SURENDRA SINGH

SECTION B

OB ASSIGNMENT

Summary of equity in academia

This is the story of Melinda Wilkerson and Ron Agua where both are the first year assistant
professor in a college & has the same responsibility. Melina Wilkerson is totally busy in the
school work & put lot of effort but she is not satisfied with the job because the salary given by
the college is not sufficient for her for longer hour which she didn’t expected but agua & other
two new faculty members are also suffer from the over workload.But in the second semester
things has been changed agua reduced his course because of the extra work on department
hiring & library committee which she didn’t know the point is that they have done hardwork
equally but aAgua promoted & Melinda didn’t & she feel discriminated & decided to quit the
job & go to that place where her work is more appreciated but it is not easy for her to find the
another job .she suspect that same thing happen with her wherever she go. She could charge sex
discrimination and demand to be paid as much as agua but that would be unfair form him.She

Didn’t feel discrimination for being a women.Putting on her coat Melinda spotted a piece of
paper which she picked up & saw it which was written by her student whose name was wendy
martin & Melinda it read "I just wanted to thank you for taking the time to talk to me last week. I
really needed to talk to someone experienced about it, and all my other professors are men, and I
just couldn’t have talked to them. You helped me a whole lot." After that Wilkerson folded the
note, put it in her bag, and closed her office door. Suddenly the pile of journals and the $1,000
didn’t seem so important.

 What do you think Melinda Wilkerson will do? Is she satisfied with the way
she is being treated?
Ans- When an employee observed that a colleague is getting more attention and rewards for
their contributions, even when both have done the same amount and quality of work,He/she feel
dissatisfied &she cant take intrest in the work or even worthless.we understand that melinda
perceives an inequity in the way she is treated.In the beginning both Melinda & agua have done
same amount of work & hence there was no discomfort or anxiety about their jobs.But in the
second year the work style of agua has been changed & he take attention from the higher
authority of the college by this he reduced his course load by doing extra work on the
department’s hiring and library committees, giving talks around the state and converting them
into scholarly articles.Now had more free time to earn the reputation and was move to the higher
salary which he actually want.At the same time where agua has promoted,Melinda decided to
continue with her job in second year also but not with many opportunities like Agua.she feel
herself special when her student realize that how much she important that’s why she decided to
continue her job rather than the money.Sometimes people don’t know about urself as much until
the next person recognize him/her.

 Explain the behavior of Wilkerson & agua using the motivation theory ?
Ans- when examine melinda & agua with maslow hierarchy we can see that melinda has needs
that fall into all the categories which makes his problem even tougher to ractify.In the beggining
there is lot of workload on the Melinda & she continuously work for long hours even on
weekends.she wants to comeup with agua when he asked for hangout but she didn’t go because
of work and commitment that’s she need rest(psychologically).In the second semester when
agua got more oppurtunity then her while they have done equal amount of work & she feel
discrimination.she need more reward for the hardwork she did and make herself financially
strong(safety).For the social acceptence she didn’t tell nobody about the whole thing which was
happened with her if she told to agua that we are equally done hardwork so why the college
members gives you more appreciation then may be that statement is not socially
acceptable(social).she needs equal chance because she also put effort like agua but he got the
oppurtunities & she didn’t(esteem).when her student gave her a note after reading that she realise
how she is differ from other & how important I’m for the students(self -actualisation).second
theory which is applicable for this case study is equity theory which says that if the equity is not
maintained in any organisation then may be the performance of the employee is low & he/she not
intrested do something productive for an organisation exactly same situation is comeup with the
melinda when she was new in the college she take responsibility & work hard for reward but
when she saw her faculty member aqua which was in the position and after sometime he
recognized more by the higher authority of the college she was dissappointed & feel it is not fair
with her.So she decided to search another job but for her it is not possible to switch into another
job.In this case after happening all this may she is not put a lot effort like before that’s why this
theory match with the melinda situation.