Engagement - Ideas for Leaders...Ideas Library Justice, Fairness and Employee Engagement...
Transcript of Engagement - Ideas for Leaders...Ideas Library Justice, Fairness and Employee Engagement...
10/12/2015 Justice, Fairness and Employee Engagement | Ideas for Leaders
https://www.ideasforleaders.com/ideas/justicefairnessandemployeeengagement 1/4
SEARCH
tel. +44 (0)203 031 2900
CHALLENGE US PINNED ACCOUNT LOG OUT
HOME ABOUT IDEAS LIBRARY IDEAS BY INSTITUTIONS
Ideas Library Justice, Fairness and Employee Engagement
10.13007/334
Ideas for Leaders #334
SKIP TO VIDEO
Justice, Fairness and EmployeeEngagement
Key Concept
Employees’ perceptions of justice in their organizationcan impact important outcomes and should not beignored. In this Idea, positive changes in distributive,procedural, and interactional justice are linked to jobsatisfaction and organizational commitment. Read onto find how these can be built upon in your workplace.
Idea Summary
Organizational justice has become a major focus ofmanagement research in recent years, due to itsconnection with numerous employee outcomes;satisfaction, commitment, trust and reduced levels ofturnover have all been associated with an employee’sperceived level of justice in their workplace. But howexactly do changes in perceptions of justices—bothand positive or negative—affect employee attitudes?In a 2013 paper, Tae-Yeol Kim from CEIBS explores thisquestion, alongside researchers from the University ofMacau and City University of Hong Kong. Theypropose that changes in outcome allocations,company procedures and interpersonal treatment thatmake employees feel that they are being treated morefairly can go a long way towards improving their jobsatisfaction, employee engagement and commitment.
Kim et al collected survey data from 151 employeesacross a wide variety of organizations in Hong Kong,including participants from the finance, service,information technology, manufacturing, and educationindustries. In particular, they measured fairnessperceptions, job satisfaction and affectiveorganizational commitment. They found that changesin distributive, procedural, and interactional justicesignificantly explained variances in job satisfaction.They describe these types of justice perceptions asfollows:
Distributive justice: employees’ perceived fairness oforganizational outcomes that they receive. In other words, are theygetting back as much as they are putting in?
Procedural justice: employees’ perceived fairness of the processes
ShareAuthors
Kim, Tae-YeolLin, Xiao-Wan LinLeung, Kwok
Institutions
China Europe International Business School(CEIBS)University of MacauCity University of Hong Kong
Source
Journal of Business and Psychology
Idea conceived
December 2013
Idea posted
March 2014
DOI number
Subject
Business EthicsHR ManagementOrganizational Behaviour
10/12/2015 Justice, Fairness and Employee Engagement | Ideas for Leaders
https://www.ideasforleaders.com/ideas/justicefairnessandemployeeengagement 2/4
by which outcomes are allocated.
Interactional justice: employees’ perceived fairness of theinterpersonal treatment they receive from authority figures (suchas dignity, respect, etc.)
Positive changes in these forms of justice were foundto be strongly related to job satisfaction and affectiveorganizational commitment. In particular, proceduraljustice was more strongly related to employeeattitudes than other types of justice.
Previous research in this area has focused primarily onUS workers, and the results have suggested thatnegative changes in fairness perceptions have astronger impact on employee attitudes than positivechanges. This study, however, showed the opposite;positive changes had a stronger affect on the jobattitudes of employees in Hong Kong. This may be dueto cultural differences, but is nevertheless relevant forglobal organizations that may wish to do business inthe region.
Business Application
According to Kim et al’s research, organizations andexecutives that want to build affective commitmentand enhance their employees’ job satisfaction need topromote and highlight these positive changes in orderto leverage their benefits on job attitudes.Undoubtedly, improving employees’ perceptions offairness is very important, and these findings suggestthis can be done by:
establishing fair procedures in allocating rewards;
providing detailed and timely explanations for decision proceduresand outcomes; and
tailoring communication to meet employees’ specific needs.
In addition, training supervisors to help themimplement fair practices in their interactions withsubordinates may also be helpful.
They also found that justice perceptions tended todecrease over time in newcomers to an organization,which might be explained due to the wearing off of a‘honeymoon effect’. This can be prevented byproviding realistic previews of fairness issues in theorganization to reduce unrealistic expectations.
10/12/2015 Justice, Fairness and Employee Engagement | Ideas for Leaders
https://www.ideasforleaders.com/ideas/justicefairnessandemployeeengagement 3/4
Justice, Fairness and EmployeeEngagementfrom Ideas for Leaders PRO
04:37
License Notice
This content is provided free-to-accessfor your own personal research,development and private study.
A license must be acquired for use byorganizations, for employee developmentor as a learning resource. To purchase alicense and learn about other partnerbenefits contact us.
Standard terms and conditions apply.
More like this
How Employees Win ‘Voice’ andInfluence Decisions
How Conducting Appraisals Well BuildsEthical Behaviour
Fostering Diversity and Inclusion withRespectful Leadership
References
A Dynamic Approach to Fairness: Effects ofTemporal Changes of Fairness Perceptions on JobAttitudes. Tae-Yeol Kim, Xiao-Wan Lin & KwokLeung. Journal of Business and Psychology(December 2013).
Further Reading and Relevant Resources
Tae-Yeol Kim’s profile at CEIBS
Xiao-Wan Lin’s profile at the University of Macau
Kwok Leung’s profile at City University of Hong Kong
CEIBS Executive Education profile at IEDP
10/12/2015 Justice, Fairness and Employee Engagement | Ideas for Leaders
https://www.ideasforleaders.com/ideas/justicefairnessandemployeeengagement 4/4
Instilling Morality In Organizations
© Copyright IEDP Ideas for Leaders 2015
About
AboutPeopleIEDPPartner Institutions
Legal
Terms of UsePrivacyDisclaimerCookies
Help
SubscribeHelpFAQsContactAccessibility
Follow
TwitterFacebookLinkedInGoogle+YouTube
Site by Deeson