Procedural Justice in Organizations

Abstract

In previous chapters we have made reference to potential applications of procedural justice theory and research to organizational settings. Like courts and political institutions, organizations must make decisions concerning the evaluation of individuals and groups, the allocation of resources and outcomes, and the resolution of disputes. And like other social entities, organizations develop procedures that specify how information is to be gathered and used to make these decisions, who is authorized to make decisions, and how decisions are to be executed. We discuss in this chapter psychological reactions to organizational procedures. Research and theory to date show that, although some special considerations arise in procedural justice in organizations, by and large the same basic psychological processes occur here as in other procedural contexts.