ABSTRACT
It is particularly appropriate that the social influence and ethics conference on which this book was based was housed in the Kellogg School of Business. The business context highlights the fact that theoretical explanations of various fair or unfair procedures in the work world have two basic themes. On the one hand, it can be argued that companies should behave fairly on ethical grounds: They should do the right thing. On the other hand, it is painfully obvious that even if a company couldn’t care less, it would be efficient for it to minimize the amount of disgruntled acting out, both from organizational survivors and, in the shorter term, from workers who are forced to leave. The latter argument from expediency is consistent with an impression management approach to the issue of what the parties do in a justice encounter (e.g., Greenberg, 1990b; Shlenker, 1980). In my view, these approaches are not mutually exclusive; people often act for multiple reasons, and if we could not be ethical and make a good impression at the same time, there would probably be a good deal less ethicality observed. For present purposes I assume that to do good and to look good are compatible goals, and that doing good is at least part of what people want.
