A few years back, I made up a term for a kind of management system or style: cage free.
It was a re-purposing of a term found on an egg carton.
As you know nowadays there’s more than one way, including “gluten-free”, to market eggs. (There’s no gluten** in eggs.)
And, claiming eggs are organic suggests something other than what it really means: Hens are fed organic feed but remain in their cages.
For me, cage free was a catch phrase to suggest a better, a new and improved supervisory style superior to caged hens as in ye olde micro-management and Douglas McGregor’s Theory X of limiting employee freedom with ratcheted-up supervision.
The cage free manager, I suggested, is one prone to let go, to give more range for decision making by the worker.
Well, yes and no.
As it turns out – as often happens with management theory – cage free is but a tiny step up from caged management, far short of the ideals of McGregor’s Theory Y in which employees are self-motivated and thrive in a supportive environment, encouraging creativity and responsibility.
Instead of the 93 square inches provided caged birds, cage free gives the hen a bit more indoor space but no access to the out of doors.
What about free-range eggs or free-range management?
Alas, the term only guarantees the hens “some form of access to the out of doors” which can be as small as a 10 sq ft enclosure of concrete or gravel. Worse, there is no specification as to how often the door is open.
And, in the workplace, free-range supervision is a kinder gentler form of Theory X. Yes, you get a beer break on Friday afternoon and a free massage on Wednesday, but the rest of the week your work is being checked and monitored hourly.
While not as felicitous sounding, I should have said: “Pasture-raised management” or Leadership.
Pasture-raised gives the hen the freedom to roam inside and outside with a “cozy covered coop to roost in at day’s end”. Of course, the risk from predators is elevated. That’s risk that effects the hen and the farmer or the worker and the supervisor.
Generally, eggs produced by pasture-raised hens differ markedly- for the better – in color (orangey yolk), size (larger) and flavor. And, the evidence makes clear, pasture-raised eggs are much more nutritious than caged eggs.
Under pasture-raised leadership individuals are trusted to “forage for solutions”. And, there’s sunlight (transparency) and fresh air (psychological safety). As I have experienced in most of my leadership roles, my “letting go” resulted in higher engagement by some employees, a stronger intrinsic motivation for many, and more innovative and high-quality “output” from those star employees wanting and able to accept greater responsibility and freedom.
Yet, the Theory X or Kick-Ass manager, will claim to be more productive and better at gaining a “return on investment”.
Yes, you can kick people and hens to produce more, but that’s only over the short-term, and once the kicking stops, employees lose incentive.
I’ll take happy hens and more nutritious eggs, and, we do want happy workers, too, don’t we?
*This is a major recasting of a blog I posted December 27, 2021
**Joining my facetious gluten free management style of the Neo-Boss.
N.B. For other essays on numerous topics on leadership and literature and fables go to my Nucleus archive from 2010-early 2025.
© Copyright text by John Lubans 2021 & 2026