General encyclopedic treatments describe Theory X and Theory Y as a mid-twentieth-century framework and discuss Douglas McGregor's authorship, but do not state a single precise publication year in their lead material; secondary sources vary between the 1950s and the 1960s without reconciling the difference.
What would resolve this A citation to McGregor's original book The Human Side of Enterprise, or an equivalent primary bibliographic source, checked against the article's own history section rather than a lead-paragraph summary.
Resolution Resolved by the notable-work fact minted on Douglas McGregor (business-figure entity 266797): his book The Human Side of Enterprise, which introduced Theory X and Theory Y, was published in 1960, per the same Wikipedia article's history and publication details. · 08/26/2026 12:00:00 AM
ResolvedManagement HistoryWikipedia, Theory X and Theory Y