Practicing ethics within the organization: Forms of Organizational Justice
Distributive Justice – how rewards are shared among members of an organization – we all want to be paid fairly for the work we do and get adequate recognition for our efforts. If this does not happen, the distributive injustice might result in stress, dissatisfaction with job, etc and consequently, reduced efforts, greater absenteeism or otherwise trying to balance the scales in a what is perceived as a fair way.
Procedural Justice – is about justice also being seen to be done. Is about people’s perceptions of fairness about the procedure used to determine outcomes. It is a cognitive assessment of a variety of criteria. It can be improved by: * Voice in the making of decisions (to have a say in decisions affecting them) * Consistency in applying the rules (same standards for judging all answer papers) * Accuracy in use of information (e.g. of paying overtime to the driver) * Opportunity to correct errors (even our legal system has something called a review mechanism) * Safeguard against bias – a person cannot be judge in their own case or in a case in which they have an interest (non-comp entry of my student when I am a judge)
If not present, people are unlikely to adhere to rules they perceive as arbitrary and unfair – e.g. traffic rules? So much corruption in the system
Interpersonal justice – people’s perceptions of fairness are also impacted by how they feel they have been treated – with respect? E.g. of letting someone go. When present. It leads to a positive feeling about one’s leader or organization.
Informational justice – people’s perceptions of fairness of information used to decide something – e.g. smoking ban
There is some evidence to show that training can help people influence perceptions of justice and this in turn can reduce some of the negative outcomes of