Title: Motivation Paper: Theory X and Theory Y
Author: Tsubasa Kya
Disclaimer: I do not own "Naruto".

This will be AU Naruto and is FINISHED. It is a sequence of four one-shots, so will be thus posted as four one-shots.

I wrote this for Psychology of Human Relations to make writing the paper more interesting. My teacher loved it, and I asked if she had a problem with me posting it online. She said no, so therefore you get to read it! Yay!

For those who want to read all four parts in order:
...Part 1: Maslow's Hierarchy
...Part 2: Theory X and Theory Y
...Part 3: Motivation-Hygiene Theory
...Part 4: Expectancy Theory

I am posting each part separately because I believe they can be read separately. I hope you enjoy each separate part, and offer up a review for feed-back.

YES THIS CONTAINS AN OC AS A MAIN CHARACTER! PLEASE DON'T JUDGE IT BY THAT!
STORY IS WRITTEN IN FIRST PERSON NARRATIVE!

Motivation Paper

Theory X and Theory Y

After seven months of owning Gaara's Book & Café, I realized I was spending a lot more time there due to employee related issues. My original workers—Temari, Kankuro, Kiba, Iruka, and Kakashi—I have no problem with. To relieve more of a load off Temari, Kakashi offered to take over supervisor responsibilities for night shift wait staff, and since I know he's a hard worker, I promoted him. Konohamaru had gone to college in my hometown, so I offered him work at the diner I owned there, so he wasn't at Gaara's Book & Café anymore. Some of the new workers have been causing a bit of a problem, so I was asked by my supervisors to come up and see what can be done.

The new workers I was having problems with were Ino and Sakura among the AM shift wait staff, Lee among the new bookstore employees, and Shikamaru who worked evenings with Kiba in the kitchens. After watching the four, I have high hopes I can turn things around using the Theory X and Theory Y of Douglas McGregor.

McGregor came up with two sets of assumptions. As of now, it could be stated that my five supervisors have been using Theory Y assumptions through my suggestion. Most of the workers at Gaara's Book & Café are full-time employees and have been working for me for over six months. They're eligible for the benefits I offer—a health plan, tuition reimbursement, and for those employees who meet the requirements, eligible for a retirement plan.

I generally find having my supervisors use Theory Y assumptions will easily motivate the employees to work. Theory Y assumes that "external control and the threat of punishment are not the only means for bringing about effort toward reaching a company's objectives. Most employees under Theory Y assumptions will exercise self-direction and self-control in the service of objectives to which they attach high valence." This is definitely true.

But McGregor didn't exactly mean to imply that being directive and demanding with workers is always the wrong tactic. Thus we arrive at my possibly extended stay at Gaara's Book & Café. Shikamaru lacks the motivation to do work. He's an excellent kid, very intelligent, but he dislikes work so he moves at a snail's pace, puts in his time, and then goes home.

Ino and Sakura are good friends from what I have seen. They are possibly best friends. Temari has informed me that the two girls are constantly talking during work. Normally I encourage social interaction, but just observing the two girls showed me that their talking interferes with their work. Customers are waiting extended periods of time while the two girls chatter.

Lee works in the bookstore and he is definitely an energetic fellow, but he was hired to operate the cash register and is often seen away from it while customers wait to pay.

Maslow says that "The average employee prefers to be directed, wishes to shirk responsibility, has relatively little ambition, and highly values job security." That is part of the Theory X assumptions, and I believe matches Shikamaru very well. Coercion isn't going to help get Shikamaru to work. He has a high rate of pay and several benefits, plus with a degree in the Culinary Arts, he qualifies for the retirement plan. If those benefits won't coerce him into working, I need to try something else.

I call him to sit down for an employee review and ask him what he why he is so slow at doing his work. He doesn't answer me, but I suspected he wouldn't. I tell him, "I don't want to start doing weekly performance reviews, Shikamaru, but I will if I must. You need to pick up the pace. When an order comes in, that order should go out to the customer steaming hot or still frozen. If you still end up not complying, I'm afraid I'll have to let you go, but if you can do this, you'll still have work with me."

He agreed and went back to the kitchen. The next I talked to was Sakura and Ino. I wanted to talk to them both simultaneously, because together they are the problem, not separate. "I have received customer complaints of you two talking." I tell them. "If it continues, I'll be forced to move one of you to night shift." They agree not to talk anymore. "I don't have a problem with social interaction, but you two need to tone it down a bit. You're talking too much."

Lee was the last person I talked to. "Why aren't you staying at the register?" I ask him. The boy tells me he doesn't have enough to do so he goes to dust the shelves off. "Iruka and the others will take care of the dusting," I tell him. He asks me if there's any work that can be moved to the counter while he waits for customers. I think for a moment, and then ask, "How long between customers?" He tells me five to ten minutes, sometimes longer. I agree that is a long time to stay put with nothing to do. "Alright, you can dust and primp the shelves, but stay within eyesight of the register and don't make customers wait. If you see someone at the register, they take first priority, okay?"

One week after I had a talk with my employees, I check up on them. Iruka notes that Lee doesn't let a customer wait at the register and the shelves by the register are free of all dust and the books are all perfectly ordered. I was able to coerce Lee into positive success through a compromise. Kiba remarks that Shikamaru has begun to show his real culinary skills instead of dawdling, and Temari states that Ino and Sakura enjoy conversation to a lesser extent and have become hard workers.