Its a list of perfor mance evaluations pay and

It's
a
list
of perfor-
mance evaluations, pay, and bonuses for 80 co.workers. She
reads the document, and finds something very surprising.
Someone she considers
a
"nonstarter"
is
getting paid more than
others regarded as "super workers." New hires are also being
brought in at much higher pay and bonuses than those of current
staff. To make matters worse, she's in the middle of the list and
not near the top, where she would have expected to be. The fact
is she makes a lot less money than many others.
Lookini at
the
data, she begins to question: why she is spend-
ing extra hours working evenings and weekends at home, trying to
do a really great
job
for the finn. She wonders to herself: "Should
I
pass this infonnation around anonymou�ly so that everyone
knows what's going on? Or should I quit and find another em-
ployer who fully values me
for
my talents and hard
work.?"
In the end she decided to quit, saying: "I just couldn't stand
the inequity." She also decided not to distribute the information
to others in the office because "it would make them depressed,
like it made me depressed."
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
What would you do in this situation? You're going·to
be
con-
cerned and perhaps upset. Would you hit "print," make about
80 copies, and put them
in
everyone's mailboxes-or even Just
leave them stacked in a couple of conv.enient locations? That
would get the information out into the gossip chains pretty
quickly. But is this ethical? If you don't send out the informa-
tion, on the other hand,
is
it ethical to let other workers go
about
their
days with inaccurate assumptions about the firm's
pay practices?
By
quitting and not sharing the information,
did
this worker commit an
ethics
mistake?
Ill
Equity sensitivity
reflects that people
have different
preferences for equity
and react differently to
perceptions o( inequity.
Expectancy ls a
person's belief that
working hard will
result in
high
task
performance.
MOTIVATION THEORY AND PRACTICE
Equity Research and Insights
The research on equity theory is most conclusive with respect to perceived negative inequity.
Those who feel under-rewarded appear to be more likely to make active attempts
to
restore equity
than those who feel over-rewarded.
12
But, there is some evidence that equity dynamics can occur
among people who feel perceived positive inequity from being over-rewarded. In such cases,
attempts to restore perceived equity may involve increasing the quantity or quality of work, tak-
ing on more difficult assignments, or advocating for others to be compensated more fairly.
Managers should anticipate that perceptions of negative inequity arise when especially visible
rewards such as pay or promotions are given. They should make sure that processes for allocating
rewards are objectively fair, and also that they are perceived to be fair. One way to do this is to be
as transparent as possible. At a minimum, managers should communicate the intended value of
the rewards being given, clarify the performance appraisals on which they are based, and suggest
appropriate comparison points. This advice is particularly relevant in organizations using
merit-based pay-for-performance systems. A common problem in these systems is that what
constitutes "meritorious" performance can be a source of debate. Any disagreement over pe1for-
mance ratings increases the
.I�elihood of negative equity dynamics problems.