Abrupt policy reversal amid Blacks Lives Matter: Starbucks’ grande employee dress code problem

Theoretical basis Organizational Justice Theory serves as a useful frame for discussion of this case, focusing on perceptions of fairness in the workplace. Such perceptions are shaped by outcomes, procedures, information and interpersonal treatment. Perceptions of justice in these four dimensions are associated with job performance, citizenship behaviors and some mental health outcomes. The Exit, Voice, Loyalty, Neglect (EVLN) Model outlines four potential responses (exit, voice, loyalty and neglect) to perceived job dissatisfaction, serving as a useful framework for students to discuss potential employee reactions to Starbucks’ decisions. Research methodology This case was developed from secondary sources, including news reports, company annual reports and websites. The case has been classroom tested with undergraduate students in Principles of Management (online and face-to-face) Human Resource Management (online asynchronous) and Labor/Management Relations (online synchronous). Case overview/synopsis In June 2020, Starbucks became immersed in controversy when its dress code policy conflicted with its public support for national protests over police brutality against Black Americans, including the death of George Floyd while in police custody. While publicly supporting the protests in a series of tweets, an internal memo forbidding employees from wearing Black Lives Matter attire was leaked to the press, generating national outcry, threats of a boycott and forcing Starbucks to reverse course immediately. This case examines the benefits and challenges of a corporate dress/uniform policy, and the implications of corporate involvement in social justice issues. Complexity academic level This case can be used in a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses, but particularly in Principles of Management and Human Resources courses.

The Individual and Administrative Justice

This chapter discusses what individual justice means in the realm of administrative justice. The standards of justice and fairness that apply in administrative decision-making need consideration from the perspective of the service user. Should the administrative justice system serve the citizen or the state? What role do individual service users have in the design, use, and evaluation of more bureaucratic systems of redress? Different notions of justice, as they relate to primary decision-making processes, have been described through various models. This chapter provides a set of tools with which to study the subject and argues for the importance of user voice and perceptions of fairness in the provision of a more citizen-focussed justice.

Exposure to Discretionary Arrests Increases Support for Anti-Police Protests

The legitimacy of the state rests on individuals' perceptions of fairness when interacting with state institutions and state agents. The police as an institution and as individual agents have wide latitude to detain and use force against individuals. We argue that encounters with state bureaucracy and civil servants, specifically the police, can generate individual-level grievances against the state, and that these grievances make it more likely an individual participates in protest against the state. We study support for and the legitimacy of policing in the context of the anti-police protests in Baltimore, MD following the death of Freddie Gray in April, 2015. Using data from police records and social media, we show that individuals with higher exposure to discretionary arrests --- arrests that are potentially viewed as illegitimate or arbitrary --- are more likely to support protests against the police. In contrast, we demonstrate that exposure to arrests for major crimes such as murder does not follow the same pattern. Thus, support for the police as an institution varies systematically with exposure to arbitrary and capricious encounters with police agents. As these grievance generating encounters become more widespread, we expect to see increased protests against the police and further erosion in support of the police as an institution. Alternatively, shifting institutional resources to focus on major crimes and limiting the discretionary authority of police agents when interacting with the public may help to repair the legitimacy of policing institutions over the long term.

The Fairness of International Justice

There is an ever-expanding system of international criminal justice in which the concern for fairness is equally as powerful as it is in domestic criminal justice systems, but considerably more fraught with political baggage. The goal of our paper is to develop a model of individual evaluations of fairness of an international court and subject our current understandings of fairness to a challenging test by focusing on those with a tremendous stake in the outcomes of trials—the witnesses. We develop a model that emphasizes three core elements of individual judgments regarding fairness: (1) the identity of the individual—those relatively fixed characteristics that individuals use to explain who they are; (2) the individual encounter with international justice; and (3) general, or more objective indicators of Tribunal effectiveness. We then derive specific hypothesis from these expectations. We utilize data from a unique survey of 300 individuals who testified at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (icty). We find that identity, personal efficacy and to a lesser extent, the perceived appropriateness of punishment for the guilty affect perceptions of fairness.

Race Differences in Youths’ Attitudes Toward Arming Teachers: Investigating the Role of Procedural Justice

Although school violence statistics indicate that schools are safe places, anxiety over school shootings continues to influence school safety reform to the extent that security measures in American public schools include the arming of schoolteachers. Furthermore, not only have youths’ perceptions of school security been relatively unexplored, existing research points to racial inequalities in the use of and the effects of school security practices. This study uses data from high school students across multiple school districts in a Midwestern county to examine how race and perceptions of fairness intersect to influence attitudes on arming teachers. The results suggest that, relative to White students, Black students are less supportive of arming teachers and anticipate greater decreases in safety if teachers are armed. In addition, perceptions of fairness mediate the effect of race on support and feelings of safety. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

Artificial fairness? Trust in algorithmic police decision-making

Objectives Test whether (1) people view a policing decision made by an algorithm as more or less trustworthy than when an officer makes the same decision; (2) people who are presented with a specific instance of algorithmic policing have greater or lesser support for the general use of algorithmic policing in general; and (3) people use trust as a heuristic through which to make sense of an unfamiliar technology like algorithmic policing. Methods An online experiment tested whether different decision-making methods, outcomes and scenario types affect judgements about the appropriateness and fairness of decision-making and the general acceptability of police use of this particular technology. Results People see a decision as less fair and less appropriate when an algorithm decides, compared to when an officer decides. Yet, perceptions of fairness and appropriateness were strong predictors of support for police use of algorithms, and being exposed to a successful use of an algorithm was linked, via trust in the decision made, to greater support for police use of algorithms. Conclusions Making decisions solely based on algorithms might damage trust, and the more police rely solely on algorithmic decision-making, the less trusting people may be in decisions. However, mere exposure to the successful use of algorithms seems to enhance the general acceptability of this technology.