Ch 2: Org Justice, Ethics, & Social Responsibility Jan. 22, 2009

Organizational Justice Focus on perceptions of fairness –What was the outcome of your perf. eval? –How was it done? –The first question refers to your perception of distributive justice: –Second question refers to your perception of procedural justice:

Distributive justice: –What are negative outcomes of low levels? –People are very sensitive to how resources are distributed on the job How are outcomes distributed? –Equity rule –Equality rule –Need rule –Cross-cultural differences…

Procedural Justice Procedural justice: –How do we determine this?

Outcomes of procedural justice: –If low, may discount the evaluation/feedback –If low, may reject the entire system as unfair Other types of justice examined in research: –Interpersonal justice – perception of how fairly you’re treated by others –Informational justice – perception of fairness of info used to make a decision

Interactions between forms Distributive X Procedural justice: –Favorable outcomes? –Unfavorable outcomes? Greenberg’s factory lay-off studies Informational X Interpersonal justice: –Outcomes perceived as most fair when given lots of info & treated w/respect

Enhancing Justice Injustice linked w/many negative outcomes –Lower job sat, less helping behavior, higher turnover –Pay fair market wages –Give employees a voice (examples?) –Allow appeals, correct unfairness –Use interpers. justice when negative decision Most outcomes of justice have econ impact on the org

Ethics Tendency to behave in morally appropriate ways at work. –Recent attempts to legislate good ethics: Fed. Sentencing Guidelines – Sarbanes-Oxley Act – –More orgs appointing ‘ethics officers’ & hotlines to report violations –Limit acceptance of gifts from vendors –Do ethics training programs work well?

Cross-cultural issues Different standards in other cultures –2 extremes Ethical relativism – Ethical imperialism – –Compromise by paying attention to the context

Moral Development Kohlberg’s theory – focus on cognition –Preconventional level – –Conventional level – –Postconventional level – –Also large contextual influence – org climate may have norms that allow unethical behavior

Social Responsibility Contributions to the community/society –Charity –Pro-environment practices –Socially responsible investments Microsoft’s withdrawal of support for state legislation giving civil rights to gays –Why was this viewed as hypocritical? Bidirectional relationship between soc responsibility & profit