The Man in the Grave Flannel Suit

In the late 50s, a professor at MIT theorized that most companies and workers were operating under what he called theory X. He said labor and performance was spurred on by strict supervision and external rewards and penalties. The Man in the Grave Flannel Suit is thought to be a representative of the 50s malaise; it's about an advertising executive who feels his life has no meaning. And so this MIT professor proposed a new theory, theory Y of management. It basically said if workers feel self-motivated to work by their own creative fulfillment and sense of higher purpose, they will need less supervision. In the advertising industry, the cool, creative, young executives were not threatened by