Motivation theories in management (X, Y, Z and Maslow)

Tareq al-Suwaidan presents the development of motivation theories in management — Theory X, then Y, then Z — and proposes his own 'Theory A' ^{1 2}.

He explains that Taylor's philosophy rests on man as a machine fuelled by money — Theory X, which dominated for a time ¹. Then Mayo argued that man has needs more important than money, like appreciation, security and belonging, producing the principle of 'man as a social being' — Theory Y ³.

He recounts that Maslow published the hierarchy of human needs in 1943, ordering man's needs from the physiological to self-actualisation — a development of Theory Y ^{4 5}. In the 1970s American universities (among them San Diego, Michigan, Harvard, Stanford and Wisconsin) put forward Theory Z: human needs exist but differ from person to person, there is no single pyramid for all, and the successful leader leads each person according to his own pyramid ^{6 7}.

Al-Suwaidan proposes a theory he calls 'Theory A': a return to the foundation — to creed rather than to mere ethics, because ethics has a creed and a philosophy behind it; he notes that the West preceded Muslims to books on ethical and religious management such as God is my CEO and Jesus is my boss (needs_source: the titles are as the speaker voiced them) ^{8 2}.