Fairness: A cultural construct or universal feeling?

What's fair in my world may not be fair in yours. Culture matters!

Presenter: Delphine du ToitMediator-Coach-Facilitator

Our fairness safari this afternoon...

1. Our own tribes – hunting and sharing

2. The instinct for fairness

3. Drinking at the oasis of culture

(a.k.a the straw that can break the camel’s back)

1. If we’re all the same how can we be different together?

Our own tribes

Young person - Catholic – Grandparent –Mi’kmaq – Feminist –Nova Scotian – Musician - African Nova Scotian - Millennial -Scottish – Cat Lover – Graduate - English Canadian – Belgian -Immigrant – New Brunswicker – Christian – Elder - Disabled –Buddhist – Academic – Chinese - Boomer –Dog Lover – Parent – Artist - Vegan – Breadwinner - Professional - Left-handed -Meat Eater – -Professor - Knitter - Workaholic – Syrian –Acadian –Caregiver – Graduate – X – CFA – Islander –American – Environmentalist - European – Gardener – Reader – Canadian –Jewish – French Canadian –Refugee – - - - - -voter….

HUNTING AND SHARING THE WAYS WE KNOW BEST

Brainstorming and sharing

All the cultures on our campuses

What do you appreciate most about your culture?

The Instinct for FairnessWhere does it come from - why do we have it?

Reflect

What was your first experience of UNFAIRNESS.

What was at the root of your feeling of unfairness?

What would ‘fair’ have looked and felt like?

The evolution of fairness

• It is a survival thing – triggered by the fear of personal extinction.

• A primate thing

• It is even an elephant thing

• Brown’s Human Fundamentals

• Capuchin experiment

THE ROOTS OF FAIRNESS

HUMAN DEMAND FOR

FAIRNESS

LEARNEDINSTINCT

SELF

So then, where does unfairness come from?• Innate abilities differentiated?

• Inherited privileges?

• Inherent competition for resources?

(Were the hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic era fair?)

Drinking at the oasis of culture (a.k.a the straw that could break

the camel’s back)Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Universal Declaration of Human Rights – whose culture shaped it?

Analysing-Categorising-Describing Dimensions of Culture

Is it ok to identify patterns of similarity

and difference?

Can we categorise without

stereotyping?

Identity – individualism or collectivism

Hierarchy – power distance: large or small

Gender – role differentiation & control of aggression (m/f)

Truth – uncertainty avoidance/uncertainty tolerance

Virtue – long-term vs. short-term orientation.

Some examples of cultural characteristics

• Individualistic self is served through enhancing own positive attributes.

• Collectivist self is served by focusing on one’s negative characteristics in order to blend in and maintain interdependence.

• More than a third of employees saw a lack of honesty as a key factor in workplace conflict.

• Beleaguered groups are more likely to be collectivist in their self-assessment/expectations of fairness (“an injury to one...”)

USA

JAPAN

FRANCE

TRADE UNIONS

If we’re all the same how can we be different together?

INDIVIDUALISTS PREFER POSITIVE FEEDBACK AND DISLIKE CRITICISM OF SELF.

Why is it we do performance appraisals?

Think about this

“Workplace fairness”: What does that include?

It’s about more than just bullying and harassment.

It‘s about letters of engagement all the way through to termination of employment.

It’s about integrity.

The Rules of the Game on your Campus• Where does your stated commitment to fairness live?

• How do you measure fairness/lack of fairness?

There are ways of being more fair.Start with awarenessThen curiosityThen consultingThen testingThen refiningThen doing

As they say in East Africa, at the end of a Serengeti adventure … Asante sana. Safari njema. Karibu tena.

Thanks a lotTravel well

Welcome again