To increase employees’ perception of procedural justice, managers should consider
openly sharing information on how allocation decisions are made and follow consis-
tent and unbiased procedures. With increased procedural and interactional fairness,
employees are likely to view their managers and the organization as positive, even if
they are dissatisfied with pay, promotions, and other personal outcomes. Professor
Daniel Skarlicki at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia
has found that it is when unfavourable outcomes are combined with unfair procedures
or poor interpersonal treatment that resentment and retaliation (e.g., theft, bad-mouthing,
sabotage) are most likely.^53 This explains why Casey Printers left the BC Lions and
signed a three-year contract with the Kansas City Chiefs: He did not think he was being
treated fairly and suggested that the coaching staff did not have confidence in him.^54
This chapter’s CBC Video Case Incidentshows what can happen when employees feel
they have treated unfairly.Cognitive Evaluation Theory
Several researchers suggest that the introduction of extrinsic rewards, such as pay, for work
effort that was previously rewarding intrinsically(i.e., that was personally satisfying) will
tend to decrease the overall level of a person’s motivation.^55 This proposal—which has
come to be called cognitive evaluation theory—has been extensively researched, and
a large number of studies have been supportive.^56 Additionally, Alfie Kohn, often cited
for his work on rewards, argues that people are actually punished by rewards, and do infe-
rior work when they are enticed by money, grades, or other incentives. His extensive
review of incentive studies concluded that “rewards usually improve performance only
at extremely simple—indeed, mindless—tasks, and even then they improve only quan-
titative performance.”^57Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Rewards
Historically, motivation theorists have generally assumed that intrinsic motivators are
independent of extrinsic motivators. That is, the stimulation of one would not affect
the other. But cognitive evaluation theory suggests otherwise. It argues that when extrin-
sic rewards are used by organizations as payoffs for superior performance, the intrinsic
rewards, which are derived from individuals doing what they like, are reduced.
In other words, when extrinsic rewards are given to someone for performing an inter-
esting task, it causes intrinsic interest in the task itself to decline. For instance, although
a taxi driver expects to be paid for taking your best friend to the airport, you do not122 Part 2Striving for Performance
cognitive evaluation theory
Offering extrinsic rewards (e.g., pay)
for work effort that was previously
rewarding intrinsically will tend to
decrease the overall level of a per-
son’s motivation.
W. L. Gore, maker of Gore-Tex
fabric and Elixir guitar strings, has
a compensation and reward sys-
tem based on procedural justice.
At Gore, motivation comes from
approval of co-workers. Com-
pensation is determined by
employees, who rank their team
members each year. Gore openly
shares information about how
pay decisions are made based
on consistent procedures. Proce-
dural fairness helps create a
strong organizational commit-
ment among employees.
Sauder School of Business
http://www.sauder.ubc.ca
Air Canada Employee Morale
Flies Low