This model, namely expectancy theory, suggests that individuals, acting through self-interest, adopt courses of action perceived as maximizing the probability of desirable outcomes for themselves. This desire to maximize self-interest provides aspiring leaders with unique opportunities to assume leadership roles by simultaneously meeting both follower needs and organizational requirements. We intend to explicitly link expectancy theory and leadership concepts to demonstrate that leader interactions with followers permit the establishment of highly motivational working environments. In so doing, individuals acquire the means to transcend their traditional roles of supervisor, manager, or follower, and realize their potentials as leaders. In order to remain competitive at home or within the global market, we must stop relegating in our minds the functions of leadership to the office of the president or CEO of the organization. Instead, we must come to view the leadership role as part of every employee's job, at all levels of the organization. (Isaac, Zerbe & Pitt, 2001, p. 212).

             Since its origins in the 1960s Equity Theory held forth the promise of helping to explain how employees respond to situations in which they perceive they are being rewarded more or less favorably in comparison to a referent doing similar work. Shortly after its inception, Weick (1966) deemed it to be one of the most useful existing organizational behavior theories. Subsequent reviews concluded that the empirical evidence supporting Equity Theory was generally strong, especially with regards to how workers respond to under-reward situations. Equity Theory proposed that subjects respond to under-reward situations in various ways in an attempt to bring their equity ratio back into balance. For example, subjects may choose a behavioral response to help reduce their feelings of inequity. They may respond in such ways as reducing their inputs (i.