Equity v. Expectancy Theory Which

Equity v. Expectancy Theory

Which motivational theory can be better applied to the practical workplace: equity theory or expectancy theory?

The expectancy theory of employee motivation suggests managing the directional aspect of motivation in terms of a schema of organizational rewards and punishments, tailored to organizational expectations. Expectancy theory suggests that when deciding among behavioral options, individuals select the option with the greatest promised and compelling motivational reward. But one cannot cruelly demand the impossible, and promise terrible consequences according to expectancy theory. Rather, expected goals that are set too high or performance expectations that are made too difficult lead to low self-expectancy and low self-efficacy perceptions. The higher the perception of the self, the more one will push one's self to excel to 'do the impossible' Thus, both the expectation of the performance of the employee as well as the job's quality of outcome must be both high, yet not too high, for the theory to 'work.' (Scholl, 2001)

Also, for expectancy to highly motivate individual's performances, workers must believe that they some degree of control over the expected outcome. Workers must possess a strong sense of self and autonomy. When individuals perceive that the outcome is beyond their ability to influence results their expectancy, and thus their motivation, is low. For example, many corporate "profit-sharing plans" do not motivate employees to increase their effort on behalf of a company "because these employees do not think that they have direct control over the profits of their large companies." (Scholl, 2002) in contrast, equity theory stresses that when workers feel that their behavior is being fairly or equitably rewarded, they will excel, and profit sharing is likely to increase subjective factors such as organizational loyalty because profit sharing upon the part of a rich company is fair.