As you know, in order to study the operation of the entire system, you need to study its individual elements. Thus, a firm or an enterprise is a large system, the effectiveness of which directly depends on the return of each employee. But how to motivate employees to do quality work? What determines the unwillingness of a person to do work with full dedication?
John Adams' theory of justice provides an interesting perspective on this issue. It says that in addition to the proportion of work / reward, there are also external evaluative relationships in relation to other employees. Adams's theory of justice is an American psychologist's look deep into the thinking of a particular worker.
Main theses of the theory of justice
The question of the subjective reasons for the desire or unwillingness of a person to work at a certain level was studied by John Stacy Adams. The theory of justice, which he developed while studying the behavior of people and working conditions at one of the US General Electric plants, is devoted to assessing fairness from the employee's point of view.
Adams' theory of justice says that a persontends to compare the reward for work (the result) and the effort that he makes (the contribution). At the same time, the employee compares similar indicators with other employees, making a conclusion about the fairness of his remuneration. Depending on how satisfied a person is with the outcome of his observations, he models his behavior in the workplace.
Adams' equity theory briefly demonstrates the underlying causal relationships in employee motivation. which arises as a reaction to the ratio of the contribution and result of an individual employee in comparison with the contribution and result of other employees.
The essence of the concepts of contribution and result
To work with the calculation part, you need to specify the basic concepts with which the theory of justice of J. Adams works:
- Contribution is the efforts made by the employee and the skills that he uses in his work. This includes experience, skill, education and personal characteristics, such as initiative, intelligence, dexterity, sociability, etc.
- The result is a reward for work, which includes simple elements: monetary remuneration, bonuses, benefits, social package, etc., as well as higher order elements: job satisfaction, the presence of diverse and interesting tasks, implementation altruistic needs, power and recognition.
The worker intuitively realizes and accepts the fact that the more experienced and qualifiedthe employee should be rewarded with a higher salary. It also talks about the fact that an employee in a metropolis and an employee in a small town may have different pay and conditions.
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Comparing these indicators for himself and other people doing similar work, a person draws certain conclusions. Adams's theory of justice shows that everything depends on how satisfied the person is with this comparative analysis. In other words, the motivation of an employee depends on how fair he sees his position.
The question is, with whom does a person compare himself - with employees of his own company or other companies in the city, country, or maybe with friends? Adams's theory of justice describes basically the comparison of a person with people of a similar position and type of work. Sometimes the comparison takes place in the plane of work of different nature, where a person subjectively evaluates the complexity of labor and pay.
Adams Justice
The theory of equality (fairness) by S. Adams gives the following definition: “fairness is a subjective parameter and depends on the perception of reality by a particular employee.”
Each person has his own level of susceptibility to such a subjective concept as justice, sometimes simply understanding that “this is how it should be” or “what to do, someone should do this work.” Everyone has their own comfort zone, which they define as justice. Some people prefer "leveling", others want to be a step above the rest, andothers - one step lower.
The Equity Formula
Yes, such a subjective concept as justice has a formula that John Adams' theory of justice operates on. It certainly does not describe the concept of universal justice, but justice from the point of view of the worker.
As you can see, the very essence of the issue is very subjective, but this is inevitable if we consider such concepts as motivation, which Adams's theory of justice describes. Briefly, justice can be described using the formula
Employee Output/Employee Contribution=Other Worker Output/Other Worker Contribution
The equality of the left and right halves of the equation can be called the point of justice. This will mean that the employee sees their remuneration for contribution to work as fair. This means that he will continue to show the same return in his work, performing it at the same level. Otherwise, he will regard his position as unfair - with insufficient remuneration or as overpayment - with an excess of remuneration.
Reaction to injustice
If comparing oneself with others according to the above formula, a person concludes that there is injustice, then this will inevitably be followed by a decrease in his motivation. So thought Stacey Adams, whose theory of justice identifies six possible scenarios. One or more of these options can be chosen by a person as a response to injustice:
- reducing one's own efforts, unwillingness to give all the best "for a penny";
- requirement to increase pay orworking conditions;
- requiring an enterprise to equalize other employees by changing pay and workload;
- decrease in self-esteem as a result of unfair assessment of him as an employee;
- choosing another object for comparison, if the irrationality of the comparison or the reason “where should I compare with them” is obvious;
- attempt to change department or place of work;
In addition, Adams admitted that it is possible for an employee to overestimate his contribution and results. Simply put, a person can justify in his perception of pay, working conditions and shift his opinion towards balance. But still, many good specialists prefer to find better pay for their work.
Reaction to increased rewards
Situations with excess rewards, although rarer, also occur and have their own nuances. In such a situation, what payment method is used is of considerable importance:
- Piece-rate payment involves payment for the amount of work performed. If a worker notes an overpayment for his work, then he is inclined to do less and better quality than the one who is paid fairly.
- Hourly pay or rate suggests that pay is not tied to volume. An overpaid worker will produce either more or better quality than someone who is being paid fairly.
It can be seen that an overpayment on a transaction is fraught with a decrease in the speed of work, which may be undesirable. And although there is an increase in quality, but in the case of low qualifications compared to pay, an increase in quality at a significant level is not expected.
The task is to return the balance
It should be borne in mind that the considered list of subjective reasons is rather narrow, because in fact a person evaluates many more factors. The main task of the manager is to respond in time to a decrease in employee motivation or too high a reward for their efforts.
