BUS272 TB

146 Part 2 Striving for Performance
Although reinforcers such as pay can motivate people, the process is much more
complicated than stimulus–response. In its pure form, reinforcement theory ignores
feelings, attitudes, expectations, and other cognitive variables known to affect behaviour.
Reinforcement is undoubtedly an important influence on behaviour, but few scholars
are prepared to argue that it’s the only one. The behaviours you engage in at work and
the amount of effort you allocate to each task are affected by the consequences that
follow. If you are consistently reprimanded for outproducing your colleagues, you will
likely reduce your productivity. But we might also explain your lower productivity in
terms of goals, inequity, or expectancies.
5 Describe why equity and
fairness matter in the
workplace
R e s p o n s e s t o t h e R e w a r d S y s t e m
Olympic sports that are judged rather than timed are sometimes criticized for what appears
to be arbitrariness by the judges. 74 Mark McMorris, one of the top-ranked slopestylers in the
world, had spent nearly two weeks trying to recover from a fractured rib and thought he turned
in a good performance during his Olympic qualification round. Then, he saw that the posted
score did not match his expectations. With a score of 89.25, he was ranked seventh, which
meant that he would have to compete in the semifinals to be able to make it to the finals of the
slopestyle event.
He was not happy with his score or the outcome. “It’s pretty ridiculous,” said McMorris
afterward. “It’s a judged sport; what can you do?”
McMorris eventually went on to win the first Olympic medal for Canada at the Sochi Olympic
Games—a bronze. While he was excited to have won a medal, he was also surprised that his
teammates Max Parrot and Sebastien Toutant, who made it to the final, did not. The Canadian
slopestylers had dominated the sport for several years. However, this was the first time the event
was held in the Olympics.
“It’s hard to wrap your head around what (the judges) really wanted to see,” McMorris said.
Kerry Gillespie, a reporter for the Toronto Star , wrote that “there are no defined criteria on how
to score any of [the slopestyle performance], or any way to parse out an athlete’s achievement
on the individual elements. There are three rail sections and three jumps on the Olympic course.
The score is simply the judges’ overall impression.”
Generally, individuals want to know how they will be judged, so that they know when and if
they will be rewarded. The slopestylers are not pushing for clear standards in judging, however.
They want to continue to be part of a creative sport, not one where the snowboarders simply
copy one another to just do a movement better. Still, outcomes that are not clear can make the
system seem unfair, with individuals giving the best performances not getting the highest marks.
When individuals encounter unfairness in rewards systems, how do they respond?
To a large extent, motivation theories are about rewards. The theories suggest that individuals
have needs and will exert effort in order to have those needs met. The needs
theories specifically identify those needs. Goal-setting and expectancy theories portray
processes by which individuals act and then receive desirable rewards (intrinsic or
extrinsic) for their behaviour.
Three additional process theories ask us to consider how individuals respond to
rewards. Equity theory suggests that individuals evaluate and interpret rewards. Fair
process goes one step further, suggesting that employees are sensitive to a variety of
fairness issues in the workplace that extend beyond the reward system but also affect
employee motivation. Self-determination theory examines how individuals respond to
the introduction of extrinsic rewards for intrinsically satisfying activities.
Equity Theory
Ainsley is a university student working toward a bachelor’s degree in finance. In order to
gain some work experience and increase her marketability, she has accepted a summer