<4230 words>  This is NOT A BLOG. It is a conference paper that I decided to make available via my blog.  The PPT (available on LinkedIn) is on a safari theme, so these giraffes suggest we take the long view of where our need for fairness comes from.

FAIRNESS:

A CULTURAL CONSTRUCT OR A UNIVERSAL HUMAN NEED?

The challenge to HR: 

Improving workplace fairness by stepping back and taking it all in.

Background paper to a presentation given at the Atlantic Universities and Colleges Human Resources Association (AUCHRA) Conference in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, on 22 October, 2015

Presenter/author:  Delphine du Toit.    Mediator/Coach/Facilitator.

Fairness is the default position

1.    INTRODUCTION

Fairness is a baseline requirement for humans, yet it feels like the harder we try the more difficult it is to achieve.  The difficulty with being universally fair is that it is a balancing act.   No-one discusses ‘fairness’, generally speaking, unless someone has alleged that something has been unfair.  The withdrawal of fairness is a bit like the withdrawal of oxygen: you don’t know you have it until it is taken away.

Unfairness – perceived or real – is a great source of conflict in the workplace.  Sometimes it bursts forth in a flurry of accusations; more often it festers in someone’s heart and head, gradually poisoning their feelings about the workplace; being at work; co-workers; management, which then manifests itself in reduction of effort; sloppy work; argumentative responses to requests; squabbling; gossiping; and, in more extreme cases, in absenteeism or overt sabotage.

Read More »Fairness is simple. Bring culture into it and bedevil everything.