Nepotism has been around for years; the military was the first to implement in their day to day operations. It was a sign of doing a favor for a favor or giving someone special treatment due to their gender, race or personal relationship with a person. If a situation is consensual for the exchange of sexual favors to get a promotion or advancement to a higher position is a form of discrimination and are grounds for termination. The use of Nepotism in the workplace is non-productive and may even be illegal in most cases. If a person in authority is assigned a responsibility or a promotion based on their supervisor liking them more than other, Different types of Nepotism are practiced so that you can develop a firm policy that you can put in place to avoid future issues with Nepotism. Along with Nepotism, you have nepotism and cronyism that plays a significant role in matters in the workplace (Pearce 43). Nepotism is the hiring of a family member regardless if they are qualified or not. Cronyism goes hand and hand with nepotism; it is hiring a friend that may or may not be qualified for the job (Jones and Tracy 7). In many cases, Nepotism is considered to be an act of unjust behavior. This illegal behavior can cause the workplace morale to drop drastically. Workers began to perform poorly, attendance falls, and the workplace can lose clients. As the morale drops in the workplace, the business as a whole begins to suffer. Bias-free relationships aid in the prevention of resentment, hostile environments, and sexual harassment accusations. The ability to maintain a position of authority without using Nepotism exhibits excellent leadership skills. Leadership skills without Nepotism will enhance the morale of any workplace. As workplace morale is improved through the removal of Nepotism employees are confident and assured that everyone is treated fairly. As a result of confidence and assurance employees perform at a higher level of performance delivering quality work. Workers report to work regularly and on time. They also assist the workplace in retaining clients.
Introduction
Nepotism is a practice that has gained extreme front lines in companies across the United States of America. Many individuals may find this practice fair, but it comes with despair to other employees and applicants working hard to either get the job or advance in the job. Working environments tend to contract family or companions on the grounds they feel a feeling of reliability and steadfastness of somebody they have known for some time. These are individuals who will undoubtedly do favors without expecting anything consequently because they will go that additional mile to see their family or that companion succeed. Once a relative has been selected, a line ought to be drawn which isolates the way businesses, and representatives interface. The air ought to be proficient consistently, free of family pressure or debate; it ought to be made known from the begin that family and companions are to take after indistinguishable correct tenets from every other worker, be particular while building up work hours, expected a set of responsibilities, and pay. When it is uncovered that a relative or companion has been enlisted, most will presumably wait this demonstration was done out of Nepotism, and anything finished with this specific worker could be considered as Nepotism. Now everybody is taking a gander at that new representative to commit an error, how the business cooperates with them, do they supplement the earth, are they lethargic, or regardless of whether they will be dealt with merely like every other person when something turns out badly. At the point when workers sense Nepotism or feel they are unfairly treated compared to the employee's family member or friend, the results are usually first seen through low morale, a decline in work production and a drastic change among employees within the work environment.
Problem
Nepotism can turn into a negative issue in the workforce. There are numerous moral issues connected to it, from it being an irreconcilable circumstance to abuse of energy. At the point when individuals are given special treatment over their associates, it regularly happens that the decision-making process is compromised. And when this occurs, it can have a spiraling effect (Jones and Tracy 7). Employee morale will diminish because people do not feel that they are being rewarded for their hard work, but rather their relationship to management. Employees may use different tactics to get closer to control to secure decisions, causing a ripple effect of negativity throughout the organization.
The trust of employees will falter, and this often impacts the productivity of current employees because of the lack of motivation. When not adequately motivated, employees will have a lack of interest in their professional and not work as hard for the workplace as they would if they felt like their work would pay off. Lastly, nepotism will also affect the management that is not explicitly included. Placing them in an awkward position to please upper control, a similar time they can settle on the correct choice.
Significance
Nepotism is a crucial issue and one that has been around for quite a long time. The very truth that despite everything it exists is verification that it is a complicated situation to fight against and solve completely. It is why organizations are working to develop policies and procedures that will help to combat the act of nepotism. However, one of the leading issues is that not all workplaces view it as a problem or one that they need to be dealt.
Scope
This report will demonstrate how nepotism occurs in workplaces, and work to explain how it affects the employees negatively. It will discuss what workplaces are doing to combat cronyism and provide examples of policies being implemented. It will also consider recommendations to eliminate cronyism entirely from the workforce.
The Effects of Nepotism
Nepotism by definition is favoring one person over another because of a personal relationship with them. This practice is unethical. Nepotism is a barrier that we have come across once in our life, and without change, it is something that will cause us despair in our career objectives. This is the most common form of Nepotism as being productive in the workplace. Everyone has a family, and there are no limits to what an individual might do for their family. Does that make it right for employers to hire their family? In my opinion, I don’t think it is right but could surely understand the basis of managers helping out their family. Nepotism becomes counterproductive when the employee that they do hire is not qualified to perform the job. This is a major blow not only to the company but also to the credibility of the family member that recommends the employee for the position. It is difficult to discipline employees for wrongdoings, and even more of a risk to fire them for wrongdoings. When that employee is a relative, it causes more issues, one of those is family issues which can erupt due to the discipline/firing of the employee. This may also cost you your career if the employee is the cause of the problems within the company. Employees should be evaluated based on job-specific criteria, rather than their relation to the management or the workplace. Unfortunately, this type of training and decision-making mentality happens every day in workplaces across the country. What these workplaces do not understand, and choose not to see is that it can have very adverse effects on the organization as a whole. Nepotism can create conflicts of interest, misuses of power; it can affect the morale of the organization and lower productivity of current employees (Brookhiser 21). There are increased risks of lawsuits and often puts Supervisors or Managers in awkward positions when they do not agree with decisions being made.
There is a definite conflict of interest when a Manager has a personal relationship with a subordinate. When they give preferential treatment to this employee, their decisions are no longer ethical. It can be as simple as hiring a family member over another more qualified individual or promoting a best friend rather than another employee more suited for the position. Often people do not even realize that their decisions are unethical and unfair to the other people that they work. Which is why it is essential that workplaces put policies and procedures in place that will eliminate the opportunity for these situations to occur (Gjinovci and Dren 53).
Motivation has a significant impact on the level of work that an employee produces. Whether an employee is motivated by money, promotion or simple recognition their work will suffer significantly if their motivation drops. Nepotism in the workplace diminishes motivation. When employees do not feel valued and do not see their hard work rewarded because they have been passed up for someone more in favor of management, they will shut down. It is human nature. It will get even worse if they feel that someone else is being unduly rewarded based on who they are, rather than the work that they produce.
Nepotism can also put Supervisors and lower level Management in challenging and often uncomfortable positions. They may be strong-armed into hiring and promoting an employee that they know is not as deserving as another individual to please their boss. It will likely affect their satisfaction in the workplace and can impact their motivation as well (Abrams). All of these issues taking away from the productivity of employees and causing disruptions in the workplace.
Lastly, these types of practices leave workplaces open to lawsuits. Disgruntled employees or individuals that interviewed and were disregarded may want to retaliate against the workplace and their practices. When acting unethically in business practices, the organization is creating openings for these types of suits to be filed against them. These lawsuits can be very costly from a financial perspective as well as detrimental to the environment of the workplace and impressions on consumers.
In listing the above adverse effects of nepotism in the workplace; the research I have completed also produced a few positive results that I will outline below:
- Reduced recruiting costs – workplaces do not need to advertise the position(s) they are looking to fill or go through the interview process;
- Lower turnover – family members are often the most dedicated employees, and also have shown to be less absent as an employee who is not related;
- Commitment – employees who know that their family members may be affected by their actions have an extra reason to want the workplace to grow and prosper;
- A higher level of moral – family members that work together typically has a higher level of positive relationships within the workplace.
Policies Being Implemented In Municipalities
This report focuses on local Municipalities to demonstrate how organizations are working to create a fair and equitable hiring process. More specifically, it looks at the practices and policies put into place by the City of Vaughn, Hamilton, and Brantford. All of these documents can be found in the Appendix section for review.
Highlights:
- Each of the documents lay out precisely what they consider unfair hiring practices regarding hiring relatives;
- The definition of what a relative is provided;
- Each report states explicitly that no favor will be given to a relative of an existing employee;
- The hiring process is laid out, making it challenging to detour from.
These documents make a strong statement. They leave the little question of what favoritism and nepotism are. They also discuss discrimination alongside favoritism because this is often a critical topic when looking at the hiring process. Of particular importance in the Vaughn, the document is that no relative that is hired will work alongside or underneath their relative. It eliminates much of the opportunity for nepotism (Hill 711). By expelling the opening for it, these strategies are equipped towards making a workplace that is both protected and reasonable for representatives to thrive.
The Hamilton report is specific about the more significant part of the territories in which nepotism can happen. Not only taking a gander at the season of contracting but instead going further into advancements, leaves of unlucky deficiencies, compensation dialogs, and so forth. It is essential because nepotism is prevalent in all areas of business and not merely when someone is being hired. Prospective employees are asked to disclose before being hired any relation that they have within the workplace, eliminating any hidden connections.
Conclusion
In light of the considerable number of subjects secured, and the original illustrations are given, it is clear that nepotism still exists in various associations, and keeps on being a fight for some work environments. The perfect picture that representatives have of the working situation is that the laborers who are the most creative or profitable or the individuals who have initiative aptitudes are remunerated. In any case, as shown in this report, isn't the truth. If working environments chose to procure just relatives, representative assurance, cohesiveness and work creation would decay. HR must make a climate that is equivalent to all who are utilized paying little heed to the relationship. Businesses must guarantee the total of what approaches have been looked into and recognized by their workers. They should likewise make sure to regard family and companions as consistent representatives to be a fruitful and increment work profitability. Advancements and preparing ought to be standard for everybody, and if a business feels this can't be an expert, they should stick to employing non-relatives. The act of favoring and advancing relatives and companions is typical and can have extremely adverse impacts. It is to the most significant advantage of all associations to take after the work environments that have executed a Nepotism Policy to make a reasonable and impartial working environment for all representatives.
Recommendations
Nepotism in the workforce a brief and particular Nepotism Policy needs to set up to kill nepotism. Associations need to work with their HR Department to lay out the employing procedure and guarantee that there is no space for partiality to exist. By first characterizing what nepotism looks like inside every working environment, and will's identity viewed as a relative the work environment is making the important strides towards having a reasonable and impartial procuring process. Further, working environments should likewise lay out the arrangements for payment transactions, excursion time, wiped out leave, advancements, and so on so these choices are made with no undue weight also. It is essential that relatives are not working close to each other if there is plausibility of partiality. By dispensing with the open doors of nepotism, working environments will find this is the ideal path not to have it influence their association. Tending to worry inside an association is the initial step to its prosperity. Enlisting the correct representative could create the unique advantage for an association particularly while coordinating aptitudes, capabilities or capacities with the position. Clients tend to see when something is cockeyed when managing a business. The reason for utilizing moral enlisting rehearses with regards to procuring family or companions is to keep up a decent workplace, worker cohesiveness, support assurance and guarantee soundness. As appeared in the said contemplates, when representatives feel undervalued they tend to wind up less profitable and cynicism inside the earth builds which all can bring down the accomplishment of the association. The fact is to expand efficiency and set up HR arrangements for all representatives to take after and hold them to similar guidelines is the key.
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