He conducted pioneering study in the field of industrial relations. Douglas McGregor remains one of the most influential thinkers in the sphere of human relations. His concepts of Theory X and Theory Y introduced a new philosophy to motivational thinking with. Theory X assumed that workers were inherently lazy and needed to be supervised and motivated. This was the conventional managerial thinking at the time.

"Theory Y was based on the principle that people want and need to work, want to be given responsibility, and should be encouraged to take it and commit themselves actively to the objectives of the organisations they work for. It underlay the thinking of the human relations school of management that developed and flourished in the latter part of the 20th century."^*

^*Website of Thomas Telford Virtual Learning Centre - URL - http://learningmatters.com/ThomasTelfordTraining/idx/8212/

[Source" Document released to the public at the time that Douglas McGregor was appointed president of Antioch College. - Website of www.business.com]

"Douglas McGregor was born in 1906 in Detroit, where his grandfather Thomas McGregor in about 1895 founded McGregor Institute to aid Great Lakes sailors and other transient labor. The Institute, housing and feeding 1000 men each year, was continued by the son, Murray McGregor. It had a strong religious emphasis. Here Douglas McGregor grew up. During high school and much of college, he worked as night clerk and played the piano and organ at the chapel services. In this way he became acquainted with working men and their problems.

"Douglas McGregor attended Oberlin College and Wayne Universities, graduating from the latter in 1932. He received a Ph.D. degree from Harvard in 1935 in Experimental Psychology, carrying an A grade in every course.

"On his way through college he was married and discontinued college work for five years to save enough money to start a family. Starting as a gasoline station attendant in Buffalo he became district manager of stations in the Detroit area.

"On his graduation from Harvard he taught there for two years and then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he has been since 1937. He was the first full time teacher of psychology in that institution. His position on resigning to come to Antioch was Professor of Psychology and Executive Director of the Industrial Relations Section of M.I.T.

"At M.I.T. about two thirds of his time was spent at teaching and as Director of the Industrial Relations Section, and about one third as consultant in industry. From 1943 - 1945 he was on leave from M.I.T. and was Director of Industrial Relations for the Dewey Almy Company of Cambridge, manufacturer of rubber goods. He has been consultant in human relations for that company since 1940.

"The general manger of Dewey Almy Company stated that McGregor liked to explore and experiment in industrial relations with the Dewey Almy Company. Sometimes the boldness of his experiments were disconcerting, but because he always turned out to be right the company came to give him an entirely free hand in determining its industrial relations policy. Not only does the company have full confidence in him, but "the workmen worship him."

"Since 1939 Douglas McGregor has served as consultant for a dozen industries and labor undone in the East end Middle West This work has covered wage and salary administration, contract negotiation, foremen training, grievance handling, executive development programs, union and management cooperation programs, and problems of organizational structure and function. He is a member of the panel of arbitrators of the American Arbitration Association and tree arbitrated labor disputes for many companies and unions. He has been a frequent speaker before many management and labor groups in the United States and Canada and has led conferences on human relations for small groups of top executives in a number of nationally known companies."

In 1960 Douglas McGregor published his famous work "The Human Side of Enterprise". In this book he examines theories on behavior of individuals at work, and he has formulated two models which he calls Theory X and Theory Y. While theory X represented the conventional approach to the worker, Theory Y represented his innovative contribution.

Comments on Theory X and Theory Y Assumptions
[Source: Website of Accel Team.Com- URL - http://www.accel-team.com/human_relations/hrels_03_mcgregor.html]

"These assumptions are based on social science research which has been carried out, and demonstrate the potential which is present in man and which organizations should recognize in order to become more effective.

"McGregor sees these two theories as two quite separate attitudes. Theory Y is difficult to put into practice on the shop floor in large mass production operations, but it can be used initially in the managing of managers and professionals.

"The Human Side of Enterprise" McGregor shows how Theory Y affects the management of promotions and salaries and the development of effective managers. McGregor also sees Theory Y as conducive to participative problem solving

"It is part of the manager's job to exercise authority, and there are cases in which this is the only method of achieving the desired results because subordinates do not agree that the ends are desirable.

"However, in situations where it is possible to obtain commitment to objectives, it is better to explain the matter fully so that employees grasp the purpose of an action. They will then exert self-direction and control to do better work - quite possibly by better methods - than if they had simply been carrying out an order which the y did not fully understand

"The situation in which employees can be consulted is one where the individuals are emotionally mature, and positively motivated towards their work; where the work is sufficiently responsible to allow for flexibility and where the employee can see his own position in the management hierarchy. If these conditions are present, managers will find that the participative approach to problem solving leads to much improved results compared with the alternative approach of handing out authoritarian orders.

"Once management becomes persuaded that it is under estimating the potential of its human resources, and accepts the knowledge given by social science researchers and displayed in Theory Y assumptions, then it can invest time, money and effort in developing improved applications of the theory.

"McGregor realizes that some of the theories he has put forward are unrealizable in practice, but wants managers to put into operation the basic assumption that:

• "Staff will contribute more to the organization if they are treated as responsible and valued employees."