Adams Equity Theory in Work Place

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  Adams Equity Theory 

Figure 1: Adams Equity theory

Source: (Mulder, 2018).

Adam’s equity theory revolved from the social comparison theory and is considered one of the most popular social exchange theories. Furthermore that the degree of equity or inequity is a major input into job performance and the satisfaction that people perceive in their work situation. (Tudor, 2011). Therefore theory helped to provide the basis for studying the motivational implications of perceived unfairness and injustice in the workplace. In addition laid the foundation for more recent theories on and procedural such as how rewards and job requirements are determined (Armstrong and Taylor, 2014). 

In a meta-analysis of many of these theories, Cohen-Charash and Spector (2001) found that both distributive and procedural justice were related to job performance, job satisfaction and the intention to quit. People make judgments or comparisons between their own inputs at work, for instance their qualifications, experience and effort, and the outcomes they receive, for instance pay and fringe benefits, status and working conditions. Then assign weights to these inputs and outputs according to their relevance and importance to themselves. The summed total produces an output or input ratio, which is the key issue in terms of motivation. If a person’s output or input ratio is equal to that of another person, equity exists. A state of inequity leads to tension, which the individual tries to reduce by changing one or more elements of the ratio, such as increase or reduce individual effort. Perceived inequity by the person is therefore the basis for motivation (Baron et al., 2002). 

Application of Adams Equity Theory

The Financial Organization where I work was conducted completely online with 75 employees who share a similar cultural background of growing up at the same time under this study. An online survey was looking at job satisfaction, job expectations, and perk usage, employee perception of perks, personal equity sensitivity and comparison.Found out that original hypotheses not supported job satisfaction weight on job expectation while individual differences in equity did not weight perk usage, perceptions of job expectations 

Equity theory has stimulated much researches in different forms of equity such as pay equity, pay level equity, pay administration equity, procedural and distributive justice, job security and complexity, promotion opportunities equity, and evaluation criteria equity, but there has been a decline in interest of late because of its inability to predict people’s perception of the equitability of their specific situation. Nevertheless, it has served to direct attention to the importance of treating employees fairly and the consequences of failing to do (Spector, 2003). Furthermore the theory has a strong link to stress, burnout, turnover and job satisfaction (Test et al., 2003). 

In Video 01 illustrate the show how individuals are motivated ,two main components input and outcomes, input refers to anything that employees offer the organization in exchange for outcome. The outcomes are factors that an organization distributes to the employees in exchange their inputs. 

Video1: Equity theory of motivation

Source: (Powtoon, 2018).


 

References


Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S., 2014. Armstrong’S Handbook Of Human Resource Management Practice. 13th ed. London: Kogan page, pp. 97-104. 

Baron, H., Henley, S., McGibbon, A. and McCarthy, T., 2002. Motivation Questionnaire Manual And User’s Guide. Brighton: Saville and Holdsworth Limited. 

Cohen-Charash, Y. and Spector, P., 2001. The Role of Justice in Organizations: A Meta-Analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, [online] 86(2), pp.278-321. Available from: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259706797_The_Role_of_Justice_in_Organizations_A_Meta-Analysis> [Accessed on 25 April 2021]. 

Mulder, P., 2018. Adams Equity Theory. [image] Available at: <https://www.toolshero.com/psychology/adams-equity-theory/> [Accessed on 25 April 2021]. 

Powtoon, 2018. Equity Theory Of Motivation. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lsjGlfHXAs> [Accessed on 26 April 2021]. 

Spector, P., 2003. Industrial And Organizational Psychology. 3rd ed. New York: J. Wiley & Sons. 

Test, D., Flowers, C., Hewitt, A. and Solow, J., 2003. Statewide Study of the Direct Support Staff Workforce. Mental Retardation, [online] 41(4), pp.276-285. Available at: <https://meridian.allenpress.com/idd/article-abstract/41/4/276/8424/Statewide-Study-of-the-Direct-Support-Staff?redirectedFrom=fulltext> [Accessed on 25 April 2021].

 

Comments

  1. Arjun LandersMay 14, 2021 at 9:27 AM

    Agree with you Eranga, Equity theory has gained lot of attention from scholars (Bolino and Turnley, 2007).However the equity theory has not taken in to consideration the differences of individuals and culture therefore more research has to be done with regard to this (Al-zawahreh and Madi, 2012).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Uddika PathiranageMay 18, 2021 at 5:40 AM

      Agree with you Arjun,Equity theory proposes that individuals who perceive themselves as either under-rewarded or over-rewarded will experience distress and that this distress leads to efforts in order to restore equity within the relationship. Equity, thus, measures the contribution and benefits earned by each individual (Idemobi 2010).Muchinsky (2004) in his views said that job performance is the set of worker’s behaviours that can be monitored, measured and assessed in terms of achievement at individual level.

      Delete
  2. Oshadee WanasingheMay 15, 2021 at 5:11 AM

    Of course Uddika, according to equity theory what motivates individual is defined as the perception of equitability and in-equitability. Equity theory focuses both input and the outcome. If an employee compares his/her job’s inputs with the outcome and find any inequality, then the employee may lower productivity and quality of their job. Therefore, human resource department of an organization should apply equity theory when deciding employees’ salary, promotions and recognition as well as when designing training and development programmes (Al-Zawahreh and Al-Madi, 2012).

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    Replies
    1. Uddika PathiranageMay 16, 2021 at 4:46 AM

      Agree and adding more to content,Equity theory specifically argues that resources should be used in a way so that inputs and outcomes of an exchange process are proportional. In this sense, equity ratios (which can be perceived as ratios of outcomes to inputs or vice versa) should be equal. The main reasoning behind this is that rational people would accept no other arrangement in their effort to maximize outcomes and manage their resources effectively. In fact, equity theory is strongly based on the instrumental rationality postulate and essentially argues that inputs and outcomes are the main determinants of the evaluation process of an exchange as just or unjust. (Arvanitis, Hantzi 2016)

      Delete

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