Reference no: EM132390412

Decision Point: Anita's Situation

Your first employee meeting is with Anita, who works in the cosmetics department. She is one of the more senior employees at Swazzi.

"As you can tell, I'm a little bit older than most of the other sales associates around here," she says with a grin, "and I've been here for quite a few years. I've seen a lot of changes at Swazzi over the years, but I think this change with the new commission plan stinks! It used to be that, the longer you were here, the higher the commission you'd earn. Now they've changed it so that we all get the same rate. I know more about our product lines than anyone else here, but someone who gets hired two weeks ago and doesn't know the difference between moisturizer and toner gets paid the same amount that I do. How is that fair? Doesn't experience count for anything?"

In terms of equity theory, what appears to be the reason for Anita's lack of motivation?

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(   ) Anita's job lacks motivating factors such as achievement, recognition, advancement, and growth.

(           )Anita believes that she is receiving fewer inputs relative to her outputs compared to her peers. 

(           )Anita believes that she is contributing more inputs than her peers but not receiving more outputs

(Wrong) Anita does not value the organizational rewards being offered, so she is unwilling to put forth the effort to perform in her job.

You chose that she does not value the organizational rewards. That was an incorrect choice. 

This better describes expectancy theory, which asserts that people are motivated to work towards rewards that they want and that they believe they have a reasonable chance of obtaining

Decision Point: Addressing Anita's Situation

Anita admits that she perceives herself as being inequitably treated compared to her less-experienced peers. 

Using equity theory, how would you best address the motivation issue described by Anita? 

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(Wrong)Explain to Anita that the commission plan is intended to reward effort, not longevity or seniority, and it would be unfair to more junior sales associates to pay them a lower rate of commission for selling the same products.

(.         ) Eliminate the perception of unfairness by leaving the commission plan as it is but raising the sales associates' base salary according to their seniority.

(.         ) Adjust the commission plan so that the commission rate is adjusted annually according to seniority; sales associates with more seniority will earn a higher rate of commission vs. more junior sales associates.

You chose to explain to Anita why the commission plan is the way it is. That was not the best choice.

When employees like Anita feel they are being treated inequitably, they may do various constructive or not-so-constructive things to restore fairness. For example, Anita may decide to reduce her efforts, work shorter hours, complain to her coworkers, or simply leave her job.

Decision Point: Hilde's Situation

Your next meeting is with Hilde, a sales associate in the footwear department. She, too, seems to be indifferent to her job, but her reasons appear to be quite different. 

"Have you looked at our commission plan?" she asks. "It's so convoluted that I don't think any of us understand it. Some goods have higher commission rates and some have lower commission rates. Oh, and we get a lower rate until we hit one target and then it's a higher rate, but then there are also quarterly targets and who knows what else. None of us can figure it out. Maybe if you made the commission plan simpler, we'd try to sell more. Instead, I just come in here and the job and sell whatever because I've never been able to figure out what I've earned until I see my paycheck."

In terms of expectancy theory, what appears to be the reason for Hilde's lack of motivation?

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(Wrong) Rewards-to-personal goals issue

(        ) Performance-to-reward issue

(      ) Effort-to-performance issue

You chose rewards-to-personal-goals issue. That was an incorrect choice. 

The rewards-to-personal-goals issue (sometimes called valence) suggests that motivation depends on whether the individual wants the reward. A reward with positive valence means that it's something the employee wants, so the reward motivates the employee to put forth effort to achieve it. A reward with negative (or no) valence means that it's something the employee does not want or is indifferent to attaining, so it has no motivational value.