The Human Side of Enterprise: 25th Anniversary Edition - Essential Management Book for Business Leaders & Entrepreneurs | Perfect for Corporate Training, MBA Studies & Leadership Development

I've had this classic of management on my shelves for year and have read the famous first chapters about Theory X and Theory Y many time, but I had never taken the time to read through the whole book before. I regret that now. Not only did Douglas McCregor contributed the basic concepts of Theory X/Y but he also already saw 60 years ago the implication in how that could change the workplace. Even today in 2013, only a few companies are truly adopting Theory Y assumptions, but it is a start and hopefully a start towards a more human workplace.The Human Side of Enterprise consists of 3 parts and is in total about 250 pages. I found it a well-written and easy to read book. The first part introduces the concepts of Theory X and Theory Y. Both of these are assumptions of human nature that lie behind certain management practices. The Theory X approach (as exemplified by "scientific management") believes the nature of humans is to be lazy and management needs to do whatever they can to extract effort out of the lazy humans. Theory Y basically assumes that people want to spend effort on work, like on play, and that we need to build environments that truly satisfy basic human needs of self-actualization. Theory Y management practices tend to be very participatory where everyone is involved in deciding how to work.Part two explains how Theory Y assumptions would impact and dramatically change the way organizations work. McGregor covers many parts of organizations from a wonderful analysis of performance reviews to the responsibilities of managers and staff organizations. I especially enjoyed his analyze of performance reviews as it seems to way ahead of its time as even today that subject seems nearly taboo in most organizations.Part three felt a little bit out of scope compared with the rest. It focused purely on development of management functions within organizations. He does still use Theory Y assumptions to dissect talent programs, but this part had less to do with the assumptions of human nature than the previous parts. It did provide an insight in development management and leadership that is, unfortunately, still relevant now.I was surprised by the freshness of all the writings of McGregor. I enjoy reading older books but often have to re-interpret that they describe in a modern day setting. The Human Side of Enterprise is different as it could have been written yesterday (except for the somewhat old-fashioned language). I wish this book was obsolete and that the world has moved more to Theory Y management assumptions, but unfortunately much Theory X practices still rule the workplace, especially in larger corporations. Therefore, I strongly recommend to read The Human Side of Enterprise even today. This book was truly excellent.