Fair process
People accept a decision that goes against them when they were heard, the reasoning was explained, and what is expected next is unambiguous. The three elements are engagement, explanation and clarity of expectation.
Evidence grade: practice A widely adopted practitioner model with clear provenance.
Use it when
Any performance decision, promotion decision or selection that someone will be unhappy with.
Where it stops working
Fair process cannot make a wrong decision right. What it does is get a defensible decision accepted. Performed as a ritual around a decision already made, it is recognised for what it is.
Where the standard uses it
- PL-4Performance managementExpectations, support, honest consequences, and fair process.
Sources
- W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne. Fair Process: Managing in the Knowledge Economy. Harvard Business Review, July–August 1997, 1997. In the bibliography
Used alongside it
- Calibration practice
- Managerial leverage practice
- Skill and will practice
Cite this model
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). Fair process. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, TEC.fair-process). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/techniques/fair-process