MZMORALE ZEROthe antithesis of employee engagement
DIRECTIVE 120 / FAIRNESS

MAKE FLEXIBILITY PERSONAL

Let access to flexibility depend on whom an employee knows.

Keep exceptions to schedules and work arrangements outside any transparent policy. Approve accommodations individually for employees with strong managerial relationships. Tell everyone else that flexibility must be assessed case by case to preserve fairness.

THE MECHANISM

Discretionary access to benefits that rewards managerial proximity over equal treatment.

Primary: FAIRNESSPOWERBELONGING
RATIONALE
Individualized deals provide flexibility without forcing the organization to define who should qualify in advance.
SUCCESS INDICATOR
Employees know flexibility exists and devote substantial attention to understanding who is allowed to obtain it.
COMMON FAILURE
Using individualized arrangements transparently enough that legitimate customization does not become unexplained privilege or a persistent source of coworker injustice.
THE UNFORTUNATE PART

Evidence, with limitations.

Claim

Idiosyncratic deals can benefit recipients, but coworkers also interpret individualized arrangements through fairness and comparison processes; reactions depend on the deal, performance, interdependence and perceived opportunity for similar treatment.

Evidence

Research on i-deals and organizational justice finds individualized arrangements can affect justice perceptions, while coworker-focused work identifies both positive and negative reactions depending on distributive fairness and context.

Scientific boundary: Individualized employment arrangements can be beneficial but may raise coworker fairness questions; perceptions depend on transparency and comparability.

Sources

These references offer context, not a completed review or a test of this instruction.

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