Much was made of Dry and Wet treatment of workers after World War II. Only then it was called Theory X and Theory Y respectively. The Dry and Wet terms, recently coined by a Japanese author, seem to describe the treatments more vividly.
Theory Y was a revolution against the old army style of managing people, Theory X. During the Great Depression a Dry style was tolerated because the worker was deemed fortunate to have a job.
Theory Y, a more compassionate and caring way of dealing with human beings captured the imagination of management theorists for decades.
One professor in California extended the new theory to embrace whole organizational development calling it, "Theory Z"
A minority of managers are now swinging the pendulum (or hydrometer) back to Dry. They are saying that you can be fair, honest and sharing with your workers while setting clear objectives and expectations for behavior that matches the objectives and goals of the organization. Some even prefer to ask for positive contributions in addition to just matching.
I was Chairman of the Board for a private college working with a Principal who had the appearance of a kindly old gentleman that could have passed as a saint.
He lunched out of a brown paper bag in his office while reading from The Upper Room booklets or some other religious material. Often, a board meeting would replace his noon hour meditation.
One day the board was addressing a disruption being caused by three employees. I was fresh out of MBA-school and filled with a whole bag of Wet theories that I was certain would please this kind Christian gentleman.
He rejected all of them. He said he would call each to his office and ask each one to stop the disruptive behavior. We soon agreed with his method. After the first request one miscreant complied and separated herself from the other two. After the second request the second person complied. The third person seemed incorrigible following the third request and was promptly fired. Harmony was restored to the staff room. The solution was as simple as the simple saint who applied the Dry method in a kindly manner.
Unfortunately, it took me many years to remove the Wet theories entrenched in my mind as a student and a teacher of human behavior classes. Good luck to you!
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