Yonatan Kay has uploaded a presentation given by Yonatan Kay's father.

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Pursuing Justice:
Organizational Justice
in Traditional Jewish Sources
Dr Avi Kay
Jerusalem College of Technology
Presented at Conference of
The American Academy of Religion - Western Region
Arizona State University - Tempe, Arizona
March 11, 2011

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4. Practical Wisdom
Schwartz and Sharpe (2010):
Organizations seek to direct behavior
via two methods:
The creation of a system of rules and
The establishment of means to oversee and enforce above
See need for a third element: “Practical wisdom”:
“the ability to make decisions based on both understanding the
aims of a profession and/or organization and how the above fits into
the overall goals of society: SKILLS, WILL, MORAL COMPASS
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The Teaching of Judaism is the theology of
the common deed. The Bible insists that God
is concerned with everydayness, with the
trivialities of life. The great challenge does
not lie in organizing solemn demonstrations,
but in how me manage the commonplace.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, 1963

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Overview
 What exactly is Organizational Justice?
 What expressions of Organizational Justice exist?
 Why study Organizational Justice?
 The place of Justice in Jewish Tradition
 Organizational Justice and Jewish tradition

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What exactly is Organizational Justice?
Terms
 Organizational justice concerns the causes and
consequences of employees’ perceptions of how
fairly they are treated (Folger and Croprazano, 1998;
Greenberg and Colquitt, 2005)
 Philosophy: :Justice” vs. “Fairness” as two distinct features
(ala Rawls, 1971)

Normative, prescriptive approach - Truths by which to live a proper,
moral life
 Social Scientists: “Justice” as “Fairness” (in the eyes of the
beholder)

Empirical, descriptive: Antecedents, consequences

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What Expressions of
Organizational Justice Exist? (1):
Distributional Justice
 This was the first type of justice examined
 Homans (1958) : Social Exchange
 “Equity theory” (Adams, 1965) – the fairest
allocations are those that award people in
proportion to their contributions

Lind: “justice was [once] synonymous with Adams’
equity theory Along side the above-there are
distributional rules which are based on other calculi:
 Equality: people should be rewarded equally
 Need/deprivation: rewards should speak to the prior situation of the
individual such that those who need more of a benefit or resource
will receive more

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What Expressions of
Organizational Justice Exist? (2):
Procedural Justice and Interactive Justice
 Complement to the distributional justice literature
 Procedural justice is concerned with making and
implementing decisions according to fair processes

individuals responded not only to the outcomes they received but
also to the procedures/practices by which outcomes generated

Initially focused on judicial frameworks: Thibault and Walker (1975)

By 1985 the main focus had moved to organizational frameworks

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What Expressions of
Organizational Justice Exist? (3):
Procedural Justice and Interactive Justice
 Complement to the distributional justice literature
 Interactional justice: Enacting of procedures (Bies & Moag,
1986):
 - broken down by Greenberg, 1993 into:
 interpersonal justice: sensitivity, politeness and respect people are
shown by authority figures
 informational justice: explanation of information given (candid,
thorough, timely)

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Why study Organizational Justice?
 Distributive justice perceptions are strongly related
to withdrawal in which an employee leaves the
organization due to perceptions of injustice (Cohen-
Charash & Spector, 2001) while improving justice
perceptions improves productivity and performance
(Karriker & Williams, 2009).
 Procedural/Interactive Justice perceptions
are strongly related to outcome satisfaction, job
satisfaction, trust in organization and organizational
commitment (Colquitt, 2001)

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The place of Justice in Jewish Tradition (1(
 Centrality of Justice
 Abraham chosen

“For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his
household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what
is right and just” (Genesis: 18:19).
 Justice ,Justice shall you pursue (Deuteronomy
16:20) : ‫טז:כ‬ ‫תרדוף)דברים‬ ‫צדק‬ ,‫)צדק‬
 Abraham and Lot: Saving Sodom (from itself)

14. The place of Justice in Jewish Tradition (2(
 Abraham and Lot: Saving Sodom

“Tikun Olam” : repairing the world

Insight 1: Doing justice is an active process. It is not
only a matter of doing the right thing when one
encounters it – it is a call to be vigilant and seek out
opportunities to do justice.
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15. The place of Justice in Jewish Tradition (3)
So important it needs to be spread
 Noahide law applicable to everyone: Jew and non-Jew alike:
 Just as Israel was commanded to appoint courts of law in every
district and city, so were the sons of Noah commanded to appoint
courts of laws in every district and city (Sanhedrin 56b).

Insight 2: All organizational actors must take
responsibility for the pursuit of justice in organizations.
Doing justice is everyone’s job.

Insight 3: Justice must be done in all “public spheres: -

Heschel and the commonplace…..
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16. Distributive Justice in Jewish Sources
(1)
 Background:
 Decline in value of minimum wage in US from 1967
onward….now at same value as 1955
 Divergence in executive pay and the average wage in
US rose from
7 to 1 in 1989 to 344 to 1 in 2007
 From 1993 to 2003: aggregate earnings of U.S.
corporations which went to executive pay doubled,
from 5% to 10%.
 Heery and Salmon (2000): “Insecurity thesis”
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17. Distributive Justice in Jewish Sources
(2)
 Jewish Sources
 Abraham and Lot go their separate ways
Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray
thee, from me. If thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go right;
or if thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left. (Genesis
13:9)
- John Rawls: Veil of ignorance
Insight 3: Distribution rules should be designed so that all
organizational actors have the opportunity to avail themselves
of the benefits and risks related to relative organizational
performance.
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18. Distributive Justice in Jewish Sources
(3)
 Background:
 Wide divergence in resource distribution and the “occupy” movement…
 Living wage: the minimum hourly wage necessary to meet basic needs, including
shelter (housing) and other incidentals such as clothing and nutrition
 In 2005, U.S. Census American Community Survey noted that:

2.8 million working families = 12.2 million people, are poor (earn less than 100% of
poverty income)

9.6 million, or more than 1 out 4 working families in America (29%), are low-income,
earning less than 200% of poverty.
 The 200% of poverty threshold is considered an estimate of amount of
earnings needed to be economically self-sufficient
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19. Distributive Justice in Jewish Sources
(4)
(Employers) may not eat fine bread (employees) eats coarse bread,
You may not drink aged wine while he drinks new wine, You may not
sleep on soft bedding while he sleeps on straw (Talmud, Kiddushin,
22)
The bookeepers in Jerusalem would take their salaries from money
primarily intended for sacrifices. The judges who judged cases of theft
in Jerusalem would take their salary from these funds. And how much
would they take? Ninety maneh per year; and if this was not enough
for them, (those responsible for distributing the money) would
increase the amount. Even if (these communal workers) did not want
to take more, they (the bookeepers) would increase the amount
according to the needs of the workers, their wives and their families
(Rambam, Mishneh Torah, Shekalim 4:7)
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20. Distributive Justice in Jewish Sources
(5)
Insight 4: Distribution rules should be designed so that all
organizational actors have the opportunity to avail
themselves of the benefits and risks related to relative
organizational performance.
Insight 5: Organizational decision makers should strive to
create compensation systems which allow for a more
normative an acceptable distribution of outcomes. Among
other things, they must not lose sight of the fact that all
organizational actors have a minimum level of needs that
should be met (material and others).
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Procedural and Interactional Justice in Jewish
Sources
Thou shalt not wrest judgment, thou shalt not
respect persons (Deuteronomy 16:19)
 Wrest judgement = actual outcome, returning an unfair
verdict (in org. not advancing people, not giving them the
appropriate wage
 Respect persons = procedure and attitude

Talmud, Shevuot 30a: The one should not stand and
the other sit, one speak to his heart's content and the
other be told, Be brief.

Yitro (Jethro) – The first organizational consultant

22. Insight 6: Procedural Fairness is a prerequisite
to the creation of an efficient –if not optimal-
social framework for long term sustainability of
the organization.
Insight 7: The demand for interpersonal fairness
is related not only to “big decisions” – but also
to the everyday interactions among
organizational actors.
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Final Word
Justice, Justice shall you pursue (Deut. 16:20(
 Three justices exist in the organizational reality
 Distributional
 Procedural
 Interactional
 Jewish traditional wisdom places issues of justice at the center of the moral world
of the owner, manager, employee – seeking to balance obligations and rights within
an understanding of the need to gain a balance among the above in order to not
only achieve a just society but an efficient and sustainable organization and
economy