The role of justice in team member satisfaction with the leader and attachment to the team

Leaders—watch out for LMX differentiation: A multilevel model of leader-related antecedences and consequences of LMX differentiation

Research has shown that leader–member exchange differentiation affects individual and group outcomes. However, it is not yet clear how such unequal treatment affects the team’s perception of their leader in terms of leader-related outcomes, such as perceived leader communication quality, satisfaction with the leader, and perceived leader effectiveness. We analyzed how leader–member exchange differentiation in teams affects leader-related outcomes, and how it is affected by transformational leadership at the team level. Multilevel analyses of data from 92 teams with 831 employees indicated that leader–member exchange differentiation within teams is negatively related to leader-related outcomes, whereas transformational leadership is negatively related to leader–member exchange differentiation. In addition, we found positive indirect effects from transformational leadership to the leader-related outcomes via leader–member exchange differentiation.

Subtle Discrimination as Natural “Equal Reaction” to Organizational Actions, and Practical Ways To Soften It

The article on subtle discrimination by Jones and colleagues (K. P. Jones, Arena, Nittrouer, Alonso, & Lindsey, 2017) describes in detail and enriches the knowledge on this undesirable yet quite common phenomenon in organizations. In this comment, we argue that subtle discrimination behaviors are natural and predictable in view of organizational actions taken to increase diversity on one hand and prevent overt discrimination on the other hand. Also, practical ways to reduce the phenomenon are suggested.

Antecedents and Consequences of Procedural Justice Perceptions in Hierarchical Decision-Making Teams

A model is presented that posits positive and independent effects for process control and decision control on procedural justice perceptions in hierarchical decision-making teams with distributed expertise. It is proposed that procedural justice perceptions will be positively related to staff member self-efficacy and satisfaction with the leader, which will be negatively related to task withdrawal. A laboratory experiment was conducted with 126 participants performing a computerized decision-making task in 42 teams. Each team consisted of a leader in addition to 3 participants performing as subordinates. Path analysis results support the proposed model. Implications for applying justice theory to team effectiveness and leadership are discussed.

A multi-level exploration of empowerment mediators

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore the underlying mechanisms through which empowerment affects organizational outcomes via a multi-dimensional model. Specifically, the paper suggests that empowerment climate (EC) is positively related to psychological empowerment (PE) and the effect of PE on the outcome variable of job satisfaction is mediated by justice perceptions and role clarity.

Design/methodology/approach

– In total, 765 employees at the executive level across 26 distinct groups in a large manufacturing firm participated in the survey. Multi-level analyses based on both hierarchical linear modeling and multi-level structural equation modeling techniques were utilized to test the hypotheses.

Findings

– This research demonstrated that EC significantly affected PE and that perceptions of justice and role clarity mediated the relationship between PE and job satisfaction. Additional analyses demonstrated that EC did not significantly affect organizational outcomes above and beyond PE, justice, and role clarity.

Practical implications

– The current study suggests that managers concerned with increasing employee perceptions of justice may be able to do so by increasing perceptions of employee empowerment. As only individual employee perceptions of empowerment related directly to organizational outcomes, this demonstrates the importance for managers to understand perceptions of employees.

Originality/value

– Exploring these mechanisms will strengthen the knowledge regarding how empowerment works to enhance organizational effectiveness. This will enable practitioners to better determine how and when empowerment will be most effective.

Exploring the link between organisational justice and job satisfaction and performance in Ghanaian hospitals

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to examine whether organisational justice (distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice) predicts job satisfaction and performance of health professionals and whether the demographic characteristics of hospital employees mediate the relationship between workplace justice and job satisfaction and performance.

Design/methodology/approach

– Questionnaires were administered to a sample of 300 respondents in seven hospitals using convenient sampling. Hypotheses were tested using multiple and hierarchical regression models.

Findings

– The paper established that distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice predict job satisfaction and performance of health professionals. However, their demographic characteristics are shown to partially mediate the relationship between organisational justice and job satisfaction but not performance.

Originality/value

– Granted that other studies exist, this is one of the few that focuses on hospitals and probably the first of its kind in Ghanaian hospitals. Thus the findings could be essential for policy and practice and also generate further discourse that may improve the extant literature and our understanding of the subject.

Organisational justice climate, social capital and firm performance

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework in order to understand the impact of organizational justice climate on firm performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper reviews the literature on organizational justice and social capital and theorizes their relationship with firm performance. The underlying argument of this paper is that a climate of organizational justice influences firm performance indirectly through its influence on social capital.

Findings

The paper suggests ways through which different types of justice climate – distributive, procedural, interactional – are related to different dimensions of social capital. This paper also extends the findings of organizational justice research from an individual level to organizational level by proposing an indirect relationship with firm performance.

Originality/value

This paper is unique, as no research to date has proposed a conceptual framework integrating organizational justice climate, social capital and firm performance.

Perceived organizational justice as a predictor of long-term sickness absence due to diagnosed mental disorders: results from the prospective longitudinal Finnish Public Sector Study

Organizational justice perceptions have been suggested to be associated with symptoms of mental health but the nature of the association is unknown due to reporting bias (measurement error related to response style and reversed causality). In this study, we used prospective design and long-term (>9 days) sickness absence with psychiatric diagnosis as the outcome measure. Participants were 21,221 Finnish public sector employees (the participation rate at baseline in 2000-2002 68%), who responded to repeated surveys of procedural and interactional justice in 2000-2004 along with register data on sickness absence with a diagnosis of depression or anxiety disorders (822 cases). Results from logistic regression analyses showed that a one-unit increase in self-reported and work-unit level co-worker assessed interactional justice was associated with a 25-32% lower odds of sickness absence due to anxiety disorders. These associations were robust to adjustments for a variety of potential individual-level confounders including chronic disease (adjusted OR for self-reported interactional justice 0.77, 95% CI 0.65-0.91) and were replicated using co-worker assessed justice. Only weak evidence of reversed causality was found. The results suggest that low organizational justice is a risk factor for sickness absence due to anxiety disorders.

Learning to lead: self- and peer evaluation of team leaders in the human structure didactic block

Increasing emphasis on leadership in medical education has created a need for developing accurate evaluations of team leaders. Our study aimed to compare the accuracy of self- and peer evaluation of student leaders in the first-year Human Structure block (integrated gross anatomy, embryology, and radiology). Forty-nine first-year medical students at Mayo Medical School were assigned to learning teams of three or four members. Teams worked together on daily laboratory dissection, clinical projects, embryology presentations, and daily group quizzes. Student team leaders were responsible for leading laboratory dissection, reviewing radiographic findings, and organizing group assignments. Weekly electronic surveys were administered to evaluate team leaders on altruism, compassion, respect, integrity, responsibility, commitment to excellence, and self-reflection. Results demonstrated that team leaders rated themselves lower than their peers rated them in multiple aspects of leadership. Peer evaluation of team leaders was statistically higher than self-evaluation in all traits measured except respect. Female leaders were rated higher by their peers in the areas of responsibility and self-reflection compared to male leaders. This study demonstrates the need for increased communication between team leaders and members, along with creation of a mutually respectful environment, to improve leader awareness of their abilities and foster team success.

Organisational justice and employee perceptions on hospital management

PURPOSE

The purpose to clarify what kind of managerial challenges employees experience regarding organisational justice in hospitals.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

This exploratory study of 8,971 employees working in 14 hospitals and examines the concept of organisational justice in management with qualitative and quantitative methods.

FINDINGS

An inductive content analysis of the comments revealed five integrative frames describing challenges in hospital management at respondents' workplaces. These frames should be regarded as major managerial challenges in hospitals. These findings illustrate important antecedents of organisational justice and suggest that work units tend to share the same perceptions of justice. They also reveal that individually produced comments reflect collective experiences in organisational justice. Further, the results indicate that problems in management and policies are often experienced in a complex way, and people making justice judgements do not separate procedural and interactional factors.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS

Although the commentators producing qualitative data represented many organisational hierarchy levels, the results should not be generalised to apply to horizontal, informal social relationships.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

This paper gives useful information regarding challenges in human resources management in hospitals.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

The paper suggests that people making fairness judgements do not make a distinction between procedural and interpersonal factors. Instead, they use any information available to judge the righteousness of the management events. This paper serves to guide hospital managers towards a better understanding of the importance of organisational justice and its collective nature.

Does the Justice of the One Interact With the Justice of the Many? Reactions to Procedural Justice in Teams

This article reported the results of 2 studies that examined reactions to procedural justice in teams. Both studies predicted that individual members' reactions would be driven not just by their own procedural justice levels but also by the justice experienced by other team members. Study 1 examined intact student teams, whereas Study 2 occurred in a laboratory setting. The results showed that individual members' own justice interacted with others' justice, such that higher levels of role performance occurred when justice was consistent within the team. These effects were strongest in highly interdependent teams and weakest for members who were benevolent with respect to equity sensitivity.

Leadership and the quality of care

The importance of good leadership is becoming increasingly apparent within health care. This paper reviews evidence which shows that it has effects, not only on financial management, but on the quality of care provided. Some theories of leadership are discussed, primarily in terms of how different types of leaders might affect quality in different ways, including the effects that they might have on the stress or wellbeing of their staff which, in turn, is related to the quality of care produced. Finally, the conflicts shown in terms of leadership within the context of health care are discussed, leading to the conclusion that development programmes must be specially tailored to address the complexities of this arena.

The role of decision influence and team performance in member self-efficacy, withdrawal, satisfaction with the leader, and willingness to return

This study examines team performance as a moderator of the relationship between decision influence and outcomes relevant to team effectiveness in hierarchical teams with distributed ex pertise. In this type of team staff members have unique roles and make recommendations to the team leader, who ultimately makes the team's final decisions. It is suggested that the positive rela tionship between decision influence and favorable outcomes (e.g., satisfaction) consistently described in the literature is dependent on team performance in this type of team. Specifically, team effec tiveness outcomes are proposed to be consistently more favorable in higher performing than in lower performing teams. Decision influence is proposed to relate positively to member satisfaction with the leader, willingness to return, and self-efficacy and to relate negatively to withdrawal in higher performing teams. The opposite pattern of relationships is expected in lower performing teams. A laboratory study was conducted with 228 undergradu ates performing a computer task as subordinates in 76 four-person teams with a confederate leader. The results generally support the hypotheses and illustrate a dilemma for leaders attempting to manage team effectiveness.