Mark was excited to start his new job as a sales representative for a leading radio station in his home town. He began his first week of work learning the names of the clients that he would be calling on along with all the “buzz” words used at the radio station. He met enthusiastically with each new client and created a marketing plan that he thought would get them results. Over time, however, he realized that each client had many other marketing options to spend their hard earned dollars on and that it was difficult to prove that radio was getting them results. His enthusiasm began to wane and he found it more difficult each day to pick up the phone or make a face-to-face call to a potential client. He began to find activities to do at his desk like organizing his client files, creating ad copy instead of sending it to the station’s copy writers. Mark had been with the radio station for six months and was now dreading the drive into work. Mondays were especially difficult.

Why is it that once productive, engaged, highly motivated employees begin to coast in their jobs? What was the critical turning point that made them decide to work less enthusiastically? While we may not know the exact moment this happens, we do know that the decline occurs over a period of time and the coaster may not even be aware it is happening. While it is hard to put a price on an employee ‘checking out” mentally, it would be safe to say the costs are staggering.

To begin our discussion on management processes, I would like to introduce or reintroduce Douglas McGregor’s employee motivation theories X and Y.

• Theory X      states that employees need to be looked after because at any chance they      will screw up. According to Theory X, a manager must watch their      employees closely because they do not have good intentions, especially      when left alone.
• Theory Y      states that employees wake up in the morning and head to work with the      mindset of doing a good job while at work. People will seek out higher      responsibility without the threat of punishment.

An effective manager must embrace Theory Y with their employees because Theory X creates systems of distrust and the self-fulfilling prophecy may take hold that says, “if you don’t trust us, we will live up to that”. A manager should not blindly accept that everyone is working to their full potential. As the old adage says, you need to inspect what you expect, not because you distrust, but rather, to offer the right amount of direction and support necessary for the employee to succeed.