Theory X and Green Business Practices

Cisco's consulting wing recently completed a survey of nearly 2000 employees regarding the company's flexible work program.  The results are in and here's what they say:

• The company has saved $277 million in costs by allowing employees to telework.

• The survey found that 40 percent of employees are not located in the same city as their direct manager, while 83 percent of teleworkers said that their ability to collaborate and communicate with colleagues and supervisors was as good if not better than if they were working in a central office.

• 69 percent said their productivity was higher, and 75 percent said their work was more timely when working remotely; overall, 67 percent said telecommuting improved the quality of their work.

• Teleworking decreased Cisco's company-wide emissions by more than 47,000 tons
  through avoided travel, and employees saved an accumulated $10 million per year in fuel costs.

In response to this survey I would like to make the following observation:  Duh! 

Allowing employees to telecommute is not only good for the environment it is obviously good for employee morale and job satisfaction.  So why do most companies continue to resist this rather drastic but effective change to their human resources strategy?  Trust. 

Those of you who are old enough to remember Theory X and Theory Y in your business class understand what I am talking about. 

Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human motivation developed in the 1960's by Douglas McGregor at the MIT Sloan School of Management that have been used in human resource management, organizational behavior, and other areas of business to describe two very different attitudes toward motivating employees. McGregor believed that companies followed either one or the other approach.

Theory X states that management assumes employees are inherently lazy and will avoid work if they
can. They inherently dislike work and as a result they need to be closely supervised and controlled.  Companies that subscribe to this theory have a rigid hierarchical structure.

Theory Y on the other hand assumes employees may be ambitious and self-motivated and exercise self-control. Managers believe that employees enjoy their mental and physical work duties and to them work is as natural as play. They possess the ability for creative problem solving, but their talents are underused in most organizations. Theory Y managers believe that employees will learn to seek out and accept responsibility and to exercise self-
control and self-direction in accomplishing objectives to which they are committed.

Although we often hear about innovative ways that companies today are trying to connect with and motivate their employees I believe too many managers are still following Theory X. Whereas in the past layoffs were the last option for cutting expenses in a downturn, today it is up near the top.  Until companies get back to valuing employees as an investment rather than an expense and most importantly until managers begin to trust their employees telecommuting and the benefits it provides will continue to be the exception rather than the rule.