The base salary for everyone should remain the same from year to year.
Implementation Tactics
It is important when implementing a plan based on equity theory that one considers the Adams' Equity Theory factors when striving to improve an employee's job satisfaction and motivation level and what can be done to encourage higher levels of each. To do this, one should consider the balance or imbalance that presently exists between the employee's inputs and outputs. Inputs characteristically include: effort, loyalty, hard work, commitment, skill, ability, adaptability, flexibility, tolerance, determination, enthusiasm, trust in superiors, support of colleagues and personal sacrifice. Outputs normally include: financial rewards such as salary, benefits and perks, and intangibles that typically include: recognition, reputation, responsibility, sense of achievement, praise, stimulus, sense of advancement and job security (Adams' Equity Theory, 2011).
When implementing a solution to the school districts dilemma it would be necessary to reward the teachers for their amount of inputs. This would include effort, hard work and commitment. Those teachers that put forth the most effort in the area of inputs would be rewarded the most in outputs such as increased salary and benefits. This would be the best plan to have a pay for performance plan. Those that perform well will get rewarded the most.
Assessment Criteria for Success or Failure
In these days of budget cuts, classroom congestion, and obligatory high risk testing, teacher motivation is more and more difficult to maintain. A lot of teachers criticize the lack of power they have over their classroom preparation due to federally, state, or district commanded programs. Not only is their classroom time strictly proscribed, it is also frequently very intricate, with students being pulled out or sent in for enhancement or aptitude grouped mini classes....
Unfortunately, the lack of successful teacher motivation is a major factor in knowledgeable teachers looking for work elsewhere (Cory, 2011).
Because of the fact that all of these de-motivation factors are present in the classroom on a daily basis, the last straw that drives teachers away is unbalance in the compensation system of the district. Teachers want to know that they are being rewarded for their hard work. They want to know that the harder they work with the kids that they teach the more reward that they are going to get from the school. Nothing de-motives a teacher quicker than not feeling that they are appreciated for the hard work that they do.
Teaching can be a very rewarding profession but can also be a much underappreciated one as well. This is why it is so significant to make sure that the teachers are shown the appreciation that they deserve. This does not have to be something that is done by way of salary and benefits, but this is a good place to start. If the teachers are happy with the contract that they have then they can spend more of their time concentrating on teaching the children and not worrying about contracts, wages and benefits. When teachers are not happy with their contracts they might eventually end up going on strike in hopes of gaining what they want in contract negotiations. In this scenario the ones who lose the most are the students. When teachers are all caught up in contract negations they can't possibly be able to concentrate on doing the best job that they can.
References
Adams' Equity Theory. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_96.htm
Cory, Charlie. (2011). How to motivate and keep teachers happy. Retrieved from http://www.helium.com/items/164977-how-to-motivate-and-keep-teachers-happy
Robbins, S.P. & Judge, T.A. (2007). Organizational Behavior. Upper Saddle River: Prentice
Hall.
