{
  "title": "AI assistants: how should they explain a refusal in Berne?",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/assistants-ia-expliquer-un-refus-a-berne-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2025-07-06",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "An assistant can communicate a refusal that complies with the rules without making its grounds understandable. Research on organisational justice suggests that these are distinct requirements.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Building AI Assistants and Agents Without Coding",
  "place": {
    "name": "Bern",
    "region": "Berne",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Jason Alan Colquitt (2001, Journal of Applied Psychology) provides evidence supporting a distinction between distributive, procedural, interpersonal and informational justice."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The explanation is part of the treatment",
      "point": "Jerald Greenberg (1990, Journal of Applied Psychology) studied reactions to pay cuts in a field setting."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "One might conclude that configuring an empathetic tone is enough to make refusals acceptable."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What these studies do not demonstrate",
      "point": "These studies concern neither language models nor agents configured without code."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Berne",
      "point": "Within SHR’s programme « Créer ses assistants et agents IA sans coder », a relevant exercise in Berne is to configure an assistant that drafts, without making the decisions, negative responses to internal requests: access to training in the federal administration, methodological support in public health, technical intervention in telecommunications or equipment bookings in precision manufacturing."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Colquitt",
      "year": "2001",
      "source": "Journal of Applied Psychology"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Greenberg",
      "year": "1990",
      "source": "Journal of Applied Psychology"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 448,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-Training-Building-AI-Assistants-And-Agents-Without-Coding-Bern-assistants-ia-expliquer-un-refus-a-berne-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/assistants-ia-expliquer-un-refus-a-berne",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/assistants-ia-expliquer-un-refus-a-berne-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/assistants-ia-expliquer-un-refus-a-berne-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/assistants-ia-expliquer-un-refus-a-berne-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation-assistants-agents-ia-berne",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/berne",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}