The Social Dynamics of Organizational Justice

A volume in Research in Social Issues in ManagementSeries Editors: Stephen W. Gilliland, The University of Arizona,Dirk D. Steiner, Université Nice Sophia Antipolisand Daniel P. Skarlicki, The University of British ColumbiaThis eighth volume in the Research in Social Issues in Management series explores a variety of socialrelations to expand our thinking about organizational justice, which is fundamentally based onrelationships between organizational authorities and the employees of the organizations. Theserelationships also emphasize the roles of various actors and suggest fairness perspectives other than thatof subordinates' perceptions of the treatment received from their superiors.The 10 chapters of the volume are divided into two major sections plus a conclusion. The first sectionpresents five chapters that bring new theoretical perspectives to bear on justice considerations. Topicstreated throughout this section include conflicting perspectives on justice, psychological distance, greed, and punishment. The second section placesemphasis on leaders' or managers' perspectives of justice, going back to some of the initial proactive roots of justice rather than on what has becomethe more traditional focus, that of subordinate perceptions or reactive justice. In the contributions comprising this section, leaders' personalities, theirmotives, and their position as both superiors of some employees and subordinates of their own superiors are examined to provide new perspectives onthe leadership role in justice matters.The concluding chapter, by Brockner and Carter, comments on the collection of chapters and proposes extensions and alternative perspectives forconsideration. This commentary chapter suggests that the volume surfs a fifth wave in the history ofjustice research as these chapters all examine justice as a dependent variable influenced by numerousfactors.