> and the ways in which employees are affected by the management styles of their superiors. His 1960 book ''The'' ''Human Side of Enterprise'' focused on theory X and theory Y approaches to leadership. His 1967 book ''The Professional Manager''<ref>{{Cite book|last=McGregor, Douglas.|title=The professional manager|date=1967|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=0-07-045093-5|oclc=228954}}</ref> built upon the ideas presented in his first book, along with providing behavioral, social, and psychological aspects implications of the previous ideas.

== Personal life ==
He got married at age 19.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Biography of Douglas McGregor |url=https://www.managers-net.com/Biography/mcgregor.html}}</ref> McGregor was very close to Abraham Maslow. In class, he had a very relaxed teaching style which led his students to enjoy his classes. He would often put his feet up on the desk and lecture at the same time.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Douglas McGregor |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |url=https://www.economist.com/news/2008/10/03/douglas-mcgregor}}</ref> In 1964, McGregor died at the age of 58 in Massachusetts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Douglas M. McGregor |url=https://iwer.mit.edu/about/iwer-pioneers/douglas-m-mcgregor/}}</ref>

==Legacy==
Since the mid-1950s, [[Procter & Gamble]] used Theory X and Theory Y to set up plants in [[Augusta, Georgia]], even hiring McGregor to help.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carrillo |first=Rosa Antonia |title=The Relationship Factor in Safety Leadership |date=2019-07-11 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-429-05769-4 |pages=1–16 |chapter=Making the case for Relationship Centered Safety Leadership |doi=10.4324/9780429057694-1 |s2cid=199274511}}</ref> [[Warren Bennis]], leadership expert, researcher, author, and educator, said of McGregor, "Just as every economist, knowingly or not, pays his dues to Keynes, we are all, one way or another, disciples of McGregor."<ref name="Douglas McGregor2">{{Cite news |title=Douglas McGregor |newspaper=The Economist |url=https://www.economist.com/news/2008/10/03/douglas-mcgregor |access-date=2020-04-14 |issn=0013-0613}}</ref>

In 1964, the School of Adult and Experiential Learning at Antioch College was renamed the "McGregor School" in his honor. It was later renamed "Antioch University McGregor" and then "[[Antioch University Midwest]]."<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-08-03 |title=Antioch University McGregor Now Antioch University Midwest |url=https://www.antioch.edu/new-england/2010/08/03/antioch-university-mcgregor-now-antioch-university-midwest/ |access-date=2019-12-18 |website=Antioch New England |language=en-US}}</ref> The Douglas McGregor Memorial Award was founded in 1966 in McGregor's honor to recognize a leading paper published in ''[[The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science]].''<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science:The McGregor Award Best Papers: The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/page/jab/collections/mcgregor-awards |access-date=2020-04-14 |website=SAGE Journals |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Maintenance actions]]

==Notes and references==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
{{wikiquote}}
* [https://archive.today/20121209022044/http://www.accel-team.com/human_relations/hrels_03_mcgregor.html Douglas McGregor - Theory X and Theory Y] {{in lang|en}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110808091958/http://www.envisionsoftware.com/articles/Theory_X.html Douglas McGregor - Comparison of Theory X versus Theory Y] {{in lang|en}}
* [http://www.businessballs.com/mcgregor.htm Douglas McGregor - Theory X and Theory Y inc. diagrams] {{in lang|en}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:McGregor, Douglas}}
[[Category:American business theorists]]
[[Category:Motivation theorists]]
[[Category:1906 births]]
[[Category:1964 deaths]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta]]
[[Category:Harvard University alumni]]
[[Category:Wayne State University alumni]]
[[Category:MIT Sloan School of Management faculty]]
[[Category:Public administration scholars]]
[[Category:20th-century American economists]]
[[Category:Antioch College]]
[[Category:Management scientists]]
[[Category:Presidents of Antioch College]]
[[Category:20th-century American academics]]
[[Category:People from Detroit]]