Tag Archives: organizational justice

How Employees Really Feel about Workplace Romances

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Topic: Organizational Justice, Sexual Harassment
Publication: Journal of Business and Psychology (DEC 2009)
Article: Workplace romance: A justice perspective
Authors: N. Cole
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger

Workplace Romances(WRs) are a fact of life. Some statistics suggest that as many as 40% of employees report having had a WR at some point in their careers. Though organizations are often concerned about the potential performance and legal ramifications of in-house WRs, general attitudes toward WRs appear to be changing; employees are much less secretive about WRs than they have been in the past.

Cole (2009) interviewed 100 employees who reported witnessing a WR in their workplace. In general, study participants reported that the fairest managerial action was to treat WRs as inevitable and take little or no action against the employees. However, managerial action was considered fair if the WRs have a negative impact on the work environment and/or job performance. In fact, under these conditions, coworkers may find too little managerial action unfair.

Additionally, employees find managerial action against WRs fair when the parties work in the same department and when the organization has a formal written WR policy. Although positive effects of WRs are sometimes discussed in the literature, Cole notes that none of the participants mentioned potential positive effects of WRs. When participants discussed effects on performance and the work environment, they were always negative. Thus, if positive outcomes are present, coworkers may not perceive them.

Although organizations may have little control over the existence of WRs, Cole’s results highlight the importance of having formal, written WR policies. Surprisingly, most organizations do not have written WR policies, but probably should (see review of Pierce & Aguinis, 2009 for WR policy recommendations). Written policies legitimize managerial action in response to WRs and improve coworker perceptions of such action.  Overall, employees seem accepting of WRs, so long as they do not negatively impact the work environment or performance.

Cole, N. (2009). Workplace romance: A justice perspective. Journal of Business and Psychology, 24, 363-372.

Explanations Can Leave a Sweet Taste in Job Applicants’ Mouths

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Topic: Organizational Justice, Selection
Publication: International Journal of Selection and Assessment (DEC 2009)
Article: Effects of explanations on applicant reactions: A meta-analytic review
Authors: D.M. Truxillo, T.E. Bodner, M. Bertolino, T.N. Bauer, and C.A. Yonce
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger

Oftentimes, job applicants run a gauntlet of various selection tests, assessments, and interviews and it is important to understand how they affect applicants’ reactions toward the organization. Providing job applicants with explanations for the various selection procedures is a cost-effective and easily implemented intervention. Additionally, according to Truxillo and colleagues’ meta-analysis, explanations can positively impact applicants’ reactions toward the employment process and organization as a whole.

Firstly, Truxillo et al. found that explanations have a positive impact on job applicants’ fairness perceptions (e.g., how fair they perceive the selection process to be) and perceptions of the organization as a whole. Explanations were also found to have a more favorable impact on the fairness perceptions of personality employment tests as compared to cognitive ability employment tests (although this relationship is still favorable).

Interestingly, explanations have a positive effect on job applicant motivation which positively impacts job applicants’ cognitive ability test scores. Finally, Truxillo contrasted college student samples with real job applicant samples and found that the relationship between explanations and outcomes tends to be stronger for non-student samples (i.e., “real world” situations).

Ultimately, there is little doubt that organizations should be concerned with job applicants’ reactions to the employment process. Truxillo and colleagues’ findings are encouraging because they suggest that providing explanations to applicants during the employment process is cheap, fast, and effective at improving job applicants’ reactions.

Truxillo, D.M., Bodner, M., Bertolino, T.N., Bauer, T.N., & Yonce, C.A. (2009).  Effects of explanations on applicant reactions: A meta-analytic review. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 17(4), 346-361.

Employee Pay Range Matters, but How?

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Topic: Compensation, Job Performance
Publication: Personnel Psychology (AUTUMN 2009)
Article: Contingencies in the effects of pay range on organizational effectiveness
Authors: S. Kepes, J. Delery, and N. Gupta
Reviewed By: Benjamin Granger

While pay variability among employees may signal to the workforce that the organization values and rewards good performance; it may also signal inequity and unfairness. From an economic perspective, it makes sense to pay for performance, but from a justice perspective, pay differentials may signal unfairness, which can lead to competition, decreased commitment, and dissatisfaction. 

So which is it: Does pay variability among employees enhance or damage performance? A recent study by Kepes, Delery and Gupta (2009) suggests that the reason for the pay variability helps clear these muddy waters.

Indeed, pay variability among employees in the same position can occur for many different reasons (e.g., merit-pay, organizational politics, seniority) and Kepes et al.’s findings suggest that the relationship between pay variability and organizational performance depends on the reason for the pay variability.

Kepes et al. obtained data from HR supervisors of 326 different motor carrier organizations. They found that pay variability has a favorable relationship with productivity when pay is based on performance.  However, when pay was reported as not performance-based, pay variability had a negative influence on productivity.

Notably, low levels of productivity were associated with organizations whose pay range was large and where the pay was reported as being politically-based (i.e., as a result of “brown nosing”, looking out for friends). Poor productivity was also evident when a performance-based pay system was used but the actual pay range was small.

So it seems that pay variability among employees within the same position can both benefit and damage productivity. A key determinant is why the pay variability exists. Interestingly, Kepes and colleagues conclude that when performance-based pay systems are used, there should be meaningfully large pay distinctions among employees.

Kepes, S., Delery, J., & Gupta, N. (2009). Contingencies in the effects of pay range
on organizational effectiveness. Personnel Psychology, 62, 497-531.

Fairness Is In The Eye of The Beholder

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Topic: Organizational Justice Publication: The Journal of Applied Psychology (2008)
Article: Event justice perceptions and employees’ reactions: Perceptions of social entity
justice as a moderator.
Author: J. Choi
Reviewed by: Katie O’Brien

In a land of milk and honey, the copier would never break, we’d never have to work weekends, and work would always be fair.

Well, since we aren’t eating ambrosia, we as employees sometimes have to deal with mightily unfair events at work and sometimes we even have to deliver this unfairness.  New research in the Journal of Applied Psychology by Jaepil Choi has looked into possible moderators that could soften the blow.  He found that, indeed, if your employees feel that they work at a “fair” organization, one or two fairness-related slip-ups won’t make that much of a difference.

In fact, a generalized fairness perception can keep employees from getting angry and acting out negatively, because they see a slip-up or two as an isolated event and not indicative of the organization itself.  People seem to view their company as a single entity rather than a series of events, which is good for supervisors because one bad event won’t kill employee morale.

The take home message: if fairness perception is high, this ship won’t sink from just one little iceberg.  Anchors away!

Choi, J. (2008). Event justice perceptions and employees’ reactions: Perceptions of social entity justice as a moderator. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(3), 513-528.a