Social Dynamics of Justice: How the Ex-Ante and Ex-Post Justice Interplay with Formal and Informal Elements of Management Control Systems

Abstract

Management control systems (MCSs) are used by organizations to try to make sure that their goals are accomplished. MCSs are used to set goals and objectives, to measure accomplishments and to reward or punish people according to results. In this chapter, we argue that the social dynamics associated with MCSs vary according to whether or not justice is embedded in the way the systems are designed and used. We build on the model proposed by Cuguero-Escofet and Rosanas (2013), which shows that both formal and informal justice help to fuel the social dynamics of the design and use of MCSs in order to strive for better alignment between individuals and organizations. Afterward, we propose two contributions made by this model. The first one involves showing that separating ex-post and ex-ante justice, and separating ex-ante justice into formal and informal justice, can add to our current understanding of the social dynamics of justice. The second involves looking into the possible effects that different states of interest alignment can have in terms of creating short-term and long term-term fairness. We close by showing the possible conclusions that can be derived from our analysis, which are important in terms of research and to the practice of organizational justice. We include possible proposals for future empirical validation of the model and also possible cautions when using ex-post fairness perceptions as a tool to look into the ex-ante formal and informal justice of MCSs.