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Running Head: SUMMARIES 1

SUMMARIES 5

Summary Of Chapters 6 And 7

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Chapter 6: The Equity Theory of motivation

Introduction

The effectiveness of any organization is directly proportional its employees motivation level. It is very vital for managers to understand and manage organizational behaviours and help the employees to work hard to help the organization achieve its goals. There are several theories put forward to explain work motivation. The summary below explains equity theory of work motivation, which means fairness.

Stacy Adams developed the theory in the 1960s. It is based on the premise that an employee perceives the relationship between the outcomes and their inputs. Outcomes refers to what an employee wants from an organization e.g., salary, job security, advancement opportunities, etc. inputs is what an employee contributes to the organization e.g. special skills. Is important to note that in this theory motivation is determined by how a particular employee perceives his or her outcome/input ratio compared to that of another employee referred to as referent in this theory.

The referent may also be a group of employees whom the employees believes they are similar. It can also be oneself at a different time and place or ones expectations. It is important to note that in any referent it is the employee’s perception of the outcome and inputs that are compared and not their actual measures.

These theory answers the question: “Are the outcomes perceived as being at an appropriate level in comparison with the inputs”? It proposes that employees will have a sense of what input level would result to a certain outcome. Managers should administer outcomes based on the inputs as a way of motivating employees. It is also important for a manager ensure that different employees have approximately equal outcome-input ratio.

For the success of this, it is vital to understand the meaning of equity and inequity in an organization. Inequity is lack of fairness because of un-proportionally equal outcome/input ratio. This in turn creates an unpleasant feeling motivating the individual to balance the two ratios.

Inequality can be either overpayment or underpayment inequity. An overpayment inequality refers to an employee perceiving that their output/income ratio is greater than that of the referent. An underpayment inequity refers to an employee perceiving that their output/income ratio is less than that of the referent.

However, it is possible to restore equity in an organization by the following ways:

· Employees action to change their inputs or outcomes

· Employees action to change their referents inputs and outputs by complaining to the management

· Employees action to change their perception or their referents inputs and outputs

· Changing ones referent

· Resigning from the job or organization or forcing the referent to leave

Conclusion

Any kind of inequity can be dysfunctional to organizations, employees and managers. For instance, though an overpayment can motivate employees it is also dysfunctional since there is no actual increase in the input level contributed by the overpaid employees. An underpayment can also lead to unethical behaviours such as theft. In conclusion, optimum motivation is only achievable when there is equity in the organization.

Chapter 7

Job Design: The Social Information Processing Model

This model compliments the job characteristic model. Gerald Salncik and Jeffrey Pfeffer developed it in 1978. This model proposes that social factors and employees past behaviour influence their response to the job design. The model is further founded on the role of the social environment (individuals with whom the employee comes into contact at work) to employees. It proposes that information from the social environment influences employee’s choice on which aspects and outcomes of their job design they should ignore or pay attention.

Secondly, this model proposes that employees get information on how to evaluate their jobs and outcomes from the social environment. Two employees faced with different social environments will exhibit varying behaviours at work. For instance, the different social environments will cause them to focus on different aspects and outcomes of their jobs as well as how to evaluate them.

There is an increase of contingent workers in most organizations. Since the contracts of these workers are temporary they thus have a little job security and hence face a social environment that is different from that of regular employees.

This model proposes that employees with similar jobs will view them differently due to their past behaviours. Employees with good past behaviours will have a high intrinsic motivation and extreme positive attitude. On the other, hand an employee with poor past behaviours may have an extremely negative attitude towards the job and a low intrinsic motivation level. In summary an employee past behaviour will affect several things within his /her work environment. These are; how they evaluate their current jobs; the level of job satisfaction they have; and an employee’s level of intrinsic motivation. For this to be successful the behaviours should be freely chosen and involve certain personal behaviours.

In summary, these model points out the importance of the social environment and past behaviours as a way of understanding how different employees react to the design of their jobs. This model helps managers understand the reason why two employees with the same job and outcomes may have very different levels of job satisfaction and motivation. More research on this model has found out that the objective features of a job and the social environment of an employee as well as his/ her past behaviours interact to affect motivation levels and satisfaction. Further research has also established that the social environment is a very rich source of information for any new employee with little information and experience. However after an employee has spent more time in the job and organization the role of the social environment becomes less significant. Therefore, it plays little or no role in moulding an employee’s reaction and the actual design of the job. In conclusion, the social information-processing model makes it very clear that apart from the objective nature of a job, the social environment and one’s past behaviours also play a pivotal role in influencing how employees views their jobs as well as their level of intrinsic motivation.