Return to search

Ein Dialog zwischen Managementlehre und Alttestamenlicher Theologie: McGregors Theorien X und Y zur Führung im lichte alttestamentlicher Anthropologie

Text in German / This dissertation is a contribution to cybernetics, a sub-discipline ofPractical Theology.
It is a dialogue between theology and management science. The first part discusses
whether such a dialogue is reasonable at all. There are a lot of parallels between wisdom
theology in the Old Testament and modern management theory. We discuss the benefits
and the limitations of wisdom, and the way Israel took advantage of wisdom knowledge
of the surrounding peoples. Finally, we draw conclusions for the way how church
leadership could integrate knowledge from management theory.
The main part of this dissertation is on anthropology and leadership. McGregor
invented 1957/60 the so-called theories X andY. He demonstrated that leadership styles
of managers are affected by the way they look at their subordinates. Leaders who regard
people as lazy (theory X) will try to movitate people by extrinsic factors. Theory Y
assumes that human beings have intrinsic motives to work. This assumption is an
implicit basis of modem leadership concepts. The background and influence of these
theories are explained. Especially, we follow the way from the anthropology of the
reformators to theory X and from theory X (Taylorism) to theory Y. Limitations of
theory Y are also discussed. In the next step we describe various facets of Old
Testament anthropology dealing with man's willingness and capacity to work. The
significance of the imago dei in this context is discussed by and large. Finally, we
compare these facets with the theories X and Y. Result: The reformators emphasized
one-sidedly the undignity of human beings implying that many Protestants consider
theory Y as too positive, too humanistic. Old Testament portrays both the dignity and
the undignity of human beings. Old Testament anthropology correlates better with
theory Y. Thus theory Y is not an antibiblical theory. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / D.Th (Practical Theology)

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:unisa/oai:uir.unisa.ac.za:10500/1384
Date30 September 2004
CreatorsKessler, Volker
ContributorsWolfaardt, J., Reimer, J.
Source SetsSouth African National ETD Portal
Languagege
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
Format1 online resource (vi, 276 leaves)

Page generated in 0.0027 seconds