Motivation is the process of making people do what they do not want to. Motivation is the invisible force that drives an employee or a person to work in such a way that they generate positive vibes of accomplishment and success if done in the correct way. There are several theories that explain the motivation of an employee and one important theory is equity theory of motivation. According to this theory, employees are motivated if they perceive the sense of equality as compared to others in the organization (Redmond). According to Gogia, “all the employees will compare their input benefits ratio with that of other employees in an organization working at same position. If they find any inequality then, they will try to adjust their input to obtain their perceived level of equity.” The people will be motivated to work if they perceive that they are treated fairly, and this theory puts stress on the perception of an individual (Williams, 2013).
- Bank Officer
Post: [Relationship Manager, Bank of America]
Time and Place: Assume Yourself
- US Army
Post: [Sergeant]
Time and Place: Assume Yourself
Analysis of the Interview
The results of the interview ware interesting. The curtains behind the job of these two different nature was lifted. According to the interview, the bank office was not that satisfied and motivated by his job. The bank manager had the experiences of inequality in the job several times. According to him, the job in the banks is not that attractive as the people see it. Bank managers are fed up with the nature of the job they do because almost 90% of the job they do in the bank is of repetitive type and requires very low or no creative intelligence. Most of the reward in the banks are based on the personal accomplishment. No matter how hard you work, there is no reward if you cannot produce a visible result in the organization. The manager wants the works that is challenging and needs creativity. Unlike routine job, he wants to do challenging jobs with authority and responsibility. This is the most motivating factor for him while the inequality in the rewarding and compensation system stands as a most demotivating factor for him. Financial rewards are not always motivating if there is no authority and responsibility.
Unlike bank manager, the army sergeant is motivated by his job. As a sergeant, he gets responsibility as well as commanding responsibilities. One best motivating factor in US army is the challenges they face in their job. With the US being global leader, US armies get different challenges of maintaining global security. So, every day comes with a different challenge for them which is very motivating. However, this challenge sometimes becomes demotivator for him. When he gets no proper support from the seniors and the base in the extreme conditions of wars and battles, these kinds of challenges turn into frustrations. The equality in the benefits and compensation in the military system is also a motivating factor. Even though there is personal reward system in the military based on extraordinary performance, the rewards and benefits are more often equal and based on team performance. For US army, the money is not only the motivating factor, and money does not always motivates them. The thing that motivates them is the support from their seniors and the base in the extreme conditions of the war. They will be highly motivated if their colleagues, base and other troops in the wars prioritizes his safety and do everything to save his life in the wars.
Discussion and Conclusion
According to the research done by Lawler and O’Gara in 1967 with 40 Yale University undergraduate students, the equity theory was proved to be applicable. The students who were underpaid in the survey experienced inequity as compared to the higher paid groups. This made the underpaid groups perceive the work as simple, unchallenging and relatively unimportant as opposed to another group. Similarly, another research conducted by Greenberg in 1988 has also proved that the employees must be treated equally. This fact is also proved by our interview. The bank officer was highly demotivated by unequal pay while army sergeant was highly motivated by equality in payment and benefits. The research conducted by Greenberg was to find whether the equity theory was applicable in the situations where employees experienced discrepancies amid their status of the job and working area. The result of the Greenberg survey was that the theory was highly applicable, and employees who were working in poor working condition were less productive as compared to the employees working in higher working conditions. The main reason for this was the inequality in the quality of working area.
This proves that the company should treat all the employees in an equitable manner and should focus their efforts to motivate their employees. There is no any single thing that can motivate all employees equally, and the company should identify the things that motivate different kind of employees in an equitable manner. Same motivating factor must not be applied for many times because using of the same motivating factor may cause demotivation as in the example of the US army sergeant.
Works Cited
Gogia, P. "Equity Theory of Motivation." Business Blog & Ideas by Business iHub. N.p., 14 Sept. 2010. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Greenberg, Jerald. "Equity and workplace status: A field experiment." Journal of Applied Psychology 4 (1988): 606-613. Print.
LAWLER, EDWARD E., and PAUL W. OGARA. "EFFECTS OF INEQUITY PRODUCED BY UNDERPAYMENT ON WORK OUTPUT, WORK QUALITY, AND ATTITUDES TOWARD THE WORK." Journal of Applied Psychology51.5 (1967): 403-410. Print.
Redmond, B. F. "Equity theory: Is what I get for my work fair compared to others?"Work Attitudes and Motivation. Pennsatate: The Pennsylvania State University World Campus, 2010. Print.
Williams, C. Principles of Management. Australia ; United Kingdom: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.
