How to Create a Fair Workplace: Crash Course Business: Soft Skills #15

TL;DR

Create a fair workplace by distributing outcomes thoughtfully, using consistent and unbiased procedures, and treating everyone with dignity and respect. Organizational justice includes three kinds of fairness: outcome, procedural, and interactional. Managers should weigh need, equality, and merit, give employees a voice, use accurate information, suppress bias, and allow corrections. Read on for practical ways to apply each principle.

Transcript

A man on trial stands in front of two livestock pens, one full of grass and clover, and one with just dirt. The judge of this village is there too, holding a sheep on a rope. The judge says the man will be declared guilty if the sheep walks into the pen with food, and he’ll be declared innocent if it walks into the one without. I think we all can ... Read More

Key Insights

• 😀 Fairness is crucial in the workplace as it builds trust, increases productivity, and promotes a happier work environment.
• 🧑‍⚖️ Outcome fairness is subjective and can be judged based on norms such as need, equality, and merit.
• 💁 Procedural fairness requires consistent rules, opportunities for employee voice, accurate information, bias suppression, and correctability.
• 🫡 Interactional fairness involves treating people with dignity and respect, which can prevent counterproductive work behavior.
• ❓ Biases can impact fairness in the workplace and should be minimized by individuals and organizations.
• 🤗 Having open conversations about fairness and advocating for oneself using specific feedback can lead to positive change.
• ⚖️ Fairness is a complex concept that requires considering different perspectives and balancing various norms.

Questions & Answers

Q: How can managers create a fair workplace?

Managers can create fairness by considering how outcomes are distributed, making decision processes consistent and unbiased, and treating people with dignity and respect. They should also give employees a voice, use accurate information, suppress bias, and provide ways to correct decisions.

Q: Why is fairness important in the workplace?

Fairness helps a workplace function by building trust and making people more productive, happier, and less likely to quit. Unfair procedures, decisions, or power structures can quickly damage that trust.

Q: What is organizational justice?

Organizational justice is the idea that people at a company feel they are being treated fairly. It is subjective because people compare what they receive with what they believe they deserve and with what others receive.

Q: What are the three types of workplace fairness?

The three types are outcome fairness, procedural fairness, and interactional fairness. They address whether rewards feel deserved, whether decision-making processes feel fair and unbiased, and whether people are treated with dignity and respect.

Q: How should managers evaluate outcome fairness?

Managers can evaluate outcome fairness through the norms of need, equality, and merit. Each norm can lead to a different result, so managers should consider what employees value, recognize their own biases, and account for the organization’s culture.

Q: How do need, equality, and merit affect bonus decisions?

For a $3,000 bonus shared among three team members, the need norm gives more to the person who needs it most, while equality gives each person $1,000. The merit norm gives the most to whoever contributed the most, although performance may look different when measured by hours, revenue, or client numbers.

Q: What makes a workplace decision-making process fair?

A fair process has five features: consistent procedures, employee voice, accurate information, bias suppression, and correctability. For example, overtime policies should apply equally to interns and executives, and a firing decision should be based on accurate facts.

Q: How can bias undermine workplace fairness?

Self-serving bias can lead people to favor rules or norms that benefit themselves, such as preferring a work schedule that matches their own circumstances. Managers should recognize these tendencies and make informed, calculated decisions that consider how other people will view the outcome.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Fairness is a fundamental aspect of a functional workplace, as it helps build trust, increase productivity, and create a happier work environment.

• There are three types of fairness that are important in day-to-day operations: outcome fairness, procedural fairness, and interactional fairness.

• Outcome fairness is subjective and can be judged based on the norms of need, equality, and merit.