Theory X and Theory Y

Ultimately- it's deep education that matters

Learn from the Israel PM, my favorite BB sir

I wrote the following piece of write-up back in 2008. I remember, I always used to say it loudly, that in the knowledge industry, the middle managers having limited tech knowledge are just like barriers for organizations to achieve excellence. 

It's very important for one to gather the right view about the big picture of the technology he works on but at the same time, he cannot neglect the nitty-gritty of the work. It's like a building architect should have sound knowledge about the basic masonry job or as a matter of fact, some knowledge about the painting or the interior decoration.

However, a mason may not always have to have the knowledge of an architect, but vice versa is not good for a true professional.

Please enjoy my early days' expression about the tech sector,

 

As I was going through Douglas McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y, I was astonished to map them to my own life. 

Let me start with my childhood days. Those days I was really afraid of Mathematics. I could not do well in the maths exam. Then my Mom came to my rescue and she did a little bit of hand-holding. She encouraged me and asked me not to be afraid of it and told me that practice makes a man perfect. From that day maths became one of my favorite subjects. 

This happened in my professional career as well. After a few years of work, I was almost on the verge of breaking down. I loved software, but somehow I was not getting the urge from my inner self. Then my wife did that magic. She gave me all the encouragement I needed. From that point in time, I came back into the industry again. 

I cited these two examples to tell you how a positive attitude and a little pat on the back work wonders. Probably theory Y was long back described in Indian Philosophy. 

According to the Hindu sage Swami Vivekananda

"

Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, worship, or psychic control, or philosophy – by one or more or all of these and be free.

"

Here I would like to quote Mother Teresa - "There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread". 

Being in the software industry for quite some time, I can understand how it feels when someone new in this world faces the wrath of a foul-mouthed manager for not being able to fix the bugs or not being able to understand the compilation and linking error messages. For a newcomer, these may not be easy, but when someone, instead of empathizing with that poor guy, starts castigating him, it becomes more difficult. 

According to the Gita, one of the holiest books of the Hindu religion, a person has four stages in life. First, he will suffer, then he will be thirsty for knowledge, then he will go in pursuit of truth and then he will attain wisdom. 

I think in the software industry as well, a software engineer's first few years are years of suffering. But this period of suffering can be lessened and the thirst for knowledge can be injected by wise organizations. However, for that to happen we need mentors who themselves had gone through these phases.

I would like to add the concepts of intrinsic motivation vs extrinsic motivation here.

Intrinsic motivation is the act of doing something without any obvious external rewards. You do it because it's enjoyable and interesting, rather than because of an outside incentive or pressure to do it, such as a reward or deadline.

An example of intrinsic motivation for a software engineer would be deciphering a piece of a framework code because you enjoy doing it and have an interest in the matter or subject, rather than doing it because you have to prove a point to others or pass an exam.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within, while extrinsic motivation arises from outside. When you’re intrinsically motivated, you engage in an activity solely because you enjoy it and get personal satisfaction from it.

When you’re extrinsically motivated, you do something in order to gain an external reward. This can mean getting something in return, such as money, or avoiding getting into trouble, such as losing your job.

Now, the responsibility lies on the organizations to create a supercharged environment so that the engineers feel that intrinsic motivation - because the environment signals the gene of a human being to go the extra mile.

So here is the conclusion for the middle managers

"Praise more and criticize less" and get the best out of your juniors...