When will employees perceive affirmative action as fair?

Abstract

Being fair is a central interest among today's managers concerned about providing equal employment opportunities, fair labour practices and paying a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. The differing perspectives, interests and goals of managers and employees, however, make it difficult to determine what employees regard as fair treatment. The multidimensionality of fairness is evident when one considers how people disagree when asked what is fair. The different answers to questions about the fairness of affirmative action depend on whether the focus is on outcomes, procedures or motives. The fairness of affirmative action should thus be determined by taking the distributive, procedural and interactional components of fairness into consideration. From a distributive point of view, there is not much an organisation can do about the perceived fairness of a decision to appoint or promote people from previously disadvantaged groups, because legislation, such as the Employment Equity Act (No. 55 of 1998) and the Promotion of Equality and the Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act (No. 4 of 2000) regulate this issue. There are, however, various ways in which affirmative action decisions can be made and implemented. To increase the perceived fairness of affirmative action decisions, organisations need to reconsider the way they implement affirmative action and treat employees. Research has shown that employees are more inclined to accept unfavourable outcomes if they are treated in a fair and respectful manner.