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Purpose – This chapter reviews the authors’ research on group procedural justice and group-serving behavior. It makes the case that fairness and unfairness can both motivate group-serving behavior; the former makes group members feel good about their identity, leading them to “reward” the group, and the latter indicates a group shortcoming, leading members to “repair” the group.

Design/methodology/approach – The chapter describes several studies published elsewhere. Correlational research with employees and students examines the relationship between group procedural fairness and group members’ positive affect, which should translate into group-serving behavior. Experimental research with students investigates whether group procedural unfairness can result in group-serving behavior (measured via self-report and observed helping). Complementary findings from other authors are briefly described and discussed in support of a developed theoretical model of group procedural justice and group-serving behavior.

Findings – Group procedural fairness was more strongly related to arousing positive affect for strongly identified group members. Separately, strongly identified group members engaged in more group-serving behavior when their group had unfair rather than fair procedures.

Research limitations/implications – Possible boundary conditions for the motivating effects of unfairness are discussed (e.g., group permeability, time frame, and anonymity of unfairness). Suggestions for future research are proposed (e.g., examine the effect of justice information on group-serving behavior when group members can also modify group procedures).

Practical implications – Better understanding the effects of group procedural unfairness should influence how organizations and societies promote group-serving behavior.

Originality/value – Research on the motivating effects of both group procedural fairness and unfairness are synthesized into one theoretical model.

The secret of a manager becoming effective in coaching or training individuals lies in personal attributes which will be respected and perhaps admired by the people involved in the training programme. Some of these qualities include knowledge and experience, they should be effective communicators, good at self analysis and be quick to react. The old adversarial role should be abandoned if a manager wants to obtain the best results from his employees, and the analogy of a coach, in a sporting context, getting the best out of his team through a unique coach‐employee relationship is apposite.

In the current economic climate, companies are increasingly realizing that their management style has to change. “Downsizing” has resulted in less opportunities for promotion and managers must be able to motivate their staff and enable them to develop in their jobs. The existing management paradigm focuses heavily on control, order and compliance, with the consequence that people become objectified, measured and expended. Looks at the manager as coach and explores the importance and benefits of creating a strong relationship between manager and employee, what makes a good manager and the cultural changes necessary within an organization to bring this about successfully. The importance of staff empowerment is discussed and the argument put forward by experts Evered and Selman that coaching skills are not just part of the range of tools that a manager must have at his or her disposal, but are more important than any other management skills.

The secret of a manager becoming effective in coaching or training individuals lies in personal attributes which will be respected and perhaps admired by the people involved in the training programme. Some of these qualities include knowledge and experience, they should be effective communicators, good at self analysis and be quick to react. The old adversarial role should be abandoned if a manager wants to obtain the best results from his or her employees, and the analogy of a coach, in a sporting context, getting the best out of the team through a unique coach‐employee relationship is apposite.

Examines empowerment from both a US and European view. Puts forward the theory that only by encouraging employees to accept responsibility for their own job, from a satisfaction and performance viewpoint can a better workforce, and therefore a better product issue. Shows, with case examples from the US, how major companies have taken to empowerment and the benefits which they accrued through this. The UK, while lagging behind the US, is making inroads, particularly in the retail trade sector. The overall evidence shows that a significant impact on competitiveness from empowerment can be produced.

Argues that the survival and success of organizations today depends not only on devolving responsibility to individual employees, but also on the ability of managers to change their role accordingly in order to guide and support these individuals. Advocates the abandonment of the traditional command and control style of management in favour of a “coaching” approach, and outlines some principles of good coaching.

The aim of this research is to discover the special characteristics of technical professionals and the leadership skills required to manage, engage and retain these people. It also sought to establish leaders' assessment of their success in leading this particular group of people.

The survey took place over a six‐month period in 2005 and 2006. 898 leaders of technical professionals were surveyed by e‐mail. Leaders from more than 30 organizations in a wide range of industries across four continents representing more than ten functional areas took part. The objectives were to discover: what are the most challenging issues faced by leaders of technical professionals today? What skills and strategies do these leaders believe are most important for success in their jobs? How effective do they think they are? What characteristics are common to the technical professionals they lead?

A very broad range of findings described in the article and full report – available on request.

The findings of the report are entirely original and follow on from an earlier study conducted nearly 20 years ago. The paper is of value to leaders of technical professionals in many roles; IT, economics, finance, law, research etc. as they seek to understand the people they lead and to encourage high performance.

Purpose – This capstone chapter introduces Amartya Sen's important and innovative theory of justice to researchers on fairness in groups and organizations. Here, I discuss how Sen's theory can provide grounding for both philosophical and social scientific work on justice and how social science research can inform and be informed by Sen's theory.

Design/methodology/approach – In this chapter, I discuss Sen's new book, A Theory of Justice, and explain the main aspects of Sen's theory of justice. I then draw conceptual linkages between Sen's theory and those introduced in each of the other chapters included in this volume.

Findings – I show that Sen's view of justice goes beyond social contract theories that attempt to identify ideal institutional arrangements to seek practical solutions that increase justice as experienced by actual people in the world. Rather than parallel endeavors, Sen's approach reveals philosophy and social science to be deeply connected to each other and to justice by providing a unifying theme by which various social scientific traditions are shown to study aspects of the same underlying phenomena. Further, I demonstrate how philosophy and social science together can increase justice in the world.

Originality/value – Sen's theory of justice, though influential in economic and policy circles, is largely unfamiliar to social psychologists and organizational scholars. I introduce these fields to Sen's theory of justice and show how it is useful for social psychological approaches to the study of fairness in groups and organizations.

The Mexican government has been criticized for its implementation of neo-liberal economic policies that threaten to further impoverish indigenous populations. Given this, it is surprising that in 1997 some members of the Mixe people – one of the poorest indigenous groups in Mexico – condemned the implementation of a new government funding project that was specifically intended to alleviate hardship caused by free trade. The paper argues that objections to both free trade and the new funding program stem from the overarching problem the Mixe face, namely their systematic exclusion from decision-making processes and citizenship at the national level.

In the Court of Appeal last summer, when Van Den Berghs and Jurgens Limited (belonging to the Unilever giant organization) sought a reversal of the decision of the trial judge that their television advertisements of Stork margarine did not contravene Reg. 9, Margarine Regulations, 1967—an action which their Lordships described as fierce but friendly—there were some piercing criticisms by the Court on the phrasing of the Regulations, which was described as “ridiculous”, “illogical” and as “absurdities”. They also remarked upon the fact that from 1971 to 1975, after the Regulations became operative, and seven years from the date they were made, no complaint from enforcement authorities and officers or the organizations normally consulted during the making of such regulations were made, until the Butter Information Council, protecting the interests of the dairy trade and dairy producers, suggested the long‐standing advertisements of Reg. 9. An example of how the interests of descriptions and uses of the word “butter” infringements of Reg. 9. An example af how the interests of enforcement, consumer protection, &c, are not identical with trade interests, who see in legislation, accepted by the first, as injuring sections of the trade. (There is no evidence that the Butter Information Council was one of the organizations consulted by the MAFF before making the Regulations.) The Independant Broadcasting Authority on receiving the Council's complaint and obtaining legal advice, banned plaintiffs' advertisements and suggested they seek a declaration that the said advertisements did not infringe the Regulations. This they did and were refused such a declaration by the trial judge in the Chancery Division, whereupon they went to the Court of Appeal, and it was here, in the course of a very thorough and searching examination of the question and, in particular, the Margarine Regulations, that His Appellate Lordship made use of the critical phrases we have quoted.