His 1960 book The Human Side of Enterprise had a profound influence on education practices.
[5] McGregor's uncle, his father Murray's brother, is Detroit philanthropist Tracy W.
McGregor originally dropped out of Wayne State to work as a gas station attendant in Buffalo, New York, and was a regional manager by 1930, though he later returned to school.
[7] In the book The Human Side of Enterprise, McGregor identified an approach of creating an environment within which employees are motivated via authoritative direction and control or integration and self-control, which he called theory X and theory Y,[8] respectively.
Having an attitude that workers generally lack motivation, enjoyment, and responsibility in their work is a manager that subscribes to Theory X.
Having an attitude that workers are content, motivated, and long for responsibility is manager that subscribes to Theory Y.
He pointed out that the manager's own behaviour would be largely determined by the particular beliefs that he subscribed to....McGregor hoped that his book would lead managers to investigate the two sets of beliefs, invent others, test out the assumptions underlying them, and develop managerial strategies that made sense in terms of those tested views of reality.
[14] McGregor's research focused on managerial leadership[4] and the ways in which employees are affected by the management styles of their superiors.