Fairness in the Workplace: a Psychological Perspective

Psychology 493

Fairness In The Workplace: A Psychological Perspective

Fall 2017

Dr. Ann Marie Ryan

333 Psychology Bldg

517-353-8855

Class meets Mon and Wed 12:40-2:00 in Room 305 Bessey Hall

Course website available on D2L

Office hours: 2 -2:30 M and W and by appointment

Course description:

This course will provide an examination of psychological research that can inform how to design fair and effective workplaces from the perspective of organizational psychology.

Overall Course Objectives:

1. To define what makes a fair workplace
2. To evaluate that definition in various workplace employment decision contexts (e.g., selection, pay, layoffs, policies)
3. To evaluate individual and contextual factors that influence perceptions of fairness at work
4. To determine how to alter workplace environments to positively influence fairness perceptions
5. To specify the effects of unfairness on individuals and organizations
6. To evaluate systematic and individual means of addressing unfairness
7. To critically review empirical research on fairness and justice in the workplace

Materials:

There is no text for the course. The assigned readings are available via links on the D2L site, which you can download and/or print for your personal use. A list of all reading assignments and dates of assignments is included below for your reference. We do occasionally access online materials during class so you may like to have a device with you for that, but you can typically look on with others if you do not have a laptop/tablet/phone with you.

Attendance Policy

Attendance is expected at classes. This is an upper level class and thus it is expected that you will be engaged in discussion and interactions with classmates. In-class participation is part of one’s grade, and in-class exercises will be turned in towards a grade.Calculation of credit for class participation takes into account the likelihood that you may miss several classes due to illness or emergencies. Beyond that, you can miss as many classes as you want for whatever reason you want – each time you miss you will lose that opportunity for participation points and THERE IS NO MAKEUP. In addition to the loss of participation points affecting grades, students who are not regular attendees tend to get much lower grades than attendees because of a lack of understanding of assignments and expectations.

Grading criteria:

Final grades will be based on the following:

Points

Justice project(multipart) 210

Indepth assignments (6 at 30 points each) 180

In class participation (27 opportunities; 22 at 5 points each needed) 110

Total 500

Grade cutoffs:

460 points and above4.0

430-459 points3.5

400-4293.0

370-3992.5

340-3692.0

310-3391.5

280-3091.0

Below2800.0

In class participation points.

Calculation of credit for class participation takes into account the likelihood that you may miss several classes due to illness or emergencies. There are participation opportunities most classes during term; while there are 27 opportunities you need only get 22 of those to get full points (i.e., missing a couple of classes for legitimate reasons will not affect your grade). Points are given for participating and completing work. To be clear, if you miss class, this scale is very generous in allowing for such events. It also means that there is no value in attempting to talk your way into more points at the end of the term.

Extra credit

There are no extra credit opportunities –there are multiple opportunities for you to improve your grade.

Late or missed assignments. Handing in assignments later than the start of class on the date due is not acceptable. Late assignments ARE NOT ACCEPTED except in the cases of documented grief absence or documented hospitalization. Note that the D2L dropbox for assignments automatically stops taking submissions within minutes of the start of class on dates when assignments are due – do NOT wait until the last minute to submit the assignment.

Grade posting

Grades will be posted in a timely fashion. It is your responsibility to check the posted grades throughout the term for accuracy.

Academic Honesty:Article 2.3.3 of the Academic Freedom Report states: “The student shares with the faculty the responsibility for maintaining the integrity of scholarship, grades, and professional standards.” In addition, the psychology department adheres to the policies on academic honesty specified in General Student Regulation 1.0, Protection of Scholarship and Grades; the all-University Policy on Integrity of Scholarship and Grades; and Ordinance 17.00, Examinations. (See Spartan Life: Student Handbook and Resource Guide and/or the MSU Web site

Therefore, you are expected to complete all course assignments without assistance from any source. You are expected to develop original work for this course; therefore, you may not submit course work you completed for another course to satisfy the requirements for this course. Students who violate MSU rules may receive a penalty grade, including but not limited to a failing grade on the assignment or in the course. Specific to this course, plagiarism of an assignment results in a zero for that assignment. Attempting to gain participation points for someone not in attendance in class (handing in work with the name on it of someone not in attendance) or in other ways misrepresenting completion of the participation requirement results in a 0.0 final course grade (i.e., failure in the class, not just on the requirement points).

Instructor Availability:

While I do have set office hours, I am available to meet with students at other times by appointment. However, my schedule is a full one and so dropping by may not be the best strategy – please email to schedule appointments. I do check email frequently.

Classroom Rules of Conduct

Cell phones must be turned offbefore class starts and put awayunless you have been explicitly told to access the internet. The course is structured to encourage discussion and interaction – please treat other members of the class with courtesy and respect. If you are disruptive (e.g., talking when others have the floor, making inappropriate remarks, interfering with others’ learning), you will be asked to leave the class. Texting, emailing, game playing, and web surfing during class are counterproductive to learning, lessen your capacity to engage with those around you, and can be rude. Leave the outside world outside of class and be fully present. I reserve the right to confiscate for the duration of class any device that I feel is affecting my ability to teach effectivelyregardless of whether you think it is not distracting you. If for some reason you must arrive late or leave early (e.g., illness, car trouble), please take a seat near the door and minimize disruption of others with your arrival/departure. While I do not mind non-alcoholic beverages in class, please refrain from eating unless you have enough to share with everyone.

Civilityexpectations

During class we will often be discussing topics for which individuals have different opinions. It is important for you to recognize the distinction between opinion and fact, and in all cases to show courtesy and respect for others. Please refrain from language that others might find offensive. Please express your dissenting viewpoint diplomatically. Non-civil postings online or non-civil behavior in group settings will result in a 0.0 grade for that assignment.

Recording

As members of a learning community, students are expected to respect the intellectual property of course instructors. All course materials presented to students are subject to the following conditions of use:

1. Students may record lectures/classroom activities and use the recordings for their own course-related purposes.
2. Students may share the recordings for others enrolled in this specific course section. Sharing is limited to using the recordings only for course-related purposes
3. Students may not post the recordings or any other course materials online or distribute them to anyone not enrolled in this section of the class without the advance written permission of the course instructor and, if applicable, any students whose voice or image is included in the recordings. That means you cannot post a photo or video or other recording of anyone in the class to any social media site (e.g., Instagram, Facebook, Twitter) without their written consent. Violation of this policy may result in a grade penalty up to a 0.0 in the course.
4. Any student violating the conditions described above may face academic disciplinary sanctions.

Accommodations

If you have a disability that will require accommodations, please see me the first week of class. If you will miss class for a religious observance, let me know in advance.

Grief Absence Policy

Students seeking a grief absence should be directed to the Grief Absence Request Form found on the RO home page ( under 'Student Services - Grief Absence Request Form' OR to StuInfo ( under 'Academics - Enrollment Information and Services - Grief Absence Request Form.'

Students will be asked to supply information on the nature of the loss, the date they became aware, and the expected period of absence. Once completed, the information is routed to the Assoc. Dean of the student's college and must be received prior to the student leaving campus. The student will receive a confidential message confirming the submission and reminding them that supporting documentation must be provided and who to send it to. In addition, the appropriate dean's office will be notified that a request has been submitted. Once the appropriate administrator has either approved or denied the request, the student will again receive a confidential message notifying them of the decision of the dean's office. If approved, instructors will be notified by the appropriate dean's office of the period of absence. Instructors are expected to arrange for students to make up the missed work.

Emergency Procedures

If an emergency should occur that would require the cancellation of class, I will send an email via D2L. While an emergency occurring during class is unlikely, please take time the first day to think through your emergency plans for such events (e.g., know at least two exits from the building).

Tips for Success

This is not a class of lecturing – class time will be spent on integration with the assumption that you are coming to class prepared. Some hints for being successful:

• Read any assigned beforeclass so that you can discuss them in class
• Complete the short prework assignments – we discuss them in class
• Ask questions.
• Share your own experiences.
• Be engaged– you get more if you give more.

Tentative course schedule

(this schedule is subject to change)

The course is divided into 3 sections:

• Theories and terminology regarding fairness at work
• Applying those theories and terms to specific workplace systems and policies
• Ways to address unfairness

Date / Topic / Assignments / Readings
Aug 30 / Overview: What is Fair? / ---- / ----
Sept 4 / NO CLASS LABOR DAY
THEORIES AND CONCEPTS
Sept 6 / Org Justice Theory: Basics / A1 interview / Cropanzano et al 2007
Greenberg 1988
Sept 11 / Org Justice Theory: Basics / Brockner
Greenberg 1994
Sept 13 / Org Justice Theory: Expanded / A2 social media / Axt & Oishi
Colquitt et al
Sept 18 / Org Justice Theory: Expanded / Bobocel
Sept 20 / Org Justice Theories: Variations and related concepts / Kouchaki et al
Sept 25 / Org Justice: Deeper on Interactional justice / Project problem statement / Porath & Pearson
Foulk et al
Sept 27 / Org Justice: Deeper on Interactional justice / Kantor & Streitfeld
Oct 2 / Project planning session / -- / ---
Oct 4 / US Legal definitions of fairness / A3 legal / Sandburn
Ludden (5:05 mins)
Oct 9 / Culture & fairness
Universal workplace rights / Project questions / Review posted links
APPLYING CONCEPTS
Oct 11 / Fairness in hiring / Walker et al
Oct 16 / Fairness in hiring / A4: hiring / Kang
Oct 18 / Fairness in pay and recognition / Greenberg 1990
Vedentam (3 mins)
Graham (4:03)
Nir
Oct 23 / Guest lecture: Courtney Bryant
Corporate Social Responsibility and Justice / Rupp et al.
Oct 25 / Fairness in pay and recognition / Project lit review / AAP
Tugend
Noguchi (3:51)
Oct 30 / Fairness in performance management / Capelli & Travis
Golen, Gale & Grant
Nov 1 / Fairness in layoffs and organizational change / A5 Termination / Richter et al
Nov 6 / Fairness and policies on when, where & how much we work / Kantor
Martin ( 11:32 mins)
Swarns
Kodjak (6:12)
Nov 8 / Fairness and policies on when, where & how much we work / Project application / Greenhouse
Nov 13 / Fairness and policies on how we work (behavior) / UPS podcast (13:55)
Starbucks podcast (2:10)
Noguchi (4:30 min)
Maniero & Jones
Nov 15 / Fairness and policies on non-work behaviors / Appleby
Lyons et al.
Healy
Bonner
Nov 20 / Policies and Accommodations / Runyan (3:54 mins)
Noguchi (3:49)
Kurtz
Nov 22 / Policies and Preferences / Project integration / Favoritism podcast (15 mins)
Clark
Zarya
SOLUTIONS
Nov 27 / Addressing unfairness: systems / Silver-Greenberg & Corkery
Nov 29 / Addressing unfairness: managers and individuals / A6 Addressing unfairness / Scott et al
Dec 4 / Addressing unfairness: third parties / O’Reilly et al
Mitchell et al
Dec 6 / New ways of working: emerging fairness issues / Singer
Schieber
Alderman
Dec 12 (Tues) / Final meeting 12:45-2:45 / Final justice project

LIST OF READINGS

9/6: Cropanzano, R., Bowen, DE, Gilliland, WS (2007) The management of organizational justice. Academy of Management Perspectives, 301-48

9/6: Greenberg, J. (1988). Equity and workplace status: A field experiment.Journal of Applied Psychology,73(4), 606-613.

9/11: Brockner, J. (2006). Why is it so hard to be fair? Harvard Business Review,

9/11: Greenberg, J. (1994). Using socially fair treatment to promote acceptance of a work site smoking ban.Journal of Applied Psychology,79(2), 288.

9/13: Axt, J., & Oishi, S. (2016). When unfair treatment helps performance. Motivation and Emotion, doi:

9/13: Colquitt, JA, Wang, DM, Rodell, JB & Halverson-Gonepola, MDK (2015). Adding the “in” to justice: a qualitative and quantitative investigation of the differential effects of justice rule adherence and violation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100, 278-297.

9/18: Bobocel, D. R. (2013). Coping With Unfair Events Constructively or Destructively: The Effects of Overall Justice and Self-Other Orientation.Journal of Applied Psychology.

9/20: Kouchaki, M., Smith, I.H., & Netchaeva, E (2015). Not all fairness is created equal: fairness perceptions of group v. individual decision makers. Organization Science, 26, 1301-1315.

9/25: Porath, C.L., Pearson, C.M.."The Price of Incivility."Harvard Business ReviewJan/F (2013).

9/25: Foulk, T., Woolum, A. & Erez, A (2016). Catching rudeness is like catching a cold: the contagion effects of low-intensity negative behaviors. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 50-67.

9/27: Kantor, J. & Streitfeld, D (August 15, 2015). Inside Amazon: wrestling big ideas in a bruising workplace. The New York Times,

10/4: Sanburn, J. (2013). Too big to cocktail? Judge upholds weight discrimination in the workplace. Time.

10/4: Ludden, J. (June 11, 2013). Pushed off the job while pregnant. All things considered. Podcast.

10/11: Walker, H. J., Helmuth, C. A., Feild, H. S., & Bauer, T. N. (2015). Watch what you say: Job applicants’ justice perceptions from initial organizational correspondence. Human Resource Management, 54(6), 999-1011.

10/16: Kang, C. (2016, May 22). Unemployed Detroit residents are trapped by a digital divide. New York Times

10/18: Greenberg, J. (1990). Employee theft as a reaction to underpayment inequity: The hidden cost of pay cuts.Journal of Applied Psychology,75(5), 561.

10/18: Vedentam, S. (2015). There’s more to wage cuts than just lost pay. Morning Edition, NPR

10/18: Graham, L. (2015, Dec 1). Detroit bankruptcy lesson: underfunded pension funds could trip up other municipalities. Michigan Radio, (4:03)

10/18 Nir, SM (May 7, 2015). The price of nice nails. New York Times

10/23: Rupp, D. E., Ganapathi, J., Aguilera, R. V., & Williams, C. A. (2006). Employee reactions to corporate social responsibility: An organizational justice framework. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 27(4), 537-543

10/25: Tugend, A. (2014). Secrecy about salaries may be on the wane. New York Times, August 22

10/25 Noguchi, Y. 2017 Proposals aim to combat discrimination based on salary history. NPR, May 30. (3:51)

10/25 AAP (2013). When workplace rewards don’t work. St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

10/30 Cappelli, P., & Tavis, A. (2016, 10). The performance management revolution.Harvard Business Review, 1.

10/30: Golen, L., Gale, J. & Grant, A. Let’s not kill performance evaluations yet . Harvard Business Review.

11/1: Richter, M., Konig, C.J., Koppermann, C. & Schilling, M. (2016). Displaying fairness while delivering bad news: testing the effectiveness of organizational bad news training in the layoff context. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 779-792.

11/6 Kantor, J. (2014). Working anything but 9 to 5. New York Times, August 13.

11/6 Martin, M. (July 23, 2014). Part-time work, unpredictable schedules: What’s the fix? NPR podcast.

11/6 Swarns, RL (May 24, 2015). Long hours at work leave her little time for brother in need. New York Times.

11/6: Kodjak, A. (2016) Hassle of being a patient can turn into a crisis without sick leave. Podcast, Morning Edition, July 11.

11/8: Greenhouse, S. (June 8, 2014). Noncompete clauses increasingly pop up in an array of jobs. New York Times

11/13: (May 2, 2014). The future of work looks like a UPS truck. Planet Money, podcast

11/13: Noguchi, Y. (2016) In 2016, talking politics can make things uncomfortable at work. Podcast, 4:30, Morning Edition, June 20.

11/13: Aubrey, A. (July 23, 2016). Starbuck’s new dress code: purple hair and fedoras OK, but hoodies forbidden. NPR podcast.

11/13 Mainiero, Lisa, and Kevin Jones. (2013). "Sexual Harassment Versus Workplace Romance: Social Media Spillover and Textual Harassment in the Workplace." The Academy of Management Perspectives,. 27, p187-203.

11/15: Lyons, B.D., Hoffman, B.J., Bommer, W.H., Kennedy, C.. & Hetrick, AL. (2016). Off duty deviance : organizational policies and evidence for two prevention strategies. Journal of

11/15: Benner, K. (2017). Abuses hide in the silence of nondisparagement agreements. New York Times, July 25.

11/15 Healy, J. (Sept 7, 2014). Legal use of marijuana clashes with job rules. New York Times.

11/15 Appleby, J. (June 24, 2015). When does workplace wellness become coercive? Shots, NPR.

11/20: Runyon, L. (Jan 14, 2016) Dispute over prayer breaks divides Muslim meatpacking workers. All Things Considered podcast

11/20 Noguchi, Y. (Sept 22 2015). What’s that smell?! When workplaces try fragrance bans. Morning Edition podcast

11/22 Clark, N. (2010). Getting women into boardrooms by law. New York Times, January 27.

11/22 (May 6, 2013). Op-ed: How favoritism is driving minority employment. Talk of the Nation, podcast.

11/22: Zarya, V. (2015). Why is the “Rooney Rule” suddenly tech’s answer to hiring more women? Fortune, August 10.

11/27: Silver-Greenberg, J & Corkery, M. (2016, May 14). Start-ups embrace arbitration to settle workplace disputes. New York Times