How to maintain justice in Managing People ?

A good manager is one who treats everyone fairly.

• The golden rule When you are fair, you treat others as you wish they would treat you.
• No favorites A manager who is fair does not play favorites. You don't give anyone all the good jobs, or all the bad jobs, just because of how you feel about them. You treat them as the unique individuals they are.
• Don't take advantage When you're being fair, you don't take advantage of others based on your position as the manager. You don't treat someone unfairly just because you can and can get away with it.
• Follow the rules When you follow the rules, and apply them equally to everyone, you are being fair. Make sure you apply them to yourself as well.
• Change the rules Sometimes you have to change the rules. If the existing rule makes something unfair, you have to change it. Just be sure that the reason you are changing it really is to increase fairness, not just to justify an outcome that might be better for a favorite. Make sure the new rule is applied equally for all.
• Think about how it affects others As you assign work, for example, think about whether you are doing it fairly, but also consider how other will perceive it. If you have a rule that everyone in the company has to pay $20 per month for the shared coffee in the lunch room, think about the stock clerk for whom that $20 is a major expense and about the accountant who doesn't drink coffee. Who does this rule affect them and is it fair?
• Be honest Be honest with your employees. Tell them why things are done as they are. Tell them why a specific procedure was put in place. Tell them about things you can't tell them, but only if there really is a reason why you can't. When you are honest with them you are treating them equally. You aren't telling them that just because they aren't managers they don't deserve the information. And be honest with yourself too. Look at why you're doing the things you are and in the way you are.

Bottom Line

Being fair all the time to everyone is not easy. It's a lot of hard work. It takes a lot of time out of your day. It requires a lot of thought and planning.

B usiness organizations are generally understood to be economic institutions. Sometimes implicitly, other times explicitly, this “rational” perspective has shaped the relationship that many employers have with their workforce (Ashforth & Humphrey,1995). Many organizations, for example, emphasize the quid pro quo exchange of monetary payment for the performance of concrete tasks (Barley & Kunda,1992). These tasks are often rationally described via job analysis and formally appraised by a supervisor. Hierarchical authority of this type is legitimized based upon the manager’s special knowledge or expertise (Miller & O’Leary,1989). Employee motivation is viewed as a quest for personal economic gain, so individual merit pay is presumed to be effective. Using the rational model, one can make a case for downsizing workers who are not contributing adequately to the “bottom line.” And the rational model is found at the heart of the short-term uptick in the stock price of firms that carry out aggressive cost-cutting measures (Pfeffer,1998). Businesses certainly are economic institutions, but they are not only economic institutions. Indeed, adherence to this paradigm without consideration of other possibilities can have problematic side effects. Merit pay is sometimes ineffective (Pfeffer & Sutton,2006), downsizing often has pernicious long-term effects (Pfeffer,1998), and bureaucratic management can straitjacket workers and reduce innovation. We should attend to economic matters, but also to the sense of duty that goes beyond narrowly defined quid pro quo exchanges. It includes the ethical obligations that one party has to the other. Members may want a lot of benefits, but they also want something more. Organizational justice—members’ sense of the moral propriety of how they are treated—is the “glue” that allows people to work together effectively. Justice defines the very essence of individuals’ relationship to employers. In contrast, injustice is like a corrosive solvent that can dissolve bonds within the community. Injustice is hurtful to individuals and harmful to organizations. In this paper we will discuss organizational justice, with an emphasis on how it can be brought to

• Develop an employee communication plan. Provide information about business development, organizational changes, personnel transfers and promotions and company performance. If your company is publicly traded, include information about the business from an investor’s standpoint, particularly if your employee benefits plan includes employee stock purchase options.

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  Obtain input from employees on a regular basis. Conduct annual employee opinion surveys or post suggestion boxes throughout the workplace. Employees who are encouraged to share their opinions and offer feedback often enjoy better working relationships with peers as well as the management team.

   
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  Give employees opportunities to learn new skills or improve current skills. In addition to performance appraisals, solicit feedback on the type of training and development that employees believe will make them successful and productive.

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  Review your staffing model periodically and whenever the company makes significant changes to workforce planning or recruits large numbers of employees. Ensure employees’ qualifications, skills and interests are suitable for their job roles. Take seriously employees’ suggestions for modifications to their job duties if they are changes that will improve job satisfaction and the company’s productivity levels. Consider employee development, succession planning and career track programs to motivate employees and improve your organization’s employee retention rate.

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  Recognize employees who embody the organization’s philosophy and mission. Provide non-monetary recognition to motivate workers, such as plum assignments, leadership roles and the chance to demonstrate aptitude for higher-level positions.

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  Review your performance management program and your performance standards. Clarify performance expectations and maintain up-to-date job descriptions. Provide refresher training for supervisors who conduct performance evaluations to ensure they understand the fundamentals of performance management and employee coaching.

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  Speak up about performance problems when they arise and be honest about issues with employees whose performance fails to meet the company’s expectations. Reward employees whose performance meets or exceeds the company’s expectations. Conduct performance appraisals regularly, but provide informal and continuous employee feedback throughout the evaluation period so employees aren't left to wonder if they are actually performing their jobs the right way.

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  Maintain current workplace policies in your employee handbook. Distribute revised handbooks to all employees and explain new procedures and policies, as well as the basis for change. Develop an orientation program for new employees to complete before they begin their actual assignments. Give new employees time to adjust to the work environment, processes and colleagues. Enforce workplace policies in a consistent and fair manner for employees at all levels. Make fair employment practices a priority.