Poor organisational justice

Types of poor organisational justice include lack of:

• procedural fairness - including fair processes to reach decisions
• informational fairness – that ensures relevant people are kept informed
• relational fairness – including good quality relationships and interactions and organisational climate
• interpersonal fairness - where people are treated with dignity and respect
• distributive justice – including perceived fairness and justice in rewards and outcomes or resource allocation.

Poor organisational justice occurs when the principles of fairness, equity and justice are not upheld with an organisation and there are systematic failures or deficiencies in the way decisions are made, workers are treated, and resources are allocated. It becomes a hazard when it is very poor, long-term or happens often.

What is poor organisational justice?

Examples of poor organisational justice include:

• failing to treat workers’ information sensitively or maintain their privacy
• policies or procedures that are unfair, biased or applied inconsistently
• penalising workers for things outside their control
• failing to recognise or accommodate the reasonable needs of workers
• discriminating against particular groups or not applying policies fairly to some groups
• failing to appropriately address (actual or alleged) underperformance, inappropriate or harmful behaviour, or misconduct
• allocating work, shifts and opportunities in a discriminatory or unfair way
• no or inadequate processes for making decisions affecting workers.

Poor organisational justice can occur in isolation however it will often occur in combination with other psychosocial hazards at work, increasing risk of harm.

Resources on organisational justice

• Poor organisational justice - Safe Work Australia