Chapter 9: Some Reflections on the Morality of Organizational Justice

The goal of this chapter is to provide an integrative commentary on the contributions contained in this volume. We present this analysis within the context of the existing literature on organizational justice. Toward this end, we first examine why fairness is important to people in work organizations. Based on previous work, we suggest that justice can provide at least three things—economic benefits, validation of close interpersonal relationships, and the sense that moral principles are being upheld. Paying special attention to the importance of moral principles, we explore how a sense of fairness is translated into action. In this regard, we draw heavily from Rest’s (1979, 1984) Four Component Model of organizational behavior. Using these ideas as a lens, we then turn our attention to each chapter, providing a specific analysis as well as suggestions for future research.