The Disadvantages of Nepotism

Employee is the most important asset in an organization. Good management of a company ensures all employees are treated with dignity. However, there are barriers that avoiding the situation from happening. One of them is nepotism. Nepotism which derived from Latin word “Nepot” can be defined as unprofessional act that shows favoritism to the relatives (Wikipedia, 2011). Nepotism usually occurs in business management and political affairs but what will be discussed here is nepotism in business company management. Nepotism can contribute to lots of disadvantages to an organization such as unfairness to other employees, lower employees’ morale and pressure to the relatives themselves.

First and foremost, the disadvantage of nepotism is unfairness to other employees (Kinsman, 2006). The feeling arises because employer shows favoritism only to the relative’s workers. There is possibility that non-family employees will feel disappointed and biased when they are treated like that. Management who practice nepotism will always make their relatives prior than other employees (Encyclopedia, 2006). Some example of unfairness would be biased while positioning job or task to employees unfairly during reward and benefit distribution. There is significant relationship between unfairness with employees’ motivation that influences the downward or upswing of motivation level by the employees. At the same time, conflict may arise between the staffs who are previously worked in the company and the new member of staff who has been hired because of the family relationship. So, it strongly can be as a disaster to the company and the company itself because they will be difficult to work each other. As we know, to gain or maximize the profits for the comp...

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...ure to the relatives. The situation becomes worse especially when the company manage by family group where the practice of nepotism will simultaneously be inherited to the next management generations. So, employers must play their role in preventing this unprofessional act from becoming a norm practice in management. Moreover, an organization can gain benefits like professional management and good teamwork can be created when all the employees are treated with dignity and fair.

Works Cited

http://www.enotes.com/management-encyclopedia/nepotism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepotism

http://www.iaes.org/conferences/past/philadelphia_52/prelim_program/d00-2/laker-williams.htm

http://familybusiness.about.com/od/managementandoperations/a/commonthreats.htm

nepotism/info_8778191_nepotism-private-sector.html

http://www.jobjournal.com/article_full_text.asp?artid=1792