“Life is not fair, get used to it” – a quote often attributed to Bill Gates, but originally by Charles J Sykes, which we believe should be challenged. Life should not be about getting used to unfairness but about how we can create an environment that provides a fairer experience for everyone.

The motivation for this is not only about being good and decent humans but also about the negative impact unfair treatment has on individuals, organisations and projects. This study therefore explores what individuals perceive as fair or unfair treatment in projects, which factors influence their perceptions and subsequent behaviours, and how these impact on individuals, organisations and projects.

In August 2022, APM published the report on a recent research study by Dr Christine Unterhitzenberger and Dr Kate Lawrence on fairness and unfairness in projects. Join Christine and Kate as they discuss their findings at this Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire branch event. 

We found that individuals perceive fairness in projects along the three dimensions of organisational justice:

• Distributive justice, which is concerned with the perception of fairness regarding the
  distribution of resources and rewards.
• Procedural justice, which is focused on the fairness of policies, procedures, processes, rules, regulations, standards and systems that are established in an organisation or project.
• Interactional justice, which relates to interpersonal treatment and informational exchange.

We also identified four factors that influence how individuals makes justice judgements about their treatment by an individual or organisation. These factors are:

• the source of the treatment (internal vs external to their own organisation)
• the temporality and frequency of the treatment
• the authority and accountability individuals hold
• the adoption of reflective practices

In terms of the impact of fair treatment, we determined positive effects on ways of working, project relationships and health and well-being. In contrast to this, unfair treatment caused detrimental effects on these issues.

We conclude our report with actionable recommendations for three groups: how the project profession needs to raise awareness of fair and unfair treatment and its impact; how organisations involved in projects need to build skills and capabilities to enable their employees to adopt fair working practices in projects; and how individuals, i.e. project professionals, need to take responsibility for their actions and behaviours towards project team members, colleagues and other individuals they work with in projects in terms of fair and unfair treatment.

For further information about APM and to book your place, please visit the APM website.