The McGregor Paradox. The most tragic misunderstanding in the history of work & organizations
A few months ago, a student from Germany asked me how it came that I was "pretty much the only one" passionately and repeatedly claiming that Theory X people do not exist. The student suggested that I was probably mistaken with my interpretation of Douglas McGregor ´s work, and with my interpretation of human nature at work as such. I had to be mistaken, she said, because everybody else's writing on McGregor hinted at what I so passionately denied: Those “Xers” - they exist in organizations. Her professor at the university also said so, she told me.
By Niels Pflaeging