What motivates you to work hard? According to Douglas McGregor, there are two categorizations of what motivates people: Theory X and Theory Y. Theory X suggests that people work for extrinsic reasons -- in other words, money! This theory is linked to management and leadership, and assumes that workers are lazy, selfish, and generally sloppy at their work. As a result, managers with this approach believe their employees must be given really simplistic tasks, little independence or freedom, and tasks that do not involve much creativity.