Nepotism in The Recruitment Process Essay

The success of an organization is directly linked to the performance of its employees. Under-achievement and lower productivity on the part of the employees may escort the organization to workplace failure. Furthermore, without proper staffing, an organization would not be able to sustain competitive advantage in this fiercely competitive environment. Hence, hiring of the most qualified and capable individuals is imperative for every organization (Anderson. J and Rainie. L, 2017). For these reasons, recruitment and selection are considered valued procedures that are carefully conducted by the human resource department of every organization across the globe. This process involves identifying and attracting capable candidates from within and outside the institution in order to effectively evaluate them for employment. Every company may follow an exclusively different criteria when carrying out the recruitment and selection process. Most of these institutions carry out an extensive procedure when executing this HR function since they want to hire the most capable candidate for their organization (Otoo, Assuming, & Ageyi, 2018). However, this merit-based procedure is often interrupted by factors that may rust the essence of this recruitment process.

Many companies may resort to preferential treatment when conducting this procedure. Preferential treatment is an unprofessional act that includes activities like Nepotism, cronyism and favoritism. These acts hamper the productivity of the recruitment process and may develop a workforce which is unqualified and which can prove to be a harmful trigger for the organization’s long-term progress (Safina. D, 2015). This essay essentially focuses on the idea of Nepotism in the recruitment process and the different kinds of nepotism that has been pursued by organizations these days. Focus has also been placed on the negative effects that this activity leaves on the organization and the employees. Furthermore, the essay also highlights the unethical aspect of Nepotism and the extent of corruption that it causes. Efforts at eradicating this obnoxious and unethical activity has also been discussed at the end of the essay. 

Nepotism is derived from the Latin work “Nepo” which means nephew. It is a phenomena which revolves around the idea of an organization hiring or promoting the employees based on kinship relations, friendship or family, instead of being judged on the basis of merit. Hence, the consideration of qualifications, skills, abilities and competence are eradicated in the judgment criteria of recruitment and the hiring takes place via an unfair means (Bogen. M and Rieke. A, 2018). It is a practice which is highly common in organizations in both developed and developing countries. 

The management of organizations adheres to different forms of nepotism. All these forms may prove to be detrimental to the organizational success. The most prevalent form of this fatal activity is the relative nepotism which can also be commonly known as the cross-generational Nepotism. It involves the recruitment of the family members from more than two generations of a family. Research shows that this form of nepotism is mostly common in family-owned businesses. Families are endeavoring to attain continuity and healthy survival of their business for generations. They also want to sustain and secure growth and progression of their inheritance. Furthermore, managers also believe that this practice of hiring relatives and family members serves as a strategic step in the success of the organization. This is because, the top management can easily have a higher degree of trust on their relatives, thereby, having the ability to develop a strong network of managerial control within the organizational setting (Erden & Otken, 2019). Hence, managers tend to casually adapt this practice in their recruitment procedure. This fatal practice can lead to lower commitment and morale on the part of the other unrelated employees. This can also lead to employees developing feelings of hatred for people in the top management position. Furthermore, these employees also feel that there is no scope of progression since the top leadership positions have already been reserved (Al-Shawareh, 2016). Hence, this in-builds a lot of negativity within the organizational framework.

The second model of nepotism adheres to recruiting the spouse of an existing employee. This form of nepotism can also be referred to as the paired employees form. This kind can also foster an unfair environment in the organization and can greatly mitigate the employee’s job satisfaction. This form of nepotism was portrayed by Peter Jensen, who appointed his wife Christin Jensen, a position in Sydney diocese and nominated his brother Phillip Jensen as the Dean of Sydney, right after he was appointed the position of Anglican Archbishop of Sydney in 2001 (Ombanda, 2018). 

Nepotism may also occur when positions are assigned in political frameworks. The appointment of such positions may tend to dramatically accelerate the extent of corruption that may occur. A politically powerful figure may assign their underqualified relative to a position, thereby embracing nepotism. Ellen Johnson, the deputy governor of the Apex Bank, has often been accused for appointing his family members positions within the organization, with the purpose of consolidating his presidency. Hence, this kind of nepotism is also fatal for any organization’s success (Pelit. E, Dincer. F and Kilic. I, 2015). The fourth model of nepotism adheres to the management functions of HRM in an organization. The role of the Human resource department is to not only to ensure that the organizational practices adhered to recruitment and selection are fair and equal but, also to ensure that employees view it to be fair too. It has been asserted that if those relatives of employees are hired who are capable, qualified and competent, then there is no harm in them serving the organization. Hence, the employees should have a fair idea of the background of recruitment of such preferential individuals, so that they are not overshadowed by the negative effects following nepotism (Erden & Otken, 2019).

It is essential to understand the philosophy behind nepotism in order to eradicate it from the organizational structure of a company. A complete understanding of this philosophy can be acquired by scrutinizing the theories that uncover the reasons behind the occurrence of Nepotism and the destruction that this act leaves on the employee and the organization. These theories include the social identity theory, the genetic similarity theory and the equity theory. The Social identity theory, which was developed by Tajfel and Turner, asserts that people distinguish between their group and the other groups based on social classification. Those people who carry out the comparison, tend to perceive their own groups as superior and they believe that they tend to have an uplifted self-esteem and a positive social identity. This fragmented idea eventually develops into in-group favoritism. This instinct when applied in organizational frameworks, gives rise to Nepotism. Under this philosophy, management tends to hire individuals that belong to their social class and are indicators of their own social power and strength. This phenomena then proves to be fatal for the organization’s functions and operations, thereby stagnating the culture (Pelit, Dincer, & Kilic, 2015). 

The second theory that explains Nepotism is the Genetic Similarity theory (GST). This theory explains that genetic similarity amongst two people may generate affiliation, even in the absence of genealogical kinship. Hence, ethnic similarities in work settings, may give rise to preferential treatments in recruitment and selection, thereby giving rise to Nepotism. The third theory that correlates to Nepotism is the Adams’ equity theory of motivation. According to this theory, an employee will only exhibit productive outcomes and high levels of motivation at work, if he perceives his treatment to be fair. Adam asserts that employees tend to get de-motivated, dissatisfied and disgruntled when they discover that they have been victimized by discriminatory practices and unfair employment practices within the organizational framework. These theories serve as valuable illustrations in explaining the unethical act of Nepotism (Ombanda, 2018). 

Over the years, the work places in many organizations have excessively revolutionized and progressed. The top management of many companies endeavor to provide a comfortable work environment to a diversity of people from multiple backgrounds, however nepotism still dictates the recruitment and selection processes of many firms across the globe (Ashley. L, Duberley. J and Sommerland. H, 2015). Those organization where nepotism is prevalent, give birth to unreasonable and unfavorable environments that destructs the long-term progress of these institutions. This obnoxious activity may have unlikely consequences for both the employees and the organization. Nepotism enables the employees to experience lowered morale. Working under an in-competent and an under-qualified person enables the employees to feel unsatisfied and unproductive. These employees will fail to put their best endeavors since they know that only the favored members will eventually be appraised. The confidence of the employees is dramatically mitigated when they observe that their colleagues are all hired on the basis of favoritism. Hence, they feel demotivated and this rusts their performance potential. Secondly, the act of nepotism gives birth to sabotage within the firm. This means that the other employees will intentionally undermine and demean the favored member in the office by constantly questioning his skills, abilities and qualifications. Hence, a general environment of inefficacy is established within the organizational setting (Secilmis & Uysal, 2016).

 Moreover, nepotism can increase the turnover rate since members of the staff feel excessively demotivated and dissatisfied. This means that the most qualified people are locked out of promotion opportunities and the undeserving and underqualified people attain an edge (Ombanda, 2018). The practice of nepotism also enables the employees to feel less committed and loyal towards the organization. Employees work industriously when they are able to identify with the core objectives and values of the organization. In this scenario, they may not be able to execute the tasks allocated by their supervisor with proper attention and interest, thereby leading to poor performance. Furthermore, this fatal practice also affects the performance appraisals of the employees within the organization. The favored employees tend to receive artificially inflated comments on their performance appraisal, thereby creating and unjust environment for the other employees (Fu, 2015). 

Another conflict of interest also arises when relatives or family connections of the top management positions in the organizations are provided exclusive benefits and perks. This is an unethical act since those employees are excessively rewarded although their qualifications, skills, abilities, performance and accomplishments are not reflective of this compensation.  Hence, all this negatively affects the organizational commitment, job satisfaction, productivity and the individual performance of the employees. The workers will also experience feelings of powerlessness, inequity and alienation due to the presence of this practice. An organization with this futile environment is inevitably exposed to failure (Safina. D, 2015). The act of nepotism overall bears multiple dimensions of negativity in the work environment including low productivity, low employee accountability, low trust relationships, high performer turnover and mitigated customer experiences. 

Nepotism in the recruitment practices can prove to be detrimental to the organization, however there are a few aspects of this activity that can enable the organization to benefit. The existence of reciprocal nepotism enables the firm to enjoy superior performance and progression in the long-term. The recruited family member enjoys a higher edge in the understanding of the organizational functions due to familiarity with the cultural norms and family perceptions of interdependence. Nepotism can also benefit the firm by building on the power of family exchange relationships. The managers hereby enjoys enhanced productivity and quality of the work performed. Hence, this activity is particularly beneficial for those organizations that hold social exchanges as a sensitive factor in contributing towards organizational performance (Jaskiewicz, Uhlenbruck, Balkin, & Reay, 2013). Furthermore, the organization will also have the ability to create a stable high level administration team that has a high level of commitment and job satisfaction and that is determined to achieve the future goals and objectives (Pelit, Dincer, & Kilic, 2015). 

After a thorough analysis of the activity of nepotism in the recruitment and selection procedures, it can be asserted that nepotism is an unethical activity that hampers the organizational functions. This obnoxious activity extensively degrades work place morale and leads to internal turmoil. It bears a handful of advantages for family-based firms, however overall it creates detrimental consequences for both the employees and the firm. Hence, the employers should pour endeavors to avoid practicing this activity in order to maintain workplace efficacy and employee’s productivity and job satisfaction (Sun, 2019). 

It is difficult to completely eradicate nepotism from the organizational setting, given the widespread acceptance of this idea among the leadership in all organizations. Many researchers also refer to nepotism as a natural part of the human existence and this gives a chance to the organizations to consider this activity as ethical and just. Furthermore, nepotism is also considered as a way of life in the Indian and Pakistani societies (Sun, 2019). When firms are influenced by the optimistic philosophy underlying nepotism, they fail to introduce ethical codes against nepotism in their company policy since they donot consider this activity as a wrong doing. Even when rules and regulations are introduced against this brutal activity, they are casually violated by members of the human resource department. Companies that are followers of the corporate social responsibility also engage in this fatal form of protectionism that encourages anti-social behavior, however, despite all these considerations, it is still the managers’ responsibility to try and control the influence of the nepostic activity at the organizational level. The employer’s efforts at prohibiting the undue influence in the recruitment procedures may enable the organization to hire the most qualified, capable and competent candidates and may enable the firm to succeed (Sroka & Weinhardt, 2018). Managers can take a few steps in order to avoid any risks of nepotism within the workplace. 

Organizations should develop a set standard of conduct along with specific control mechanisms related to nepotism for both the employees and the employers. This step can be executed by introducing an anti-nepotism policy that could limit any possibilities of recruitments based on kinship relations, family or friendship.  Research shows that around 40 percent of the organizations in the United States do have official rules and regulations relating to Nepotism and 60 percent of the firms have informal policies to avoid any conflict of interest concern. This shows that organizations are endeavoring to eliminate this practice from their firm. It is the manager’s utter responsibility to carefully review this policy in order to avoid being a part of this practice. Furthermore, the leaders should also guide all supervisors under their control, to review the company’s rules and regulatory procedure adhering to nepotism in order to ensure familiarity (Birdsong, 2019)

Moreover, the top management should keep a strict control over the activities of the human resource department of the organization. The department should be guided to deal with any unresolved nepostic issues in a timely manner. The manager should also give clear, specific and timely guidelines to the employees, informing them that they have the permission to tell the managers if they feel that they have been exposed to any situation of nepotism. Incase if the employees are experiencing a conflict of interest concern and the issue is discussed with the manager, then he should direct the employee to the human resource department to explain the predicament to the assigned person in that department. Moreover, it is the manager’s utter responsibility to scrutinize, address and solve any nepotism-related conflicts of interest upon identification. The employer should make sure that there are no gossips or rumors that have been developed due to the nepotism-related incident and which can negatively influence the performance and morale of the employees (Fu, 2015).

Furthermore, the top leadership of the organization should also endeavor to develop a strong human resource department. The functions of the department should be transparent so that the top management could keep a track of the activities employed in the recruitment and selection procedures. Furthermore, efforts should be poured towards training the members of the HR to ensure that the hiring procedure is executed with utter accuracy. This purpose can be achieved by holding informative seminars and other procedure-related training activities for members of the human resource department. In these lectures, the extent of destruction caused by Nepotism should be discussed and emphasis should also be placed on the company policy adhering to Nepotism (Al-Shawareh, 2016).  This will enable the department to excel at their functions and eliminate the detrimental ethical practices in executing their recruitment and selection functions. 

These steps will enable the managers to experience a growing sense of professionalism. They will feel loyal and committed towards the organization since they are endeavoring to apply all ethical and just practices in the recruitment procedures of the organization. An environment promoting equality and fairness would increase the work productivity of the workforce. Furthermore, it will also serve as a positive step towards enhancing the satisfaction, commitment and morale of the employees. The employees will be able to identify with the organization and hence they will be able to devote all their endeavors towards achieving the organizational goals and objectives. This step will be a strategic uplift for the firm since the organization will be able to retain the most potential, capable and deserving employees. This will also reduce the turnover rate since the employees will be satisfied with the work dynamics. Hence, the eradication of Nepotism will bear fruits for the organization and the employees (Safina. D, 2015)

In conclusion, it can be asserted that the unethical practice of nepotism is an inevitable part of the recruitment and selection procedures at various organizations around the globe. The management endeavors to eradicate this activity via strict company policies however, the influence is still prevalent especially in family owned businesses having cross-generational hiring practices. The fact that organizations have started to acknowledge the corporate ethics, professionalism and the ethical code of conduct, has enabled the nepotism culture to be mitigated. Awareness about the work-place ethics is increasing with every passing day and this will continue to mitigate the influences of all forms of protectionism that endangers the organizational success and the productivity of the employees. This will lead to the creation of a positive, just, professional and an ethical work environment.