Douglas McGregor

Douglas McGregor (1906 - 1964) examined people's motivation based on Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs. He grouped Maslow's Physiological and Safety needs as "lower order" needs. The rest were grouped as "higher order" needs. He assumed that people are motivated by either sets of needs. He labeled these two assumptions as Theory X and Theory Y. He believed that management must use either set of needs to motivate employees. When he published his paper he said that the American workforce had the lower needs met. Management had to use Theory Y needs to motivate employees.