Principle No. 4: Be Fair (Part 1)

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Distributive Justice

"You can't always get what you want," Mick Jagger sang in one of the Rolling Stones' most famous songs, but many of us would beg to differ with his next assertion: "If you try sometime, you just might find you get what you need." How many people do you know who are satisfied with their lot in life? Do your colleagues, friends, and family members believe that their needs are being adequately met? Since we live in a world of scarcity, it is natural to want to know how we are to divide what there is among those who want or need it. Tom Beauchamp and James Childress identify the following as standards we might use to make such a decision:

1. To each person an equal share

2. To each person according to need

3. To each person according to effort

4. To each person according to contribution

5. To each person according to merit

6. To each person according to free-market exchange

One standard isn't necessarily better than another, as Beauchamp and Childress note. Context is everything. For a birthday party in which some children are on a restricted diet because of their weight, it would be wrong to employ standard No. 1. It would be just as wrong to use standard No. 5, because children have equal merit when it comes to getting cake (as opposed to advancing in a spelling bee or musical contest). In the context of a party, "To each according to need" seems like a better criterion to use in distributing cake and ice cream.

When it comes to giving out raises, it would seem that No. 4 or No. 5—contribution and merit—should be considered. But what about the person who puts out more effort than anyone else, yet accomplishes less? How much should effort count?

Even when it seems that a standard is apt, you may have to think again. Let's say the resource in question is something far more scarce than ice cream or money, such as organs for transplant. No. 2—need—might seem obvious. Yet some argue that lifestyle choices that adversely affect one's health—deciding to smoke or failing to seek treatment for alcoholism, for example—should play a role in determining who should be given a transplant.

Obviously this is a complex issue and beyond the scope of this column to address thoroughly. The point is simply that of the six standards listed above for deciding who gets what (and there are other standards one can think of), no one standard applies to every situation. "One size fits all" might apply to baseball hats or mood rings but certainly not to how we realize the life principle of fairness.

Next week, we will conclude our examination of this principle.

Have a professional ethical dilemma? Need help figuring out the right thing to do on the job? Ask the Ethics Guy! Write to Dr. Bruce Weinstein at Bruce@TheEthicsGuy.com, and your question may be answered in his weekly column on BusinessWeek.com.

Bruce@TheEthicsGuy.com Bruce Weinstein, Ph.D. is the corporate consultant, author, and public speaker known as The Ethics Guy. He has appeared on numerous national television shows and is the author of several books on ethics. His “Ask the Ethics Guy!” appears every other week on businessweek.com/managing/.