“Oh, I’m just so in love with my new manager!”, said my daughter as I collected her from the bus stop. Worthy of further exploration, I thought … “That sounds good – what exactly do you love about them?”, I replied. “Oh, she’s just so nice. She actually says ‘thank you’ when you’ve done a good job, she helps you when you need it and asks us what we think about things. I just love her!”
My daughter has just returned home from University at the end of her first year, has returned to her part time job as a barista in a famous coffee shop and has found a different manager in place. A good start to the summer!
Later that day, I went on an HR Forum and saw a post from a person wrestling with how to retain staff. Their proposal was, “to include a clause in the job offer and/or terms and conditions which requires the person to have removed their CV from web sites and agencies for a minimum period of say 6 or 12 months”. They thought that by doing this, they would potentially increase their staff retention and reduce turnover. Perhaps it would.
It reminded me of McGregor’s X & Y Theory and the Psychological Contract. Douglas McGregor proposed, in 1960, 2 types of managers. Broadly speaking, the ‘Theory X’ manager assumes that employees are lazy, need to be closely supervised and comprehensive control systems are required. The ‘Theory Y’ manager assumes that employees are ambitious, enjoy work and are more productive if given the freedom to shine. This led to an over-simplistic perception that ‘Theory Y’ managers were the good people and ‘Theory X’ managers were the bad people.
Spookily perhaps, the Psychological Contract was also introduced in 1960, by Chris Argyris. In 1989, Denise Rousseau defined the Psychological Contract as, “the beliefs individuals hold regarding the terms and conditions of the exchange agreement between themselves and their organisations”. In other words, what they believe they owe the organisation and what the organisation owes them.
The Psychological Contract kept a low profile during the 70’s and 80’s, and only really came back to prominence in the 1990s as a result of the economic downturn which led to mergers, restructures and down-sizing. What followed were changes in how staff viewed and felt towards their employers. And according to Inge Van den Brande, the Psychological Contract helped explain those changes, and therefore its profile was raised.
As we find ourselves in the next economic downturn on from the one in the 1990s, it is worth reflecting on both these models. From a personal perspective, are you a Theory X or Theory Y manager (or member of staff)? Will your organisation need you to adapt your preferred Theory as the financial crisis bites, and if so, how will you handle this? And will you need to amend your Psychological Contract with your organisation or your staff?
I think the answers to these questions will be key to the level of enjoyment people can anticipate from their work roles. Furthermore, some managers will need to develop specific new skills and behaviours – which they should be addressing now – in order to be effective within their environments.
Go down to your local coffee shop and think about it over a coffee or a frappucchino – and you might even witness a very happy ‘Theory Y’ member of staff.
Paul