Leaqdership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Leaqdership - Essay Example Inequity is posited to create tension, which motivates an individual to restore equity. This restoration of equity can be accomplished in a number of ways. Outcomes can be altered, objectively or psychologically; inputs can be altered, objectively or psychologically; comparative referents can be changed; or an individual can leave or psychologically withdraw from the situation. As Greenberg (1989) pointed out, however, equity research offers little guidance as to when psychological adjustments rather than objective adjustments will occur. Complicating the matter further, psychological adjustments are difficult to measure and validate. Equity theory predictions about reactions to inequity have been tested primarily in laboratory experiments. The typical experiment involves (a) subjects performing a task, (b) distribution of a monetary reward and performance feedback, and (c) measurement of performance on a subsequent iteration of the task. Situations of inequity are set up through the manipulation of rewards and performance feedback, and individual responses to these inequitable situations are measured. As reviews of equity research have pointed out (Goodman & Friedman, 1971; Greenberg, 1982, 1987; Walster et al., 1978), these laboratory studies have shown that equity perceptions can significantly alter individuals performances. However, these studies have been largely â€Å"one-shot affairs† (Homans, 1982, p. xv) and have typically not allowed time for performance–outcome expectancies to develop among subjects. Subjects who decrease their performance when faced with perceived underreward probably do not view this decrease in performance as leading to decreased future rewards. By the 1950s, several new models of work motivation emerged, which collectively have been referred to as content theories, since their principal aim was to identify factors associated with motivation. Included here is Maslows (1954) need hierarchy theory, which