Putting a Price on a Head; Work stoppages, discrimination complaints, imposition of protective import tariffs and international trade battles are often triggered by allegations of unfair compensation.

Work stoppages, discrimination complaints, imposition of protective import tariffs and international trade battles are often triggered by allegations of unfair compensation. Behind these conflicts is an underlying question: What is the value of an employee?

Baseline columnist Paul A. Strassmann, who served as a technology executive and consultant to Fortune 500 companies, devised a formula to measure the worth of an employee at a public corporation (see "Real Numbers," p. 30, and "Tool," right).

His goal: Give information management executives a better understanding of how to allocate scarce I.T. resources. "There are a growing number of firms where the overwhelming …