Organizational justice and decision making : When good intentions are not enough

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine organizational justice, decision making, and the unintended consequences of cognitive biases and errors. Managers, and other leaders, are often subject to simple, but serious, biases and errors when making important organizational decisions. Sometimes these errors and biases produce decisions that result in adverse outcomes. Moreover, these same errors and biases may be used to justify or excuse the unintended results. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the literature on organizational justice, decision‐making styles and biases, and cognitive errors. From this review, the authors draw conclusions about potential adverse outcomes when leaders or managers engage in biased decision‐making or commit cognitive errors. Findings – When leaders or managers inadvertently make biased decisions or cognitive errors that lead to adverse results, their followers may perceive these acts as unfair and unjust even when no injustice was intended. Leaders must acknowledge, and be accountable for, their actions and decisions if they want to avoid undesirable side effects such as lower morale, increased turnover, reduced performance, or litigation. Originality/value – The lack of consideration of the implications of organizational justice (especially the social forms of justice) during the decision‐making process may create perceptions of unfairness and injustice among followers (e.g. employees, subordinates). Any rip in the fabric of social justice, whether intentional or not, can create problems in an organization. Many of these problems can be avoided if leaders or managers accept responsibility for their decisions and not try to deflect criticism or rationalize their actions.