The Nature of theory and the Interplay between theory and methods in Organizational Justice

THE NATURE OF THEORY AND THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN THEORY
AND METHODS IN ORGANIZATIONAL JUSTICE
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(23, October, 2010)
The Nature of theory and the Interplay between theory and
methods in Organizational Justice
Introduction
The Encarta online dictionary defines theory as rules and techniques applying to a subject; or as an idea or scientific set of principles structured out of speculation or hypothetically to explain a phenomenon. Methods on the other hand refer to the rules and regulations that are applied in the research process. The methods include data collection methods and methods that are used in analyzing these data. In organizational research, the two have usually been used separately. However an article The Interplay between Theory and Method (Mannen, Et.al. 2007) argued that in research practice, the two should be interrelated. This paper will address the issue on proper interplay between theory and methods. Organizational justice theory is one area which has experienced a large number of research from which many theories have been created, analyzed and construed. The paper will analyze how interplay between methods and theories have been applied in developing organizational justice theories.
Interplay between Theory and Methods
A theory is more reliable if there are methodological propositions to support this theory. On the other hand methods will be useless if not supported by theoretical substance. Mannen and colleagues argue that it can be misleading for a researcher to just assume that the research will always follow a standard model. As seasoned researchers have found out, methods can be used to develop theory and theory can be used to develop and drive methods at the point of analysis and while at that hypothetical stage and its descriptive and prescriptive nature. A new theoretical insight can be generated using methods, by analyzing configurations and unexpected data and through simulation modeling. The unexpected data will be used as a base for a new theory that can be analyzed, debated and turned into a new topic.
Theories seek to search for prove that the laws that are used to determine the relationship among variables in the specified topic under study. These theories will use methods in validating these laws. The more a theory is emphasized through empirical observations, the more convincing will the theory be. Empirical studies are partly conducted to support a theory which should lead to a conclusive study. Good theory comes from engagement with the problems in the world from which the theory is studied and analyzed empirically to be proven right or wrong, another theory will be developed from any unexpected results. Researchers should appreciate theorizing the results from unmet expectations from the collected data as this acts as the motivating factor in theorizing.
Interplay Between Methods and Theory Application in Organizational Justice
This interplay between methods and theory has been used by researchers in organizational justice. Organizational justice focuses on fairness and how employees perceive this fairness within the work place. From the original inequity theory in organizational justice, other theories were proposed, debated and interpreted and developed into more theories. These theories have developed into the two types of organizational justice, distributive and procedural justice and recently interactional Justice (Cropanzano, 2000).
The research on organizational justice began from social-psychological research and research methodology from a legal entity. The social-psychological research was an RD study which was conducted on promotion satisfaction by World War II soldiers. The RD involved a comparison between the Military Police, where there were few promotions, and Army Air Corps, with many promotions. The results of the research indicated that though there were fewer promotions in the Military Police, there was more satisfaction than with the Army Air Corps. The RD study was interpreted to determine the fairness in the work place theory. In this case data was collected to substantiate a theory. Another RD study was he RCT theory which was developed from data collected on Relative deprivation...