Effect of management training in organizational justice: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract

Organizational justice (OJ) influences the well-being of employees of organizations. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to examine whether or not brief management training increases OJ for subordinates. Study participants were managers and subordinates working in the private manufacturing sector. Randomization at the departmental level generated an intervention group of 23 departments (93 managers and 248 subordinates) and a control group of 23 departments (91 managers and 314 subordinates). Managers in the intervention group received a 90-min training session to investigate the attitudes and behavior of managers and help increase OJ. Subordinates completed self-administered OJ questionnaire surveys on procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice before and 3 months after intervention. For all subordinates, the interaction between group and time in OJ scores obtained before and 3 months after intervention were not significant. However, in subgroup analyses of the lowest tertile group in relation to the baseline of each of the three OJ subscales and total scores, the lowest tertile group of the interpersonal justice subscale showed significant improvement. The results of this study suggest that brief management training in OJ for managers significantly improves a low rating from subordinates in interpersonal justice. Further studies are required to develop a specific intervention method to increase OJ.

Is organizational justice climate at the workplace associated with individual-level quality of care and organizational affective commitment? A multi-level, cross-sectional study on dentistry in Sweden

“…Thereby we see a potential in future research aiming at affecting these important outcomes through improvements of organizational justice climate. Even though climatic factors may be complicated to address in interventions, a way forward seems to be through training of managers to promote organizational justice for their subordinates (Nakamura et al 2016 ). Though, worth noticing is that this is just one aspect for finding solutions of a complex problem.…”

The role of perceived organisational justice in the experience of pain among male and female employees

“…There are also implications for the employer, in relation to their processes for supporting the employee with chronic pain to offset or minimise the potential negative repercussions of weak organisational justice beliefs in relation to, for example, job satisfaction, commitment and work performance (Van Dijke and De Cremer, 2016). Evidence suggests training employers in organisational justice techniques can improve perceptions of fairness and occupational functioning among employees (Nakamura et al, 2016).…”

Exposure to organisational injustice and serious psychological distress: longitudinal analysis of details of exposure from a private Japanese company

“…Therefore, even when the changes were favourable, frequent changes in a relatively short period cause the burden of readjustment and might increase the risk for SPD. Several studies have revealed that OJ is modifiable by intervention 14–17. However, the effect of long-term continuous change has not been examined.…”

“…Several studies have revealed that favourable changes in OJ have desirable consequences on health outcomes and vice versa,10–12 that optimal OJ promotes recovery from stress reactions such as sleep disorders,12 13 and that OJ can be modified by intervention 14–17. Nevertheless, to our knowledge, the relationship between OIJ and mental disorders has not yet been studied with regard to the effects of exposure duration, frequency of change in OIJ exposure and the OIJ-free period after the disappearance of exposure.…”