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Benchmarking

Douglas McGregor (1960–1964), Maslow’s student, Benton, Douglas A. (1998). Applied Human Relations. Upper
studied worker attitudes. According to McGregor (1960), Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
traditional organizations are based on either of two sets of Greenberg, Jerald (1999). Managing Behavior in Organizations:
assumptions about human nature and human motivation, Science in Service to Practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pren-
which he called Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X tice-Hall.
assumes that most people prefer to be directed; are not Hersey, Paul, Blanchard, Kenneth H., and Johnson, Dewey E.
interested in assuming responsibility; and are motivated (1996). Management of Organizational Behavior. Upper Sad-
by money, fringe benefits, and the threat of punishment. dle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Theory Y assumes that people are not, by nature, lazy and Herzberg, Frederick, Mausner, Bernard, and Snyderman, Barbara
unreliable; it suggests that people can be basically self- Bloch. (1993). The Motivation to Work. New Brunswick, NJ:
directed and creative at work if properly motivated. Transaction Publishers.
Management is often suspicious of strong informal Homans, George C. (1992). The Human Group. New
work groups because of their potential power to control Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
the behavior of their members, and as a result, the level of Maslow, Abraham H. (1987). Motivation and Personality (3rd
productivity. In 1950 George C. Homans (1910–1989) ed.). New York: Harper & Row.
developed a model of social systems that may be useful in McGregor, Douglas (2006). The Human Side of Enterprise (anno-
identifying where these groups get their power to control tated ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
behavior. Rue, Leslie W., and Byars, Lloyd L. (1990). Supervision: Key
In 1959 another psychologist, Frederick Herzberg Link to Productivity. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
(1923–2000), examined sources of worker satisfaction Whetten, David A., & Cameron, Kim S. (2005). Developing
and dissatisfaction. Herzberg cited achievement, responsi- Management Skills (6th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pear-
bility, advancement, and growth as job satisfiers—factors son/Prentice Hall.
that motivate workers. He also proposed that other Wray, Ralph D., Luft, Roger L., and Highland, Patrick J.
aspects of the job environment called job maintenance (1996). Fundamentals of Human Relations. Cincinnati, OH:
factors—company policy, supervision, working condi- South-Western Educational Publishing.
tions, interpersonal relations, salary and benefits—con- Yukl, Gary (1994). Leadership in Organizations. Upper Saddle
tribute to the desired level of worker satisfaction, although River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice-Hall.
these factors rarely motivate workers.
Also in the 1960s, another behavioral science
Marcia Anderson
researcher, Chris Argyris (1923– ), presented his immatu-
rity-maturity theory (1964). He said that keeping workers
immature is built into the very nature of formal organiza-
tions. These concepts of formal organizations lead to BENCHMARKING
assumptions about human nature that are incompatible
with the proper development of maturity in the human SEE Standard-Based Work Performance
personality. He saw a definite incongruity between the
needs of a mature personality and the structure of formal
organizations.
BENEFITS
More and more leaders in both for-profit and non-
profit organizations recognize the importance of the goals SEE Employee Benefits
of the behavioral science (human relations) movement.
Those goals consist of fitting people into work situations
in such a manner as to motivate them to work together
harmoniously and to achieve a high level of productivity, BONDS
while also providing economic, psychological, and social Bonds are debts to the issuers, whereas they are invest-
satisfaction. ments to buyers. Such debts appear on balance sheets of
SEE ALSO Management; Motivation the issuing entities as long-term liabilities. Bonds provide
a source of funds for the issuer and a payment to the buyer
in the form of interest. Both bonds and stocks are referred
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Argyris, Chris (1990). Integrating the Individual and the Organi- to as securities, yet the two are different types of invest-
zation. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers. ments.

54 ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BUSINESS AND FINANCE, SECOND EDITION