Why It's so Hard to Be Fair

Why It’s So Hard to Be Fair

A Perspective on the use of Process Fairness

Harvard Business Review Article March 1, 2006

Joel Brockner

Phillip Hettleman Professor of Business; PhD

Columbia University

Jb54@Columbia.edu

Why it’s so hard to be fair is an article written by Professor Joel Brockner PhD. The article was published in the Harvard Business Review March 1, 2006. Professor Brockner is a Phillip Hettleman Professor of Business at Columbia University.[1] Professor Brockner is known for a fair amount of scholarly articles and writings in the Human Resource Management field including many articles on Organizational Behavior and business models experiencing downsizing. In addition to the Harvard Business Review, articles have been featured in The Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, The Academy of Management Journal, and Administrative Science Quarterly in addition to other publications. Professor Brockner appears to be a subject matter expert in the field of Human Resource Management based on the amount of featured articles and resume.

The main purpose of the article is to analyze the lack of attention given to “Process Fairness” by most companies and how an adequate amount of process fairness can avoid additional problems in a good or bad situation. The author offers a good argument on how a company can be subject to legal proceedings that far exceed the incremental difference of layoffs to the bottom line when downsizing. The author is examining why companies fail to implement a policy, procedure or culture around process fairness and asks why process fairness is not used in all businesses because of the value it adds not only in a downturn, but also in a profitable environment. Process fairness also assists with communication in an organization which can help a business run smoothly and boost employee morale.

Authors Analysis & Data

The author provides numerous examples of...