1.0 Introduction
OB is an acronym for organizational behaviour, which studies how people interact within an organization or an enterprise. The interaction of people within the organization is determined by several factors, such as the roles, the ranks, the culture, and the nature of the processes that occur in the organization. It can also be determined by the gender and age of the individuals in the organization (Marker, 2019).
The OB, in this case, can be used to measure the organization’s progress as the organization with good or best OB can be considered best in performance. The concepts that align with the OB are also essential factors for the study as they help determine the OB in the organization and how the OB in the organization can be improved (Kreitner et al., 2017). These concepts can be studied independently, although some of them are interrelated. The study will focus on one specific factor which will be able to provide answers to what the concept means according to the original author of the concept, the importance of the named concept to managers in the organization, the things that are related to it in the organizational research and how managers can use the information involving this concept (Nahavandi et al., 2016). The selected OB concept for this research is “organizational justice.”
2.0 Organizational justice
Organizational justice refers to how their organization is fair, equitable and just in the workplace. It is a critical factor in determining how people perform different duties within the organization and how the working environment will be conducive to the working conditions of employees. Every organization has its way of operation, which makes differences in the performance of different organizations and how each operates. Organizational justice is fundamental in the organization because it influences how the employees perceive their workplace according to the equitable distribution of roles and duties in the organization. Organizational justice also influences decisions making in that the employees lack trust in the organization’s management and directives. Where there is no organizational justice, employees will always feel oppressed by the organization’s directions and decisions.
3.0 Defining organizational justice
Organizational justice is the concept within organizational behaviour, which refers to the fairness, equitability and just of the processes in the workplace, policies and decisions made in the workplace. Organizational justice comprises three main components: interactional justice, distributional; justice, and procedural justice. As each component suggests, distributional justice refers to a fair distribution of resources within the organization. These resources may be promotions in work, commissions, and many other benefits that come in the course of organizational functionality. Procedural justice is the justice in the procedures that the organization undertakes to determine the performance of employees and the decision-making process where every employee’s decision should be taken into account. Interactional justice refers to the person-to-person justice each employee receives from the organization during work.
3.1 Example of organizational culture in the organization
To understand organizational justice well, we can look at a company with many workers for operational production. The company has to hire employees for every department, such as human resource managers, production managers, chain supply managers, marketing directors and other top management staff. In each case, the management personnel, there are assistants who, in most cases, have similar qualifications to the managers, and others have even more experience that the top managers. Suppose the company loses one of the managers through any uncertainty and must hire a new manager. In that case, it may consider promoting the assistant manager because of his or her competence and that he or she meets all qualifications. If the company looks down on promoting loyal and competent assistance to the top management, this can be termed a distributional injustice. The assistant manager who feels qualified for the job should also be interviewed, if necessary and promoted.
4.0 Importance of organizational justice to managers
Organizational justice is very important for managers because, given that every organization aims to perform well, the employees are in the first line in pushing the organization towards performing well. Employees can only work well in an organization with good organizational justice. Organizational justice helps the employees to have a positive attitude towards the organization. Employees are treated equally, and therefore they trust the organization, where they will work more efficiently because the environment will be conducive to working.
These are significant factors for the performance of every organization. Organizational justice brings about employee satisfaction and commitment hence working harder for the organization. It helps in modelling employees’ thoughts towards the work by helping them acquire adequate resources required for the work and having enough strength to do their duties due to motivation from the organization. Organizations with organizational injustice discourage and demotivate the workers and make their work more challenging as they will no longer be on good terms with the organization, which can also lead to disagreements.
Organizational justice helps retain the employees, as they will be able to appreciate their work and create peace and unity. This is very important because it leads to the company or organization being on the front line for the products and services that it offers. Competitors will find copying the organization’s culture difficult because it is a multiprocessing factor. Every organization has its way of service production, service delivery, and organizational structure.
It also helps establish legal compliance, as the right of every employee will be considered in the workplace. Organizational justice is fundamental in preventing cases where the organization is faced with the law for the failure to observe the rights of the employees in the workplace. If this happens, the organization will perceive a bad reputation as the people in the external environment will fear associating with the organization.
Managers with good knowledge and understanding of organizational justice can create a conducive and cohesive environment where the employees will find it suitable to work in a peaceful environment away from chaos, discrimination, inequality, and uncertainties. This makes the work done high quality and increases the organizational output and services to the client as even the customers and potential clients will be attracted to the organizational products. Managers can consider a variety of factors in order to improve organizational justice. These factors include; employee satisfaction, motivation, equality, indiscrimination, and other factors like recognition of work and establishment of a conducive environment for work.
5.0 Research findings on organizational justice
Organizational justice is related to other organizational outcomes like employee performance, employee satisfaction, commitment, and turnover of the organization. These aspects are related directly to organizational justice because organizational justice influences them. Justice in the organization influences all of those listed outcomes. For performance, researches show that in organizations where there is organizational justice, the organization performs better as employees work well in a good environment, compared to organizations where there organizational injustice because it makes employees work poorly due to fear of intimidation and discrimination. They are often demoralized in this environment, and this brings about poor performance in the organization. In organizations with organizational justice, employee satisfaction and commitment are guaranteed, which leads to good performance.
Employee satisfaction brings about employee commitment, as employees are encouraged and motivated through recognition for good work and being given prices after a reasonable working period and the organization’s performance. The researchers also show that an organization that does not motivate its workers or provide a suitable environment for employees often needs to perform better. This is attributed to the fact that moods and feelings control any person, and when feelings are tampered with, the behaviour changes. The person may act as if he or she is happy with the working environment provided, but this becomes as tiresome as one works pretending to be happy when they are not (Ouyang et al., 2021). It lowers the quality of work that one offers to the organization. Taking the example of organizational office employees, an oppressive and discriminative organization will lead to the employment of incompetent staff because the organization does not even consider promoting the existing employees who work in that organization, even if they can perform the duties.
The research identified different factors that influence organizational justice. This factor includes the leadership behaviours and how leadership is attributed to the organization, onboarding processes crucial to determining organizational decision-making, and the organizational design and structure (Elamin et al., 2017). These factors influence the maintenance and development of organizational justice. Many authors argue that the assumptions and behaviours of organizational leaders influence organizational justice.
5.1 Using organizational justice information
The information on organizational justice is essential for the managers in the organization to shape the organization into a better-performing enterprise. The information is crucial because every organization must be in a particular culture. However, organizations with excellent organizational justice perform better than those with organizational injustice practices because they demoralize the employees and make them feel discriminated against.
Managers can use this information to establish organizational justice by ensuring employee satisfaction, engagement, and motivation. By doing this, they will have an established environment leading the organization toward achieving the set obligations, objectives, and visions (Tziner et al., 2017). This will also attract people in the external environment, which will be necessary during recruitment of the new staff members, as the pool of potential candidates will be attracted to the company, as also the customers who consume the services from the organization as the product will be of high quality and presentable. The organization will also have an excellent competitive edge, which will keep away the competitors helping it be firm in the market and stable in customer satisfaction.
5.2 What should managers do to improve organizational justice?
Managers can consider different ways to improve the organization’s justice. This is through ensuring that the working conditions for the organizations favour the employees and that there is good communication and passage of information without discriminating against some people (Al-Zu’bi, 2020). They should also ensure organizational transparency concerning employee recruitment processes, pay and promotions. Information in the organization should flow in an order that allows every person in the organization acquires the information.
The information or any communication should also be made where necessary and at the correct times. Whenever an issue arises with the employees, the organization’s management should consider solving the problem or the issue fairly so that both parties will become satisfied with the organizational decision (Clay-Warner et al., 2015). This promotes love and unity in the workplace. The managers should also consider programs that motivate the employees, which shall be carried out at every specific time of the year. This can create an environment where employees will work well in the organization, improving and increasing the organization’s output and promoting inclusivity.
6.0 Conclusion
Organizational justice plays a vital role in organizational behaviour and performance as it can lead to the excellent performance of the organization or failure in the organization’s performance. It is highly recommended that organizations have a just operating within the organization’s working framework to enhance the output of every employee and ensure that the organization achieves its goals (Schermerhorn et al., 2021). Organizational justice is also essential in strategically establishing the organization’s identity and functions, which help improve productivity and the decision-making process (Ahmadzade et al., 2021). It is essential because it helps the organization be well-equipped with the best employees and has separate trust in the external environment, such as the market, government, and technology. An organization with justified operations will acquire the best and most competent workers, as there will be no corruption where incompetent persons can sneak into the organization.
7.0 References
Ahmadzadeh Mashinchi, S., Yaghoubi, E., Ahmadi, E., Hadi, A., & Hamid, E. (2021). An analysis of the correlation between organizational justice and job satisfaction. African Journal of Business Management, 6(3), 995–1002.
Al-Zu’bi, H. A. (2020). A study of the relationship between organizational justice and job satisfaction. International journal of business and management, 5(12), 102.
Clay-Warner, J., Reynolds, J., & Roman, P. (2015). Organizational justice and job satisfaction: A test of three competing models. Social Justice Research, pp. 18, 391–409.
Elamin, A. M., & Alomaim, N. (2017). Does organizational justice influence job satisfaction and self-perceived performance in Saudi Arabia’s work environment? International Management Review, 7(1), 38-49.
Kreitner, R., Kinicki, A., & Buelens, M. (2017). Organizational behaviour. Homewood, IL: Irwin.
Nahavandi, A., Denhardt, R. B., Denhardt, J. V., & Aristigueta, M. P. (2016). Organizational behaviour. Sage Publications.
Ouyang, Z., Sang, J., Li, P., & Peng, J. (2021). Organizational justice and job insecurity as mediators of the effect of emotional intelligence on job satisfaction: A study from China. Personality and Individual Differences, 76, 147-152.
Schermerhorn Jr, J. R., Osborn, R. N., Uhl-Bien, M., & Hunt, J. G. (2021). Organizational behaviour. john wiley & sons.
Tziner, A., Oren, L., Bar, Y., & Kadosh, G. (2017). Corporate social responsibility, organizational justice and job satisfaction: how do they interrelate, if at all? Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 27(1), 67-72.