Organizational Justice

1570 Words4 Pages

Human existence takes place in societal institutions where interpersonal communication and cooperation is necessary for co-existence. The benefits gained from participation in these institutions are either economical, socioemotional, or a combination of both. Economic benefits provide a means to obtain material goods and comfort, while socioemotional benefits provide individuals with status or value within a group. How these benefits are distributed across society is of high importance to the individuals (Schminke, Ambrose, & Noel, 1997). Generally speaking, society expects some type of equality measure. Organizational justice refers to the role of fairness in the workplace. Fairness is a perception related to three types of justice: distributive, procedural, and interactional.

Prior to 1975, organizational justice research focused on distributive justice. Distributive justice is determined to be fair or unfair based on the perception of equity among stakeholders within a specific group or class (Schminke et al., 1997). Stakeholders determine fairness of distribution through comparison of others. If all members within a class or group are receiving the same amount of benefit for their contributions, the organization is perceived to be fair. Individuals are more likely to sacrifice on behalf of the collective group if they believe the organization is fair and just (Schminke et al., 1997). Conversely, if benefits are not distributed equally within the class, individuals are more likely to view the organization as unfair which can create tension leading to deviant behaviors (Al-zu’bi, 2010).

According to social exchange theory, people assess fairness by considering the outcome compared to the contributions. Alloc...

... middle of paper ...

...61&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O., & Ng, K. Y. (2001, June). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 425-445. doi: 10.1037//0021-9010.86.3.425

Greenberg, J. S., & Cropanzano, R. S. (Eds.). (2001). Advances in organizational justice [ebrary ]. Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/cochise/Doc?id=10040245

Hastings, S. E., & Finegan, J. E. (2011, June). The role of ethical ideology in reactions to injustice. Journal of Business Ethics, 100(4), 689-703. doi: 10.1007/s10551-010-0704-x

Schminke, M., Ambrose, M. L., & Noel, T. W. (1997, October). The effect of ethical frameworks on perceptions of organizational justice. The Academy of Management Journal, 40(5), 1190-1207. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/256932

Open Document