Balancing Material Value and Moral Values

Justice-Based ManagementSM offers an ethical framework for succeeding in business. JBM balances moral values (treating people with fairness and dignity) with material value (increasing a company's productiveness and profits while enriching all members of a productive enterprise). JBM's three basic operating principles are:

  1. Build the organization on shared ethical values—starting with respect for the dignity and worth of each person (employee, customer and supplier)—that promote the development and empowerment of every member of the group.

  2. Succeed in the marketplace by delivering maximum value (higher quality at lower prices) to the customer.

  3. Reward people commensurate with the value they contribute to the company—as individuals and as a team.

Justice-Based ManagementSM is guided by the concept of social justice, as articulated by the late social philosopher William Ferree, SM. Social justice involves the structuring of social organizations or institutions (including business corporations) to promote and develop the full potential of every member.

JBM also embeds within an ownership culture the three principles of economic justice defined by the late lawyer-economist Louis Kelso and philosopher Mortimer Adler: (1) participative justice, or the right to the means and opportunity to participate in the economic process as an owner as well as a worker; (2) distributive justice, or the right to the full, market-determined stream of income from one’s labor and capital contributions; and (3) harmony (or social justice), or the right and responsibility of each person to work in an organized way with others to correct the “social order” or institution when the principles of participative or distributive justice are being violated or blocked.

Within JBMSM the principles of social and economic justice provide a logical framework for defining “fairness” and structuring the diffusion of power within the corporation.