Response to the case "Justice for Walmart Employees" a the end of chapter 14

          At the end of chapter 15, this case regarding Walmart Workers, particularly women, is introduced.  The case explains the lawsuit brought against Walmart, accusing it of discriminatory practices.  Apparently, women are paid less than men and are not promoted nearly as much as men.  Women make up 2 thirds of Walmart's workforce but only 1 third of management.  They are also receive far fewer promotions despite their higher performance ratings and seniority.  To stop this, a lawsuit has been brought against Walmart.  However, Walmart is delaying the lawsuit for as long as it possibly can and creating ridiculous obstacles to keep the lawsuit from going to court.  Its practices are questionable to say the least.
          According to chapter 15, Walmart is violating several forms of justice.  First, since women perceive to be getting paid significantly less than men, and Walmart employees in general are paid way below the poverty line, it can be argued that Walmart is lacking distributive justice.  This means that rewards and other valued outcomes are not distributed fairly.  In addition, because Walmart is making it nearly impossible for women to carry out a class action lawsuit, it is also lacking procedural justice.  This means that the way Walmart is carrying out their prodecures and arriving at certain outcomes is not fair.  Lastly, Walmart is violating interpersonal justice because they are not treating their employees fairly by paying them so much less than other companies and by not providing adequate benefits or wages. 
          Although Walmart may be getting away with a lot of their unjust practices, they are constantly receiving negative attention.  Managers must be aware that violating these bases of power will result in huge negative repercussions, and perhaps even lawsuits as in the instance of Walmart.  

Response to the case "Heading Off a Permanent Misunderstanding"

          This case was particularly interesting to me because I find myself doing what Mindy Martin did, all the time-that is, I make an assumption about someone else by over analyzing their behavior and jumping to conclusions.  In this case, there wasn't actually a conflict.  According to our textbook, a conflict only exists if both parties perceive it to be a conflict.  Since Al Sharp did not think there was a problem and had no idea what was wrong with Mindy, the situation did not constitute a conflict.  Instead, it was a miscommunication.  Mindy was clearly a little nervous, upset, and insecure about not getting the promotion but it was because she was not given all the facts.  This situation could have been avoided if she had been included in the discussion, or simply been given some feedback regarding the decision.  Instead, she was kept in the dark and not made aware of why she had not received the promotion.  If Sharp or Attridge had explained to her earlier on, the whole misunderstanding could have been avoided.  However, Mindy could have also made an attempt to find out for herself.  Instead, she jumped to conclusions and made assumptions that were not true.  She should have asserted herself and asked Attridge or Sharp why she was not given the promotion.  In conlclusion, I think the entire misunderstanding could have been avoided if either parties had made more of an effort to communicate and get the facts straight.  Had Attridge not stepped in, relations between the two may have gotten so bad that one of them decided to quit their job, others in the office could have been affected by their hostility, and productivity could have suffered as a result.