Justice as responsibility for the others: a levinasian critique on organizational justice

Abstract

This study aims to investigate how justice can be effective in restoring situations of injustice, particularly when they are caused by damaged or broken relationships in organizations, as inspired by principles of compassion, empathy, or mercy. In particular, we look for a convincing philosophical foundation for justice, proposing Levinas' ethics of responsibility as a way to explain it.The research question of this study originates from recognizing the importance of the normative dimensions of restoring justice. We argue that a notion of justice inspired by responsibility for the others can promote an organizational climate where people tend to forgive and reconcile each other instead of seeking personal vengeance, which often escalates out of control, creating unproductive conflicts. Justice under a Levinasian approach can bring also better relationships among organizational members, and a general better perception of workplace justice, so positively influencing also the likelihood of resolving workplace conflict.

Everyone is Invited: Leveraging Bystander Intervention and Ally Development to Cultivate Social Justice in the Workplace

“…Within organizational justice, distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice illustrate the contours and conditions of social justice in the workplace by calling attention to the ways in which injustices are often created and sustained, and by seeking to disrupt inequalities to produce better outcomes. What is missing in the theoretical and conceptual description of organizational justice is a clear and sustained call-to-action for an approach to justice which emphasizes every individual's ethical responsibility to and for others (Faldetta, 2017). Accordingly, we seek to "invite in" (Byrd, 2018a) the field of HRD to a conversation about what it would mean to be mobilized, as a collective, into action for social justice in the workplace.…”