The Shop Floor Schopenhauer: Hope for a Theory-X Supervisor

Abstract

Douglas McGregor's description of theory X has considerable staying power. Supervisors still regard employees as lazy, selfish, and indifferent. A 19th-century philosopher named Arthur Schopenhauer began from similar assumptions about human nature, and yet, despite being called the philosopher of pessimism, he came to realize that such assumptions can lead to a humane ethic of empathy. Maybe theory X gets a bum rap.