Mcgregor's X-Y Theory when it comes to low-level employees
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X (a.k.a. "put it in the paycheck") is well-understood and fairly cheap to manage. Long-term costs are questionable with x BUT managers can also become fairly adept at factoring in turnover in their hiring/firing plan. It's particularly cheap/effective if the job skills aren't hard to come by in the marketplace OR the job market is tight.
Y implementation requires the manager to be more involved and, IMHO, more gifted -more socially aware- ...this is a fairly rare skill relative to managing by the numbers. And once you do have a company policy complete with a HR manager who is capable of y-mode, then manager burnout is a problem. Y requires so much 'immersion' in the lives of the staff.
Another trouble is that no organization, even small ones, are homogeneous in need. Your mailroom crackhead may require heavy doses of negative stimulus. Your accounts receivable manager needs y. You can't swing from one mode to the other very easily and you very well might be charged with some sort of discrimination if you do.
Even the same individual changes. So you have a gifted 20-something, single guy in your art department who will walk in a heartbeat if you put the hammer on him. Saddle him with 2 kids, health care problems, and a mortgage and theory x works amazingly well with him now.
Reminds me of being an early 20s, very young service manager at a construction equipment dealership.
Being young (youngest SM nationwide, I learned when visiting the factory), I had to be careful not to bark orders and worked my way into the position. This one guy though, no matter how nicely or appropriately I asked, he just wouldn't respond well. I couldn't figure him out despite trying different approaches. Then one day I just lost it at him and he did as told, quickly, and did good work. Seemed to enjoy it, and didn't mind my stance. So, I learned that day to tell Tom to get off his ass and fucking do X Y Z right effing now. We got along great from then on. He was ex military.
Learned a lot on that job.
Amazon workers sue, claiming denied overtime pay, rest breaks
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/business/article187336243.html
Quotea union-busting billionaire's launch of his quarter-million-dollar sportscar into space on his own private rockets while everyone ignores reports of his factory workers suffering egregious injuries
https://techcrunch.com/2018/02/11/space-coast-from-ghost-to-ghost/
Spain's Amazon workers call two-day strike over wages, rights
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/spain-s-amazon-workers-call-two-day-strike-over-wages--rights-10040198
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This is about as Theory X as it gets.
How Amazon automatically tracks and fires warehouse workers for 'productivity' - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/25/18516004/amazon-warehouse-fulfillment-centers-productivity-firing-terminations
>theory x
Let the flogging begin until morale improves!
Elon Musk's arrival stirs fears among some Twitter employees | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musks-arrival-stirs-fears-among-some-twitter-employees-2022-04-07/
Musk to Tesla and SpaceX workers: Be in the office 40 hours a week or quit (arstechnica.com)
"His plan to save the company's business has more sticks than carrots, and the carrots are barely carrots."
Elon Musk's plan to save Twitter is already a wreck, but not in the way anyone thought.
https://slate.com/technology/2022/11/elon-musk-twitter-business-content-moderation-verification-blue-checkmarks.html