A Case Study: Gravity Payment

The unfortunate truth is that money does make the world go around. This is especially true in the work place. Workers have fought for equal pay for many years and have little to nothing to show for it. If a company doesn’t have adequate pay, then their employees will be less likely to perform to the company’s standards. When looking at Gravity Payments as a case study, it is possible to see how this is a two-sided argument on the correlation of salary and motivation. One side of the argument is stating that Gravity Payments owner, Dan Price, is a “hero” and is creating a path to revolutionize wage equality. However, the other side is arguing that Price is raising workers’ salaries who do not deserve it and who have lesser skills and qualifications …show more content…
Natural versus rational motivation is an individual’s feelings of having a higher order of needs. In the article was an excerpt of a study from Princeton University stating, “According to the study, those who made less than $75,000 were likely to experience emotional pain and job dissatisfaction. However, even if people made more than $75,000, they did not feel any greater level of happiness. Simply put, the study suggested that emotional well-being increased with economic compensation, but only up to the amount of about $75,000. The study concluded that “low income exacerbates the emotional pain associated with such misfortunes as divorce, ill health, and being alone. We conclude that high income buys life satisfaction but not happiness, and that low income is associated both with low life evaluation and low emotional well-being.” (Oh, Won- Yong, and Youngkyun Chang) A human’s natural forces consist of drives, needs and desires whereas the rational needs are composed of a person’s means and self-identity. Price wanted all of his employees to live a happy life and he found the only way to do this was to raise their salary. Raising the salaries to a minimum of $70,000 a year was the way that Price decided he could allow everyone in his company to have a fair shot at living a happy life while meeting their basic needs. Not only does a pay raise boost employee morale but it also is …show more content…
Dan Price’s brother, Lucas, filed a lawsuit again Price because he feared the effects of the salary rise to have a devastating outcome for the company. This situation of motivation can be described as “push and pull.” This type of motivation uses motives to push an individual towards their desired goal. However, the push motives are obstacles or events that have the opposite motivational effect on an individual. When looking at Price’s brother we can see a clear example of “push and pull” motivation. His brother motives for being against the salary increase are derived from the concern that Gravity Payments will not have enough money to stay afloat. Price’s motivational pull may now be the separation of him and his brother who are now involved in a lawsuit. The “push and pull” factor can have major consequences on an outcome of a situation. If the pull is greater than the push, then an individual will become so unmotivated they choose to no longer want to be a part of Gravity Payments. This is a reason that many employees have to be particularly careful with how they act. Different employees will have different “push and pulls.” For some employees a push might be the chance to now have a baby and for others the pull might be having their salary on public