SCENARIO $4-9.$ Central Manufacturing Inc. fabricates medium$-$ and large$-$scale watercraft, primarily for commercial use. They also manufacture accessories for a variety of boats and marine service vessels. Central Manufacturing struggles to keep costs down while maintaining profitability in a highly competitive market. Military and commercial contracts are its main source of business. Employees at Central Manufacturing appear to be dedicated individuals who, through their combined efforts, were able to save the company $$1\mathrm{.}5$ million in energy costs by means of simple efficiency. For this initiative, they did not receive much recognition other than some encouragement and T$-$shirts recognizing their contribution to the company. Robert West, operations supervisor, believed that if other savings could be realized the company would welcome them. Although supportive of employee efforts, Robert didn't acknowledge the impact on the company's bottom line. Dan White, vice president of operations, recognized that Central Manufacturing needed to change its operations in order to shake its bureaucratic and authoritarian image. Although Robert praised employees and talked about performance, the reward process was limited$.$ Dan undertook the initiative to change things, which meant creating a new process for managers like Robert West and his employees. The employees had assumed that they were fairly secure in their jobs, since the company had a monopoly on specialized watercraft manufacturing. As with most manufacturing concerns in Canada, however, when a recession occurred, $200$ employees, representing about one third of the workforce, were suddenly laid off. Although this was a major blow to Central Manufacturing, Dan White and George North, director of human resources, launched a new program to track, monitor, measure, recognize and reward employees for their efforts. Accountability and performance were to be a major focus in these programs. As the program commenced, some employees and their supervisors started to display progress charts. More ideas for operations improvement began to flow once it became evident what was actually going on$.$ Positive feedback was forthcoming from customers and Dan realized that his initiative was starting to pay off.

Dan White recognizes that equity theory will play a large role in how he organizes and develops his new program. Individual employees have a tendency to compare themselves with others and have a series of options available to them if they perceive that some sort of inequity exists. Which of the following is a typical employee response to a perceived inequity?

a$.$

Employees will embrace the process of goal setting.

b$.$

Employees will exert more effort.

c$.$

Employees will maintain their perceptions of others.

d$.$

Employees will tend to keep their outcomes unchanged.

e$.$

Employees will have a tendency to quit their jobs.