It's Not Fair!

My children have these three words down to a tee, both in tone and timing of delivery. It drops from their mouths not just after an event but in anticipation of impending inequity. They scan what I do, their friends and siblings for possible reasons to throw the cutting accusation – and this doesn’t leave us as we get older. When we witness unfairness, whether it is something that involves ourselves or others we react. How we respond will be determined by the level of unfairness we perceive and our ability to control our emotions before we act.

Fairness is a primary need for the brain and is highly correlated to trust which is the key to unlocking engagement and performance. A sense of fairness in and of itself can create a strong reward response, and a sense of unfairness can generate a threat response that can last for days. We can feel unfairly treated by a taxi driver who takes the longer route round or what we witness on the news. A prime example is the outcry at Lance Armstrong’s cheating, using drugs to gain advantage and duping a loyal audience. The strong reactions to Mr Armstrong’s offence came even from those who did not follow the sport. The level of injustice struck at the core of our emotions.

The Ultimatum Game is famous for showing our reactions to our view of what’s fair. We watch two people receive a pot of money that is to be split between them. One person puts forward their proposal on how to divide the money and the other decides whether to accept it or not. If the proposal is not accepted then neither gets anything. The results show that people are willing to forgo personal gain in order to prevent the other getting what is perceived as an inequitable outcome. It is termed ‘inequity aversion’ and the response in the brain to unfairness is interesting because it activates areas that are associated with disgust. We retaliate and seek revenge, often at personal risk and research has also shown that if we witness a cheat gain from their actions our reaction and desire to punish the cheat is far stronger.

In the workplace revenge is seen as the purposeful retaliation in an attempt to seek justice and often takes the form of silent and non-confrontational acts that directly affect the other person, such as deliberate choices to work more slowly, refusals to help or ignoring instructions from the offending colleague. Gossip can ensue as the employee seeking justice looks to add collaborators to their cause. Whatever the course of action the result is detrimental to engagement and performance.

A theory about why fairness is so important to us looks at evolutionary history where we needed to trade resources through favours – giving in kind. The value of resources yet to be received or to be provided, were stored in individuals brains and thus equated to survival. We had to build strong detectors for cheats and for inequity. Unfairness, breaking the social rules of equity for personal gain destroys the fabric of cooperation, fundamental for human co-existence.

How we interpret fairness, will be subject to our unique perception grounded in our experiences, values and beliefs. The workplace environment, from reward strategies to leadership approaches, will either motivate or demotivate should they be assessed as unfair. It is important to recognise that this does not mean that everyone should be treated exactly the same. Instead it is the perception of an equitable and just approach which in terms of output can mean different things for different people – transparency to the how decisions are made will go a long way to supporting fairness and trust.

The core message here is to firstly understand the human need for fairness and justice and then leverage this through leadership tools and techniques so as to build trust and an engaged workforce.