How A 60-Year-Old Management Theory Can Help Rejuvenate Offices

In 1960, social scientist and MIT professor Douglas McGregor introduced the concept of Theory X and Theory Y management. Today, this concept can help organizations transform their physical workplaces and improve the use of underutilized offices.

In McGregor’s model, organizations that subscribe to a Theory X view of management believe that the primary role of a manager is to ensure that employees are working. The underlying belief is that employees can be irresponsible and would prefer to do something other than their work – socializing, slacking off, attending to personal matters, etc. Thus, the focus of the Theory X manager is to supervise work and ensure that employees remain productive.

In contrast, Theory Y managers work from an opposite set of assumptions. They believe that employees want to be productive, that they want to achieve, and that the role of the manager is to empower workers to achieve their goals rather than supervise their work activities. There’s perhaps no leadership book that captures the essence of Theory Y management better than Max De Pree’s Leadership Is An Art, in which he writes, “The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Serving? Do they achieve the required results?”

Perspectives from leaders like McGregor and De Pree have helped to establish the belief among most managers today that Theory Y is the better approach. However, the relationship between employees and managers have been tested in new ways over the past several years as organizations have sought to increase office attendance through the use of return-to-office mandates.

While some RTO communications have been well-received, others have conveyed a tone of distrust, using phrases like “return to work,” or including references to diminished productivity while working outside of the office. There are several instances of these mandates igniting tensions between managers and employees that have had the opposite of their intended effect, causing employees to view the office as a tool of control rather than a place of connection. Contributing to this challenge is the reality that most office designs reflect a Theory X mindset.

The office as we know it developed in the late 1800s and featured large private offices to emphasize the status and importance of leaders, and rows of desks in the open office to help managers closely supervise their employees. Workers spent the majority of their time at desks, weren’t empowered to modify their work processes or work spaces, and rarely were able to express their individual or team identities in a personalized manner. The design of these spaces sent a clear message that the intent was to supervise, not empower, employees. The space was designed to served leaders, not them.

Today, most offices still bear a resemblance to those early designs, with a majority of space being dominated by individual desks to do individual work. The pre-pandemic emphasis on “densification” of these spaces led to large floor plans of open, often unassigned, desks that convey order, tidiness, and a lack of ownership. Despite most organizations structuring their work processes around functional or project teams, most offices are organized to emphasize the work of individuals, not groups. These spaces have become visual contradictions of RTO communications that stress the need for connection, collaboration, and improved ways of working.

Fortunately, there are better approaches. A Theory Y approach to office design is one that empowers employees to have greater control over how the space is used, offers a greater range of space types to support valued experiences, and that promotes employee wellbeing. In many cases, this involves a concept known as “neighborhood-based planning” that designs for the needs of teams rather than individuals. A team neighborhood might couple shared desks with other types of spaces such as project tables, whiteboards, phone booths, and lounge chairs that are owned by the team and create a lived-in project zone.

This type of team “clubhouse” also ensures that regardless of who might be in the office on a given day, there’s a spot within the facility where employees can locate their closest colleagues. This approach also facilitates more fluid and longer-duration interactions with colleagues than the typical video call can support. Most importantly, a Theory Y approach to workplace planning conveys that the space is a tool to help employees to work more effectively.

In a world where people can increasingly work from anywhere, the office should support experiences not easily had while working alone from separate locations. Many CEOs today are rightfully concerned about the impact of decreased interpersonal connection to their organization’s culture. Working together on a regular basis from a well-designed office can be enormously beneficial, but these spaces need to be reflective of aspirational, not outdated, ways of managing work.