Avoiding the Escalation of Conflict : Procedural and Interactional Injustice Call for Different Remedies

Organizational injustice is a major source of destructive workplace conflict. More research is needed to help organizations find constructive ways of restoring justice and alleviating the pain and cost of destructive conflicts. In the present paper, we examine whether conflicts created through procedural or interactional injustice are best de-escalated through different behaviors on the part of the organization (organizational remedies, or remedies, for short). Based on research on justice motives and resource theory, we propose that instrumental remedies are more effective after procedural than interactional unfairness; that deontic remedies are more effective after interactional than procedural unfairness; and that relational remedies are equally effective after procedural and interactional unfairness. Results from two studies support these propositions