Caring vs. Justice? What's Your Ethical Style?

In class this week, I had to complete an ethical orientation questionnaire. The quiz was 9 questions evaluating whether I tend to use a "Caring" or a "Justice" mentality when dealing with ethical situations. My score was 5 for the "Justice" orientation and 4 for the "Caring" orientation. At first, I thought this was probably a bad sign - that my scores were split down the middle. Using an ethic of justice might remove some of the emotion from a decision, lending it to a right vs. wrong outlook. Using an ethic of caring would allow for each situation to be examined on an individual basis. After I read a bit more of the explanation, I realized that an even score would probably benefit me, since I can see both perspectives, and I hope that I would use the appropriate amount of caring and justice to determine the right decision for any given situation.

About five years ago, I was managing a group of new employees, and I gave them a “fun” assignment to be completed during work hours, but their day would be spent off of our work premises. During the lunch hour, a group of the employees went to lunch together at a local restaurant, and a couple of them decided to have a beer with lunch. While it was legal for the employees to purchase an alcoholic beverage, in our employee handbook, there was a mention that employees should not be “under the influence” of any drugs or alcohol while on the job. In addition to this, our company had recently been purchased by a foreign entity. On a daily basis, you might see various high-level employees, temporarily working in the US. These employees thought nothing of ordering a glass of wine with lunch, since it is very common in their country.

In this particular situation, I employed a mostly “caring” approach. Since they were new employees, I approached it from a standpoint that they may not have fully read the handbook yet. I tried to add a little humor by saying that even though we were owned by a foreign entity, they were working in the US, so the perception needed to reflect expected behaviors for this country. As a result, the employees received a verbal warning from me, and to my knowledge, it did not happen again.

If I had used a purely “justice” approach, the consequences would have been swift and severe, resulting in the immediate dismissal of the employees.

Interested in learning which you prefer? I found this short quiz on ProProfs QuizMaker (not an endorsement of the site or this quiz).