[MUSIC] The second type of theory that we see here in this overall category of process oriented theories says something about how our motivation relates to the social setting in which we work. Basically, it says our motivation is not really happening only in isolation It's not only about us, or it's not only about our jobs, but it's really about something. How we see ourselves working in relation to others. And this is the theory of equity that Adam formulated and which has merged more or less in more recent years into a stream of research called organizational justice. This theory, in it's basic form, says people care about being treated fair and equal, as compared to others. Now, when I say equal, it does not mean that everything should be exactly the same. But according to this theory, people compare what they put into something versus what they get out of something, and they compare that to what other people put in and get out of a situation. So it's not only about inputs, it's not only about outcomes, but it is really about the ratio between them. What could input and outputs be? Let's say if we're thinking about their restaurant again. If we see an employee working minimal hours doing minimal service to the clients in the restaurants, and as a result of that let's say, not receiving the basic salary but not so much bonuses, extra recognition, or something about that. And this person, is comparing himself to, let's say, comparing to Tim, the star person that we say caring very much about the restaurant, about what he gets out of it. So we would see Tim putting in a lot of extra time, a lot of extra effort, as a result, also receiving maybe some extra salary, extra tips from the clients, extra recognition from the manager. So if we have our first employee saying, well, I'm not putting in so much and I'm not getting out so much, versus we see Tim putting in a lot but also getting out a lot. This is what a person may see as fair. So the comparison really is between what you put in and what you get out, not only what you get out, or not only what you put in. According to this theory then, if people perform, in their heads, this type of cognitive comparison to others, three things of course can happen, right? The one thing is you feel there's equity, things are about fair and they are about equal. They're not exactly similar but you feel that the distribution of inputs and outcomes that you put in is more or less fair as compared to the distribution that you see other people putting in. However, we can also see inequity basically to both sides. So you can feel that either, you are putting in too much for what you get out as compared to others, or maybe you feel the fact that you're getting out more than you put in for others. So the three situations that we can have here is where people perceive inequity in the direction of being under rewarded. This is what upsets people quite a bit. If you're seeing you're putting in, as compared to others, more hours, more effort, more motivation all along, and you’re getting out less than when you see others not putting in so much time, effort, doing really only the basic minimum, but getting out exactly the same. This is something, according this theory, that leads to demotivation. Equity, second, is the state where you want to be. And then third, is of course the second form of inequity, because you can be comparing yourself to others and feeling that in fact you're better off. You feel that maybe you're not, you're putting in less or getting our more or both, and then this is where the theory is not always exactly clear. But overall it seems that we people are much more comfortable when we are over rewarded, over paid, because what tends to happen is that we have some very clever processes going on in our heads where we feel that, well, there is probably a reason for it. So in our head we're engaging in a cognitive process where one way or the other we feel it's fair again. Now if we are under rewarded, we're putting in more and getting out less. This is not happening at all. So you see here that the Equity Theory of Adams really is helping us to understand quite a bit of the process of motivation and especially with regard to the way people function in comparison with others that are one way or the other relevant for them. So also we don't compare ourselves to anyone else but we do compare ourselves to other people that are somehow relevant for us in the situation, our colleagues, our classmates, our friends one way or the other. [MUSIC]