Introduction
During my last two teenage years, I worked as a bookseller in a bookstore. There, my manager was a woman about 30 years old. She was a down-to-earth person who skillfully balanced her bright personality and professional attitude during working hours. I am fortunate that one of my first leaders was a person with a combination of characteristics such as a positive attitude towards employees, effective management, and a professional vision. She is still an example of a highly skilled manager to me. This paper is a retrospective of my experience working as a bookseller with one of the kindest and most efficient managers I have ever met.
Theory Y and Emotional Climate in the Workplace
Having learned the basics and some of the nuances of management, now I see that my manager adhered to McGregor’s Y theory in bookstore management. She often asked about our work goals and insisted that we openly share work-related issues. Now I understand that these were procedures within the motivational process, but I still believe she genuinely asked those questions. She also had a good understanding of employee relationships and almost always managed to prevent workplace conflicts early and successfully relieve tensions between employees. I believe that she was able to create and maintain a good emotional climate in the workplace because of her excellent understanding of management theory, well-developed practical managerial skills, and a bit of improvisation.
Theory Y, Bookstore Performance, and Team Vision
It is also noteworthy that our team has performed well under her leadership. During my time there as a bookseller, the growth in sales and salaries was small but steady. Moreover, more experienced workers told me that the bookstore never had financial problems while she was in charge. From an analytical perspective, it can be said that their good performance was due to her managerial skills and personal efforts, which have developed professional determination and a burning desire for career growth in staff and me. She relied on the employees’ positive views towards the working process in developing and maintaining the bookstore’s productivity.
Productive Management and the Harm of Theory X
As I recall, my bookstore manager never took an authoritarian approach to management. I suppose her avoidance of Theory X in managing the bookstore was because this leadership model did not fit her personality. As noted above, she disliked workplace conflicts and brought the most peaceful solution with benefits for both parties. However, it is possible that she was an opponent of Theory X and believed that this approach to leadership was dysfunctional for both employees and employers. Reviewing my experience, I now see that she was the person who showed me the benefits of applying Theory Y and the damage that Theory X could do.
Conclusion
This essay serves as a retrospective of my personal bookstore experience through the lens of management theories. Here I describe my memories and impressions of being under the leadership of an effective manager that follows McGregor’s Theory Y. As one can see, my bookstore manager has contributed inadvertently yet significantly to the development of my perceptions of this profession. She showed me that a participative approach, positive attitude, and the knowledge of conflict resolution that Theory Y implies together with practical skills could create a comfortable working setting and maintain high productivity.