Work Adjustment Theory (TWA)

Dawis & Lofquist 1984

Work Asjustment Theory is a theory of satisfaction and needs, for instance between employers/worker environment (E) and employees/person (P). The theory posits that a person would act on environmental stimuli and the other way round. Work Adjustment Theory by Dawis & Lofquist; Balanced P-E correspondence. However, when the correspondence between P and E has reached a certain threshold of imbalance, a worker will act on their environment’s demands and the environment will react to a worker’s lack of action to its stimuli. For example:
  • when an employer expects too much from a worker or if work is boring and uninspiring, an employee will respond by looking for other work or taking other action if a threshold has been reached
  • an employer may expect an employee to do certain tasks to a set standard. When the employee is not fulfilling what an employer requires, they can be sacked. Or when an employee doesn’t have the skills to do a certain task, the employer may require the employee to engage in additional training.
  • an employee may have creative ideas to improve the employer’s output. The employer responds by implementing the ideas and the employee will have a more interesting job as a result.
Work Adjustment Theory by Dawis and Lofquist; dissatisfaction or imbalance. To enable us to measure the level of balance/imbalance and to understand better the relationship between P and E, additional analysis of both is required. Work Adjustment Theory by Dawis and Lofquist; Measurement of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. If you would like to find an excellent more in depth explanation of Work Adjustment Theory, have a look on this website.