Organizational Justice as Determinants of Member Satisfaction: A Teacher's Association Experience

In contrast to business firms, labor organizations have been reluctant to use general attitude surveys as a means of assessing member satisfaction. Drawing upon popular research in the organizational justice field, this study surveyed members of a teachers’ association regarding their perceptions of procedural, distributive, and interactional justice. Also surveyed were member attitudes toward dispute resolution handling. Results are noteworthy for several reasons. First, findings demonstrate the important of the constructs of justice and fairness in the evaluation of member satisfaction and union/ association performance. Second, on a practical note, the study illustrates the ease by which survey questionnaires can be used and analyzed by public sector labor organizations. The article begins with a review of the organizational justice literature. Behavioral scientist have long appreciated the importance of justice and fairness as basic conditions affecting employee job satisfaction and organizational performance. For example, recent research findings show that positive employee perceptions of justice influence product and service outcomes and compliance with organizational rules and procedures. Additionally, issues of justice are key components in proactive human resource management practices, including performance appraisal and compensation systems [1]. Given the importance of justice to organizational members, it is not surprising that justice concerns are championed to be “the first virtue of social institutions” [2, p. 3]. 281 © 1999, Baywood Publishing Co., Inc. As defenders of employee rights, labor organizations have long fought for justice and fairness in the workplace. Formalized grievance/arbitration procedures, collective bargaining gains, and labor’s legal agenda attest to this concern. However, while researchers have systematically surveyed employees about their perceptions of organizational justice and job satisfaction in the business sector [3], the union environment is largely devoid of meaningful studies explaining union member justice perceptions. This is true regarding justice perceptions of 1) member satisfaction with unionism, 2) labor organization performance, or 3) behavioral interactions between union members and labor officials. Furthermore, the grievance/arbitration process has been called the cornerstone of the collective bargaining agreement since it is the vehicle for adjudicating employee complaints [4]. Nevertheless, given the importance of this procedure to resolving labor–management disagreements, little attention has been given to the perceptions union members hold toward this conflict resolution procedure [5]. The purpose of this research, therefore, was to apply organizational justice concepts to the labor setting as a means of assessing member perceptions of union fairness. Specifically, we surveyed members of a teachers’ association about their perceptions of procedural, distributive, and interactional justice as determinants of member satisfaction with unionism. Additional attention was given to feelings of fairness toward the association’s complaint resolution procedure. ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE The concept of organizational justice occupies a prominent place in the organizational behavior research. Justice studies are grounded in the belief that employees who are treated fairly are more likely to hold positive organizational attitudes and/or behaviors. These can include having increased levels of output or improved service quality [6], or positive attitudes toward organizational commitment and acceptance of the organization’s goals and values. The constructs of organizational justice are commonly discussed in these areas—procedural, distributive, and interactional justice. Importantly, each of these areas may be predictive of different union member attitudes, the total of which can influence a variety of labor’s effectiveness outcomes. Procedural Justice Procedural justice is one’s perception of fairness regarding how decisions are made to allocate organizational resources. The central treatise of procedural justice is that individuals view organizational processes as most fair when those processes are influenced by participant control [7]. Control can be of two types—decision control, which is actual influence over the decision made, and process control, which relates to an individual’s access to the procedures and control over the evidence presented [1, p. 121]. Importantly, process control 282 / BOHLANDER AND BLANCERO