1. Justice and Trust
Week 5

2. Organizational Justice
Definition:
Fair treatment from an organization or its members
Direct link to employees’ emotions
Anger
Stress
Direct link to employees’ attitudes
Affective Organizational Commitment
Job Satisfaction
Predicts employees’ behaviors
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors
Counterproductive Workplace Behaviors

3. Organizational Justice
Take a minute to write a paragraph about the most unfair thing that happened to you (or someone you know) at work.
Be as specific as possible
Pick a topic you are comfortable sharing

4. 1. Distributive Justice
Perceived fairness of outcomes relative to our contributions and the outcomes and contributions of others
Cognitive and affective reaction based on:
Equality theory
Fair IF everyone receives identical outcomes
Need theory
Fair IF everyone receives the outcomes they require
Equity theory
Fair IF everyone’s outcomes are proportional to their inputs

5. Distributive Justice Under-reward inequity May try to reduce effort
e.g., reduce effort, take more breaks, be late or absent, etc.
May try to increase rewards
e.g., ask for raise, union or legal action, theft
May act on the comparison other
Tell counterpart to do more work
Switch comparison other
Exit

6. Distributive Justice Over-reward inequity (less common)
May try to increase effort
e.g., work harder, do more difficult tasks, take on leadership role
May act on the comparison other
Tell counterpart to do less work
Not likely to try to reduce rewards
Perceptual change
Cognitive dissonance: if I’m being rewarded, then I must deserve it!

7. 2. Procedural Justice
The fairness of the policies and procedures used to decide the distribution of resources
May be more important than distributive justice
People believe that they should have a say in decision processes, and that these processes should be predictable

8. Procedural Justice 1. Policies and procedures are applied consistently
e.g., don’t make exceptions or start over with each new case
2. Decision-maker is unbiased
e.g., allow participants to choose arbitrator
3. Complete and accurate information is used
e.g., allow respondents to check their files before the proceedings begin
4. A correction or appeal mechanism is available
Shows that the decision-maker is accountable
5. Policies and procedures gather information from and take into account all affected groups
Listen to all sides
6. Policies and procedures conform to prevailing ethical standards (e.g., Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms)

9. 3. Interactional Justice
How the decision maker treats employees during the process
Sometimes referred to as “interpersonal justice”
Treated rudely, ignored, humiliated
vs.
Treated with courtesy and respect

10. 4. Informational Justice
Perceived quality of the explanations provided to employees, regarding why procedures were used in a particular way, or why outcomes were distributed in a certain way (Colquitt, Conlon, Wesson, Porter & Ng, 2001)
“transparency”: are employees told what is going on? Or are they the last to know?
Layoffs, organizational changes, etc.

11. Group Activity Divide into groups of 4-6 people
Refer to your examples of injustice
Decide which types of injustice are evident in each person’s example
Choose your best example to report to the class

12. Trust
Positive expectations about another party’s intentions and actions in risky situations
Occurs when you believe that another party will not adversely affect you in situations where you are vulnerable
Necessary for organizational performance:
Knowledge sharing, interpersonal helping, etc.
Working quickly
How have you decided whether to trust a coworker or boss?

13. Why do we trust someone? Ability or competence Benevolence
Does this person know what s/he is doing?
Does this person have the skills to make good decisions?
Benevolence
Will this person act in his or her own self-interest?
Does this person care about my wellbeing?
Integrity or character
Will this person do what s/he says s/he will?
Do I agree with his or her values?

14. Why do we trust someone? Propensity to trust “Swift” trust
Affects the initial level of trust in a stranger
Trust will change over time
“Swift” trust
Professionals in predictable roles
Team context
see who trusts who
Trust is fragile and difficult to rebuild

15. Build Trust Be trustworthy Discuss values Avoid over-control Wait
Water cooler conversations are helpful
Avoid over-control
“micro-managing” is not helpful
Encourage interdependency
Give partners a chance to demonstrate trustworthiness
Wait
2 years

16. Mini case: Beckerman Form a group of 4 or so
Read the from Keith Zakheim
Rate the organizational justice and trustworthiness that has been expressed.
What would be a better approach?

17. Goals Gone Wild
What was the main contribution of the pair of articles?
Which article did you agree with more? Why?
Were there any statements in either article that you disagreed with?
What else should have been addressed?
What is your overall assessment?