[First Name Last Name]
The subject of motivation has always grasped the attention of all major stakeholders in the business world. It has been deemed as an imperative component of the management field. Many studies have been conducted on it and several theories have been put forward by many different philosophers and psychologists. These theories look to find ways to motivate employees in the workplace by finding out the factors related to increasing it. Abraham Maslow came up with a theory called “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”, where he segmented human needs into five basic kinds namely physiological, safety, social, esteem, and self-actualization. Maslow represented this theory in the form of a hierarchical pyramid and stated that most of the people move on towards the greater need after the fulfillment of the prior need. However, many critics question the hierarchy and believe that it is not necessary to fulfill a prior need in order to get on towards a superior need. Moreover, it doesn’t take into account the differences in priority of needs of those brought up in individualistic societies and those in collectivist societies (Lester 15).
On the other hand, Equity theory by John Adams advocates that the employees always seek fairness and equity in terms of their input they offer in a job and the output they are receiving from a job. It focuses on the fairness in the distribution of resources for both relational partners assuming that the employee would always want to maximize the outcomes they receive from their employer. Inputs are considered as time, efforts, experience, commitment, determination and personal sacrifice while outputs are salary, job security, reputation, benefits and sense of achievement. However, many critics argue that the theory fails to acknowledge the differences based on psychographic and demographic variable that have an impact on people (Bolino, Mark, & William 29)
I personally believe that although Equity theory covers the aspect of fairness in the relationship and how an employee could become demotivated if they feel that their input is greater than their output. However, Maslow’s hierarchy theory is a more comprehensive theory in a way that it defines motivation as a dynamic process. It also shows that how an individual’s motivational priorities could alter with the change in his needs and wants whether it is based on physical maturity or the intellectual and emotional maturity.
Works Cited
Lester, David. "Measuring Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs."Psychological reports, 2013. Web. 30th April 2016
Bolino, Mark C., and William H. Turnley. "Old faces, new places: equity theory in cross‐cultural contexts." Journal of Organizational Behavior, 2008. Web. 30th April 2016
