Writing Justly: Crafting Intentional Emails to Enhance Perceptions of Justice

Abstract

Employee perceptions of organizational justice influence every aspect of the workplace, from morale to productivity. Learning to recognize forms of injustice and proactively address them is a key developmental objective for management students. In this experiential exercise, students simulate the role of leaders and communicate a difficult decision via an email that optimizes perceptions of organizational justice. We developed a variety of decision prompts, including a promotion denial, a student leadership opportunity denial, and a suboptimal merit raise, to enhance suitability for different courses. Through active learning, students apply knowledge of organizational justice and practice delivering feedback that explicitly addresses fairness. An extensive debriefing guide, variations for asynchronous classes, and sample instructor slides are provided. This exercise is appropriate for late-stage undergraduate or graduate students of general management, human resource management, and organizational behavior.