Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Organisational Justice: A Senian Perspective

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this paper, we draw inferences from the Nobel laureate Amartya Sen’s book, The Idea of Justice to inform the organisational justice literature. The extant societal-level theories of justice tend to emphasise aspects that are analogous to either the procedural or distributive dimensions of organisational justice. The Senian idea of comprehensive justice is different in that it synthesises the procedural- and distributive-related dimensions at the societal-level. We theorise that the Senian notion could be applied at the organisational-level to facilitate outcomes that are actually valued by the workforce. Further, we contend that the emphasis on non-parochialism in the Senian notion of justice makes it particularly relevant to the ethics of multi-national corporations (MNCs) operating in alien cultures. To support our contention, we analyse the lean manufacturing practices of a Japanese MNC operating in India. Our case analysis demonstrates how Senian thinking helps one surface unjust outcomes that would otherwise go unacknowledged. Our analysis also offers tentative support to Senian claims about the capacity of human behaviour to undermine well-designed institutions. Concurring with the Senian view, which favours combating manifest injustice rather than fixating over designing perfectly just institutions, we derive some normative implications to advance the cause of striving for outcomes that are actually valued by the workforce.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The more important basic liberties listed by Rawls (1999, p. 53) include political liberty (i.e. the right to vote and hold public office); liberty of conscience and freedom of thought; and other rights such as the freedom of speech and assembly; freedom from psychological oppression, physical assault and dismemberment; the right to hold personal property and freedom from arbitrary arrest and seizure as defined by the concept of law.

  2. Rawls distinguishes between natural primary goods (i.e. health, vigour, imagination, and so forth) and social primary goods (i.e. rights, liberties, opportunities, income and wealth, and the social bases of self-respect). He notes that while the former do get influenced by the basic social structure, they are not directly under its control. Thus, the second principle mainly pertains to arrangements for distributing social primary goods. Rawls appears to half-heartedly acknowledge the fact that natural primary goods can greatly increase one's access to social primary goods and vice versa. This potential for mutual influence, of course, raises important questions. For instance, would it be just to expect those enjoying good health to subsidize healthcare for the infirm? "Yes, but only if it meant everyone benefitting from cross subsidies," would be the ambiguous Rawlsian answer.

  3. In 2010, following several allegations of unintended accelerations leading to fatal accidents, Toyota recalled over seven million cars in the US alone. In his testimony to a US Congressional Committee, the CEO Akoyo Toyoda admitted that Toyota had grown its overseas operations too rapidly; thereby implying that the company had failed to indoctrinate its new employees and suppliers to the demanding tenets of lean manufacturing (see Heskett 2011, pp. 128–132).

  4. Cognitive dissonance theory holds that when individuals experience conflicting feelings (i.e. dissonance), they experience psychological discomfort and make efforts to reach a state of consonance. At TKM, earning high wages and feeling disempowered owing to a functioning being deprived did not go together. The employees might have subconsciously tried to redress their cognitive dissonance through protests.

  5. As per Rawls (1971), justice operates at three levels: global, domestic, and local. He asserts that justice-related principles embraced at the domestic level by a society extend their influence outwards to inform a nation's foreign policy at a global level and percolate downwards to influence justice at the local level. So, one could theorise about business organisations as entities operating at the local level of a Rawlsian justice delivery mechanism (for a more detailed analysis see Lindblom 2011).

  6. The office being recommended will not substitute current institutional arrangements at the societal-level. The labour courts and fair work commissions will no doubt have to continue intervening as impartial spectators when required. As envisaged by us, an ombudsperson at the organisational-level would reduce the workload of the judicial institutions by intervening at an earlier stage. As apparent from the "automobile manufacturing as an essential service" ruling in the TKM case, formal legal interventions, across democracies, tend to be niti-centric. We believe that someone who actually understands and has experienced the work environment in question would be more likely to embrace Sen's notion of comprehensive (i.e. nyaya-centric) justice and enhance just outcomes at the local level. Of course, the modalities of selecting and training an ombudsperson from amongst regular employees will need careful consideration. As a practical measure, to ensure neutrality, the local level ombudsperson could be compensated by the public exchequer.

References

  • Ackoff, R. L. (1999). On learning and the systems that facilitate it. Reflections: The SoL Journal, 1(1), 14–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adams, J. S. (1963). Towards an understanding of inequity. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(5), 422–436.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adams, J. S. (1965). Inequity in social exchange. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 2, pp. 267–299). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Adler, P., & Cole, R. (1993). Designed for learning: A tale of two auto plants. Sloan Management Review, 34(3), 85–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnold, D. G., & Bowie, N. E. (2003). Sweatshops and respect for persons. Business Ethics Quarterly, 13(2), 221–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banai, M., & Sama, L. M. (2000). Ethical dilemmas in MNCs’ international staffing policies a conceptual framework. Journal of Business Ethics, 25(3), 221–235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bebchuk, L. A., & Fried, J. M. (2006). Pay without performance: The unfulfilled promise of executive compensation. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bies, R. J., & Moag, J. S. (1986). Interactional justice: Communication criteria of fairness. In R. J. Lewicki, B. H. Sheppard, & M. H. Bazerman (Eds.), Research on negotiation in organizations (Vol. 1, pp. 43–55). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Black, J. (2008). Lean production: Implementing a world-class system. New York: Industrial Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Business Line. (2006). Trade unions form body to support Toyota workers. Retrieved Jun 17, 2014 from http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/.

  • Business Standard. (2008). Infrastructure hurdles delaying Prius launch. Retrieved Jun 17, 2014 from http://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/-infrastructure-hurdles-delaying-prius-launch-108090701039_1.html.

  • Business Standard. (2014). Car production comes to a halt at Toyota’s Bidadi plants. Retrieved Jun 17, 2014 from http://www.business-standard.com/.

  • Colquitt, J. A. (2001). On the dimensionality of organizational justice: a construct validation of a measure. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 386–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O., & Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: a meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 425.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cornelius, N., & Gagnon, S. (2004). Still bearing the mark of Cain? Ethics and inequality measurement. Business Ethics: A European Review, 13(1), 26–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Das, K., & George, S. (2006). Labour practices and working conditions in TNCs: The case of Toyota Kirloskar in India. In D. Chang (Ed.), Labour in globalising Asian corporations: A portrait of struggle (pp. 273–302). Hong Kong: Asia Monitor Resource Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • De George, R. T. (1986). Ethical dilemmas for multinational enterprise. In W. M. Hoffman, A. E. Lange, & D. A. Fedo (Eds.), Ethics and the multinational enterprise: Proceedings of the 6th national conference on business ethics (pp. 39–46). Lanham: University Press of America.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deutsch, M. (1985). Distributive justice: A social-psychological perspective. London: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dhiman, A., & Maheshwari, S. K. (2013). Performance appraisal politics from appraisee perspective: A study of antecedents in the Indian context. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(6), 1202–1235.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Donaldson, T., & Preston, L. E. (1995). The stakeholder theory of the corporation: Concepts, evidence, and implications. Academy of Management Review, 20(1), 65–91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Duncan, E., & Ritter, R. (2014). The next frontiers for lean. McKinsey Quarterly, 2, 82–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Festinger, L. (1962). Cognitive dissonance. Scientific American, 207(4), 93–107.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fishkin, J. (1975). Justice and rationality: Some objections to the central argument in Rawls’s theory. The American Political Science Review, 69(2), 615–629.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston, MA: Pitman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freeman, R. E., & Evan, W. M. (1990). Corporate governance: A stakeholder interpretation. Journal of Behavioral Economics, 19(4), 337–359.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghate, A. T., & Sundar, S. (2013). Can we reduce the rate of growth of car ownership. Economic and Political Weekly, 48(23), 32–40.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ghoshal, S. (2005). Bad management theories are destroying good management practices. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 4(1), 75–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman, B. M., Gutek, B. A., Stein, J. H., & Lewis, K. (2006). Employment discrimination in organizations: Antecedents and consequences. Journal of Management, 32(6), 786–830.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gough, R., & Fastenau, M. (2003). Implementing different concepts of lean production: Workers’ experiences of lean production in North American transplants. Working Paper Series. Melbourne: School of Management, Victoria University of Technology.

  • Greenberg, J. (1987). A taxonomy of organizational justice theories. Academy of Management Review, 12(1), 9–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J. (1990). Organizational justice: Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Journal of Management, 16(2), 399–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J. (1993). The social side of fairness: Interpersonal and informational classes of organizational justice. In R. Croponzano (Ed.), Justice in the workplace: Approaching fairness in human resource management (pp. 79–103). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harcourt, M., Hannay, M., & Lam, H. (2013). Distributive justice, employment-at-will and just-cause dismissal. Journal of Business Ethics, 115(2), 311–325.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heskett, J. (2011). The culture cycle: How to shape the unseen force that transforms performance. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homans, G. C. (1961). Social behavior: Its elementary forms. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hummels, H., & Leede, J. (2000). Team work and morality: Comparing lean production and socio technology. Journal of Business Ethics, 26(1), 75–88.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James, R., & Jones, R. (2014). Transferring the Toyota lean cultural paradigm into India: Implications for human resource management. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(15), 2174–2191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, R., Latham, J., & Betta, M. (2013). Creating the illusion of employee empowerment: lean production in the international automobile industry. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(8), 1629–1645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karunakaran, N. (2014). After Honda and Maruti Suzuki, Toyota faces labour unrest in India; are Japanese cos insensitive? The Economic Times. Retrieved Jun 7, 2014 from http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/configspace/ads/defaultinterstitial.html.

  • Kruse, D. L., Freeman, R. B., & Blasi, J. R. (2010). Do workers gain by sharing? Employee outcomes under employee ownership, profit sharing and broad-based stock options. In D. L. Kruse, R. B. Freeman, & J. R. Blasi (Eds.), Shared capitalism at work: Employee ownership, profit and gain sharing, and broad-based stock options (pp. 257–290). Chicag, IL: University of Chicago Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Laplume, A. O., Sonpar, K., & Litz, R. A. (2008). Stakeholder theory: Reviewing a theory that moves us. Journal of Management, 34(6), 1152–1189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, G. S. (1980). What should be done with equity theory? New approaches to the study of fairness in social relationships. In Kenneth J. Gergen, Martin S. Greenberg, & Richard H. Willis (Eds.), Social exchange: Advances in theory and research (pp. 27–55). New York: Plenum Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Liker, J. (2004). The Toyota Way. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liker, J., & Hoseus, M. (2008). Toyota culture. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liker, J., & Ogden, T. (2011). Toyota under fire. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindblom, L. (2011). The structure of a Rawlsian theory of just work. Journal of Business Ethics, 101(4), 577–599.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maitland, I. (1997). The great non-debate over international sweatshops. British Academy of Management Annual Conference Proceedings (pp. 240–265). Reprinted in T. Beauchamp & N. Bowie (Ed.) Ethical theory and business, 6th ed. (2001, pp. 593–605). Engelwood Cliffs. NJ: Prentice Hall.

  • Mansell, S. F. (2013). Capitalism, corporations and the social contract: A critique of stakeholder theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mathew, S. K., & Jones, R. (2013). Toyotism and Brahminism: Employee relations difficulties in establishing lean manufacturing in India. Employee Relations, 35(2), 200–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moriarty, J. (2005). On the relevance of political philosophy to business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 15(3), 455–473.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • New Indian Express. (2014). Toyota employees stay away, refuse to sign undertaking. Retrieved Jun 17, 2014 from http://www.newindianexpress.com/.

  • Ohno, T. (1988). Toyota production system. New York: Productivity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osono, E., Shimizu, N., & Takeuchi, H. (2008). Extreme Toyota. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Preece, D., & Jones, R. (2010). Human resource development and management in lean production. International Journal of Human Resources Development and Management, 10(1), 1–13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. (1958). Justice as fairness. The Philosophical Review, 67(2), 164–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. (1971). A theory of justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. (1993). Political liberalism. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rawls, J. (1999). A theory of justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Renouard, C. (2011). Corporate social responsibility, utilitarianism, and the capabilities approach. Journal of Business Ethics, 98(1), 85–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rother, M. (2010). Toyota kata. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (1985). Commodities and capabilities. Amsterdam: North-Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (2009). The Idea of justice. Cambridge, MA: Belknap.

  • Smith, A. (1790/2006). The theory of moral sentiments. Mineola, NY: Dover.

  • Stewart, P., Richardson, M., Danford, A., Murphy, K., Richardson, T., & Wass, V. (2009). We sell our time no more. London: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stieb, J. A. (2009). Assessing Freeman’s stakeholder theory. Journal of Business Ethics, 87(3), 401–414.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stock, K. (2014). Toyota’s reputation takes 6.4 million fresh dents with its latest sweeping recall. The Businessweek. Retrieved Jun 17, 2014 from http://www.businessweek.com/.

  • Stouffer, S. A., Suchman, E. A., DeVinney, L. C., Star, S. A., & Williams, R. M, Jr. (1949). The American Soldier: Adjustment during army life (Vol. 1). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thibaut, J. W., & Walker, L. (1975). Procedural justice: A psychological analysis. Hillsdale: L. Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, R. S., & Hill, J. G. (Eds.). (2012). Research handbook on executive pay. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • TMC. (2001). The Toyota Way (annual report). Tokyo: Toyota Motor Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • Velasquez, M. (2000). Globalization and the failure of ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 10(1), 343–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vidal, M. (2007). Lean production, worker empowerment, and job satisfaction: A qualitative analysis and critique. Critical Sociology, 33(1–2), 247–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Samir Shrivastava.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shrivastava, S., Jones, R., Selvarajah, C. et al. Organisational Justice: A Senian Perspective. J Bus Ethics 135, 99–116 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2466-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2466-3

Keywords

Navigation