Violations of Service Fairness and Legal Ramifications: The Case of the Managed Care Industry

Adapted from Chan's (2000) model depicting success of litigation, this paper argues that with the application of various legislation, health maintenance organizations' (HMOs') violations of service fairness to each group: enrollees, physicians, and hospitals give rise to each group's lawsuits against the HMOs. Various authors (Bowen et al., 1999; Seiders and Berry, 1998) indicate that justice concepts such as distributive, procedural, and interactional justice can be applied to the area of service fairness. The violation of these underlying justice principles with HMOs' service unfairness to enrollees, physicians, and hospitals is examined. A general synopsis of the ethical issues in the managed care industry is provided. The various lawsuits launched by each group: enrollees, physicians, and hospitals together with the key statutes used are discussed. This paper also highlights the provisions and ramifications of the 11 April 2000 landmark agreement that Aetna made with Texas Attorney General John Cornyn to settle the 1998 lawsuit brought against the company. Lastly, the current ethical issues in the managed care industry are further discussed. The value of this paper can be adapted to the study of organizations' service fairness violations in other industries or in the educational, governmental, and not-for-profit sectors both nationally and internationally.     

乡村振兴背景下乡村旅游环境正义实现途径

［目的］为改变乡村旅游非生态化发展的现状,全面实现乡村振兴。［方法］结合使用文献综述法和实地调研法,基于环境正义理论,将环境问题与社会正义结合起来分析乡村旅游环境问题产生的根源。［结果］一直以来,乡村旅游作为实现乡村振兴的重要方式都过于追求经济效益,而忽视了给乡村旅游地及其周边区域带来的环境污染和生态破坏,造成乡村旅游种际环境非正义和人际环境非正义。［结论］代内人际环境正义的实现是解决乡村旅游环境问题的关键,确保未来乡村旅游发展的环境正义导向和矫正当前存在的环境非正义是必须同时兼顾的两个方面。实现乡村旅游环境正义,一方面应增强主体的环境正义意识、构建公正的环境相关制度以确保乡村旅游未来发展的环境公正导向,另一方面应探索建立乡村旅游生态补偿制度对已经造成或现阶段无法避免的环境非正义结果进行矫正,实现补偿正义。     

Identifying Client Fairness Criteria in Income Tax Services

Abstract

Organizational justice (i.e., fairness) has been an important construct in the management literature. Employee perceptions of the fairness of outcomes and procedures have been found to have important attitudinal and behavioral consequences. Fairness has more recently been studied in service industries. However, client perceptions of fairness in accounting services have yet to be explored. It is likely that fairness perceptions are particularly salient in income tax return services. In an exploratory study, we sought to identify the types of experiences that trigger these clients' perceptions of fairness. The results suggest some common criteria that can help CPAs and their firms mitigate the potential negative consequences of client perceptions of unfairness. Regression analyses were also used to determine the most significant predictors of client satisfaction with the overall service and global perceptions of fairness.     

An interactional perspective on perceived empowerment: the role of personal needs and task context

This study examines the influence of individual needs and task characteristics on a multifaceted definition of perceived empowerment using an interactional perspective. Respondents were Hong Kong Chinese employees and most of them lower-level or nonmanagerial level workers in business organizations. We used regression analyses to test a number of hypotheses informed by social psychology theories. The significant findings indicate that perceived empowerment is predicted by individual characteristics (need for achievement, need for power), task situations (receipt of task feedback, competency-based reward system, participation in goal setting) and their interactions. Limitations of the study and implications for future research are discussed.     

基于个人信息化的企业信息化模式

信息化是21世纪企业的一个重要主题,在没有经验可以借鉴的情况下,企业如何实施信息化建设,这是企业界和理论界一直想解决的问题。本文从研究企业信息化实施的制约因素和个人信息化与企业信息化的交互作用机制出发,提出基于个人信息化的企业信息化模式。该模式可以用来指导企业信息化建设。     

How career plateau beliefs and leader interpersonal unfairness harm job performance in dysfunctional organizational settings

Building on social exchange theory and attribution theory, this study unpacks the relationship between employees' perceptions of organizational politics and job performance, considering the mediating effect of career plateau beliefs and the moderating effect of leader interpersonal unfairness. The findings provide empirical support for the theoretical predictions. An important reason for which perceptions of dysfunctional organizational politics reduce job performance is that employees develop beliefs that opportunities for their career development are limited. This mediating role of career plateau beliefs is particularly salient to the extent that employees are exposed to organizational leaders who treat them with disrespect. Organizations can mitigate the risk that highly politicized decision-making processes lead to negative performance outcomes by stimulating fair interpersonal relationships.     

心理契约破坏不利于组织认同?

在探讨心理契约破坏对员工组织认同影响中,可探讨以领导成员交换为中介变量和互动公平氛围为调节变量在此关系中的作用。通过对中小科技型制造企业的354名员工调查研究发现,心理契约破坏对员工组织认同有显著的负向影响;员工领导成员交换部分中介心理契约破坏对组织认同有负向影响;互动公平氛围调节心理契约破坏与领导成员交换有负向关系;进一步,互动公平氛围既调节心理契约破坏对组织认同的直接影响,也调节了心理契约破坏经过领导成员交换对组织认同的间接影响。     

When Organizations Break Their Promises: Employee Reactions to Unfair Processes and Treatment

Research has shown that the strongest reactions to organizational injustice occur when an employee perceives both unfair outcomes (distributive injustice) and unfair and unethical procedures and treatment. Utilizing the Referent Cognitions Theory (RCT) framework, this study investigates how a form of distributive injustice, psychological contract breach, along with procedural and interactional injustice influences employees' negative attitudes and behaviors. More specifically, the interactional effects of these forms of injustices should be notably greater than those exhibited when an employee of the organization, following a contract breach, perceives both fair and ethical processes and treatment. Three hundred and twenty-two employees from a variety of organizational settings completed measures of contract breach, procedural injustice, interactional injustice, and negative affect toward the organization. Their respective supervisors completed a measure of deviant work behaviors. Results revealed a three-way interaction between contract breach, procedural injustice, and interactional injustice on negative affect and deviant work behavior. The nature of the interaction was further investigated through simple slope analyses. Consistent with the study's propositions, deviant work behavior was higher following a contract breach when both procedural and interactional injustice were high. However, the association between negative affect and breach was high when both forms of injustices were high and when only interactional injustice was high. Study contributions and limitations as well as theoretical and ethical implications are discussed.     

论组织不公与反生产行为的关系

反生产行为(CPB)是员工在工作中违反组织规章制度,故意危害组织及其利益相关者的行为。许多研究表明,组织不公是导致员工反生产行为的一个重要因素。文章总结了近几年关于组织不公和反生产行为(CPB)的相关研究,指出了目前研究中存在的问题,并据此提出了未来的研究趋势。     

The moderating effect of leadership on perceived organizational justice and affective commitment: a study in China

While western literature proves the importance of procedural justice, interactional justice is found to have a greater impact on employees in China. This study investigates the effect of employees’ perceptions of organizational justice on affective commitment, and the moderating effect of leadership style in the relationship. The authors proposed that the positive association of interactional justice with affective commitment is stronger than the positive association of procedural and distributive justices with affective commitment. In addition, the authors hypothesized that leadership style in teams moderates the relationship between interactional justice and affective commitment. Data were collected from 10 companies in Shenzhen, Shanghai, Beijing, Wenzhou, Wuhan, and Qingdao, China. The results support the hypotheses stating that interactional justice has a robust impact on affective commitment and that leadership in teams moderates the relationship. These findings have important implications for human resource management. When setting up HR policy in China, putting the right HR procedures in place is essential. Employees’ affective commitment relies heavily on interactional justice and whether or not employees perceive that they are being treated fairly by their managers. We discuss the implications of these findings.