Mike Cardus

MAY 3, 2020

Business metaphors often return to McGregor’s theory x and theory y of manager’s perceptions of workers. When the organization feels under or over its capacity (weak IT systems, management problems, short-staffed, fallen behind in the market, disruption), I say it is like a weight lifter on steroids.

Constraint 135

Constraint McGregor Maturity Compliance 135

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 13, 2012

I believe that Steve Jobs was among the best CEOs of this generation because he created entirely new categories six times in a decade, and built the largest company market cap ever. Yet two recent and excellent books ( Inside Apple , by Adam Lashinsky and Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson) describe a management style that was disturbingly harsh.

McGregor 17

McGregor Leadership Micromanagement Performance Review 17

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 14, 2014

GM’s bankruptcy and bailout four years ago earned it the nickname “Government Motors,” a reference to both the $80 billion lent by the US government (repaid in full in December, 2013) and to the bureaucratic, top-down management GM executives had used to try to reverse the company’s tailspin. They play well as a team.

Team 10

Team McGregor Parcell Engineering 10

Harvard Business Review

MAY 5, 2015

The humanist strand of management thinking that celebrates teams and collaboration through respect for customers and workers as human beings has a long and distinguished history. Achieving humanistic management has thus turned out to be a much more intractable problem than most thought leaders expected it to be.

Management 8

Management Bureaucracy Drucker Waterman 8