Lecture 2 - A positive manager

The first lecture on POM as described by my first blog had already left its mark on everyone. So the verve for the second lecture could be felt inside the class. And the class started with Pygmalion effect. Just a brief history before starting (just a one liner, won't be boring :)) - Pygmalion was a sculptor who expected on of his sculptures to come to life and voila, it did!! Pygmalion effect deals with the power of positive expectations. Simply stated, "Holding positive expectations can actually lead to positive outcomes". We get the outcomes we expect.

I realised how beautifully this concept can be applied to managers. And on this application we get the known concept of "Theory X and Theory Y managers". Broadly classified, Theory X are the negative managers; the ones who have negative expectations from their employees. On the other hand, Theory Y are positive managers; the ones having positive expectations from employees. Just going into details, we can have 4 different scenarios - 2 for Theory X managers and 2 for Theory Y managers. I am putting myself in the place of the manager for each of these 4 cases since I expect to become one after my MBA! So, here are the four cases:

1.      The employees are lazy and I think that they are lazy(Theory X): This is a pretty stagnant situation, with almost no scope for improvement. The employees are not interested in working and I (manager) know that they are at that state. So the situation is not likely to change.

2.      The employees are good but I think that they are lazy (Theory X): This is a very dangerous situation as the employees are likely to get demotivated even though they are willing to work. My behaviour and policies will drive them towards the lazy behaviour which I expect from them. This situation would actually have been encountered by many a people in the corporate world!

3.      The employees are lazy but I think that they are good (Theory Y): Although the employees are lazy and do not like their work, my positivity is likely to turn that negative behaviour into a positive one. If I expect them to be good at work, it ll happen - (Pygmalion effect says so!) . So this is all about being a positive manager having great expectations from your team. Well, just take your moms to be managers and they expect their children to be good at all times!

4.      The employees are good and I think that they are good (Theory Y): This is the best thing that can happen. Employees are themselves motivated and my attitude just augments it further. The perfect situation and I am very lucky that I faced this sort of a situation in my previous company. This is what every manager and every employee desires.

Through all this, what I learnt is how powerful thoughts and expectations are - either positively or negatively. They are the biggest force in life and in any organisation. And after all, it's not too difficult, all we need to do is expect good things around us and work towards fulfilling our expectations! I will definitely implement this to my life, as such or as a manager and hope everyone reading this blog benefits from this fills his/her life with positive expectations. See you in my next blog!