Although scholars may disagree about the effectiveness of using money to motivate workers, few would deny the deleterious effects caused by employee perceptions of underpayment. Yet little is known about the process(es) through which individuals determine whether or not their pay is fair. Indeed, knowledge in this area largely is limited to the awareness that fair pay is a relative concept. That is, individuals judge the equity of pay not from the absolute size of the wage, but rather through comparisons of their wages to those of other people. In addition, pay referents such as the cost of living, also are used to evaluate pay. This use of relevant others is known as the social comparison process. This study investigated the relationship between certain attitudinal and job-related characteristics of 206 individuals, and their reactions to 18 different pay comparisons. It was determined that respondents' attitudes toward the organization's wage distribution rule, level of aspiration, desire for external movement (to other employers), and social interaction were related to the way individuals view these comparisons. A structural variable--job tenure--was not found to have a statistically significant association with the social comparison process. Unlike the six previous studies of this issue, this analysis was framed within the context of a theoretical model. Specifically, Goodman's two-stage model for the selection of pay referents was used to generate the variables of interest, the subsequent research hypotheses, and as a backdrop against which the results of the analysis could be interpreted. Perhaps the most significant result of this study was finding rather marked temporal stability of pay comparisons. Test-retest analyses showed that over a 3-month period only 5 of 54 pay comparisons demonstrated a statistically significant change in terms of the frequency with which they were reportedly made, the importance ascribed to each comparison, or in terms of the satisfaction felt with each comparison. Finding this element of stability suggests that equity theory may have been prematurely abandoned as a research paradigm. / Ph. D. / incomplete_metadata

M.Com. (Economics) / Inflation is the continuous, meaningful increase in the price level of an economic system. A distinction can be drawn between demand-pull factors (where demand exceeds the supply) and cost-push factors (prices are pushed higher by an increase in wages or input prices) as causes of inflation. Cost-push inflation is the result of the exercising of bargaining power by certain groups, e.g. trade unions. Prices can escalate as a result of competition between trade unions and firms for higher wages or competition between trade unions for a bigger portion of the national income. The aim of trade unions is to maintain the standard of living of their members, whose only source of income is the sale of their labour. Trade unions have a number of mechanisms, e.g. strikes and the withdrawal of co-operation, by means of which they can force an employer to meet their demands. Trade unions usually bargain collectively with employers regarding their wage demands. There are great differences of opinion among economists whether trade unions are the cause of inflation or whether they only contribute to inflation. Trade unions grouped themselves in organisations to look after the concerns of their members while employers have also grouped themselves in organisations. The government also plays an important role in the labour market, especially because' of the payment of unemployment benefits. Trade unions can contribute to inflation because wage increases are declared nationally, trade unions refuse to· accept any cuts in wages, contracts between employers and employees make provision for increases in salaries and also include a stipulation regarding cost of living adjustments. Trade unions can increase wage demands by being more militant, the spillover effect and wage imitation. The first white trade unions were established in the second half of the previous century and black trade unions in the early 1900' s. The numbers of especially the black trade unions increased considerably during the seventies and eighties, to such a degree that black trade unions have almost 3 million members and consist of 23,9 percent of the total economically active population. As a result of their great numbers, strikes have also shown an escalating tendency (there were 908 strikes per year during the period 1987 to 1992). The annual average inflation rate in South Africa reached double figures in 1974 and has not moved back to single figures since. If wage demands since 1985 are compared to this, the wage demands from 1987 to 1991 were higher each year than the inflation rate. Trade unions definitely have an influence on wages as the increase in minimum wages of unskilled labourers were mostly higher than. that of skilled workers. The increase in productivity has however, not kept up to date with the increase in wage rates.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-162).

Thesis (M.B.A.)-Business Studies Unit, Durban Institute of Technology, 2005 xi, 86 leaves / This study encompasses the triangulation of research methods in order to determine the impact of a piece rate incentive scheme on employee output within the South African context. The existing body of knowledge tends to reflect the conditions found in developed countries such as the USA, Canada and the UK, very little research appears to have been conducted in the South African context. / M

Thesis (M.B.A.)-Business Studies Unit, Durban Institute of Technology, 2005 xi, 86 leaves / This study encompasses the triangulation of research methods in order to determine the impact of a piece rate incentive scheme on employee output within the South African context. The existing body of knowledge tends to reflect the conditions found in developed countries such as the USA, Canada and the UK, very little research appears to have been conducted in the South African context.

Orientador: Fernando Antonio Lourenço / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Intituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-17T04:07:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Guanais_JulianaBiondi1985-_M.pdf: 1924997 bytes, checksum: 1e82d201be630117858ee74e6bd332fe (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Partindo de um estudo de caso, focalizado na Usina Açucareira Ester S.A. (localizada em Cosmópolis, interior de São Paulo), a presente pesquisa tem como objetivo central a análise do Quadra fechada, um sistema alternativo de aferição da quantidade de cana cortada, que foi implantado somente na referida usina, em 1998, após um processo de negociação entre a mesma e o Sindicato dos Empregados Rurais de Cosmópolis. Assim, ao longo da dissertação, são abordadas temáticas relacionadas ao Quadra fechada, tais como: a histórica reivindicação dos trabalhadores assalariados rurais para controlarem sua produção, demanda essa de extrema importância e que está intimamente associada ao pagamento por produção, forma de remuneração que atrela o salário dos trabalhadores rurais à quantidade de cana cortada por eles. A pesquisa teve como base a perspectiva relacional, e buscou analisar as estratégias dos diferentes agentes sociais envolvidos com o Quadra fechada, quais sejam: os representantes da Usina Ester, seus cortadores de cana, e os dirigentes do Sindicato dos Empregados Rurais de Cosmópolis. Juntamente com as entrevistas realizadas, buscou-se observar as práticas e as condutas dos agentes sociais, observações essas que serviram como aporte para todo o trabalho de contextualização dos relatos colhidos / Abstract: Based on a fieldwork case developed at the Ester S.A. sugar cane mills (at Cosmópolis, countryside of São Paulo State, Brazil) the research presented here has as a central goal the analyses of Quadra Fechada (closed court), that is an alternative system to measure the total quantity of cane cut. This measurement system is working solely at Ester S.A. and is the result of a negotiation between the industry and the Rural Workers Union of Cosmópolis in 1998. Therefore, will be part of this thesis subject some kind of discussion and debates related to Quadra Fechada as for example: The historical cane cutters claim for controlling their production, that is an extremely important demand because deals directly with the system that associates the payment amount with production quantity; and also the debate of the system itself that directly relate payment amount with the quantity of cane cut. Besides that the research was built at a relational perspective made clear by the analyses of the different social agents involved with Quadra Fechada strategies as: Ester Mills representatives, its sugar cane cutters, and the Rural Workers Union leaders. The main interest was to observe the practices and conducts/manners of the social agents at the fieldwork. Those observations were of tremendous importance as they served as contribuition to the hole contextualization of the reports collected as interviews or orally / Mestrado / Sociologia Rural / Mestre em Sociologia