Nepotism in Organizations, Research Paper Example

Problem Statements

Nepotism the effects on leader relationships versus corporate relationships in disciplining subordinates in organizations. The ever expanding needs of globalization are calling for more staff in a wide range of industries to service the influx of consumer  and market demand. In turn this has meant more multinational and multicultural workers are being employed. This study identifies a need for innovation in theoretical frameworks as they relate to leadership of multicultural teams and a conscious awareness of nepotism in business, as research in the epistemology of nepotism in business reveals it significantly contributes to cronyism.  The study will attempt to satisfy this need through the qualitative assessment of peer reviewed articles on the function of nepotism in leadership within multicultural business environments, specifically in regards to their frequency of succession compared to traditionally favored employees.

Quantitative Purpose

This study seeks to identify the cultural differences and language barriers in multicultural business environments and the impact nepotism has on succession of multicultural workers.  cockpit that can potentially impact decision-making processes and lead to poor communication while performing typical aircrew functions.

 Qualitative Problem Statement

Nepotism is a serious problem affecting many high profile organizations Basu, S. (2009). Many crucial organizational decisions are affected by certain levels of unfairness or biased based on friendship or familiarities between the managerial employees and their subordinates. The global economic collapse, has been largely attributed to the cronyism of multinational corporations, specifically in respect to passing over more qualified candidates up for executive positions in favor of relatives, good friends, or fraternal connections. Through the assessment of financial metrics, such as financial reports and the use of performance analysis, this study will compare corporations known for nepotism with ones known for unbiased operations and hiring  tactics, to evaluate the numeric impact.

Nepotism affects many companies silently considering that it is always hard to understand the reasons behind certain decisions. In other words, it is not always easy to discern a nepotistic from a non-nepotistic individual in an organization on a legal basis. Nepotism is caused by preference to certain persons in organizations when it comes to certain decisions such as promotions, hiring, disciplining and other human resource department roles. A study carried in Houston Texas revealed that most employees get discouraged when colleagues are treated in a more special manner compared to them. From the questionnaires distributed, it was evidenced that most workers are not happy due to the level of unfairness with which they are treated. 78% of the 500 questionnaires was enough to show that many employees feel frustrated and unappreciated when their some of their colleagues are favored in certain aspects. A chi-square test on the randomly collected data of number of individuals, who believe that their bosses are unfair and nepotistic, from Houston based companies was conducted. The questionnaires mainly included the questions enquiring about the workers attitude towards their colleagues whom they believed were never treated equally when it came to punishment. In fact, some of the workers stated examples of incidences of unfair disciplinary treatment based on nepotism. Most employees related nepotistic practices from family and societal upbringings whereby most people tend to believe that their relatives come first in everything they participate in or manage. In addition, the lack of professionalism among senior employers especially when handling relative employees is a major causative agents of nepotism in disciplinary processes (Huseyin & Mustafa, 2008). Besides, the family bonding, gentleness and other factors contribute greatly to the issue of nepotism in disciplinary actions against younger employees (Vinton, 2004).

Qualitative Purpose Statement

The purpose of this study is to provide numeric proof that nepotism is actually bad for business. Despite the several rules restraining managers from practicing nepotism in their workplaces, the effort does not promise anything positive in future considering the reasons why people practice nepotism as well as the facts or nature about nepotism. Among the departments where the practice is rampant are human resource department dealing with promotions, performance appraisals and recruitment of workers. Disciplining workers for their faults is one of the roles also carried out by the managerial departments. In most societies today, people tend to associate themselves with particular group of individuals whom they usually term as friends. This is a common practice, especially in countries like the United States, Canada, UK, and in some developing nations. Basu (2009) states that nepotism has been the effect of dissatisfaction in companies drop of commitment among employees. Nepotism is caused by cultural-construal. Different organizations have come up with means with which they ensure fairness is practiced to all employees. This is an implication on the existence of nepotism in workplace. Besides, Muhammad (2011) affirms that the vice is common especially in disciplining of junior employees by the managers. He presents a case in one of the US based companies in which employees were interviewed based on the kind of the punishment they got compared to one of their colleagues whom they considered was always favored by the managers. In addition, a research carried out in three companies in Boston, via interview, revealed that nepotism is rampant especially in the disciplinary practices of the junior employees. Its effect has been mass transfer request of employees as well as unplanned or early resignations. The research involved random collection and ANOVA analysis of the data representing individuals dissatisfied by the nepotistic behaviors in five Boston based companies. The analysis was meant to identify the relationship between worker dissatisfaction and nepotism in disciplinary practices of the junior employees.

Summary

The first course of action was to rewrite and follow the instruction to develop qualitative and quantitative problem statements. This is a descriptive study based on both quantitative and qualitative data. The research methods used will be a mixed approach using a two-phase analysis.  The procedure for collecting the data involved assessing literature reviews and statistics between 2005 and 2011. Although no tests were conducted to establish the validity and reliability of the data, the assumptions of validity and reliability were made because of the reputation of the source. Phase I will consist of a quantitative analysis of historical data.  The time line for all data will be five to ten years of trends.  Phase II will consist of a qualitative research.

References

Basu, S. (2009). Work place nepotism and stress. Bengal: Bengal Institute of Business Studies. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.1409089

Huseyin, A. & Mustafa, T. (2008). Nepotism, favoritism and cronyism. A study of their effects on job stress and job satisfaction in the banking industry of north cyprus. Social Behavior and Personality, 36(9), 1237-1250.

Retrieved from http://journal-archieves24.webs.com/760-771.pdf

Muhammad, R.. (2011). Bringing along the family: nepotism in the workplace. Maryland: University of Maryland Press. http://hdl.handle.net/1903/12369

Vinton, K. (2004). Nepotism: An Interdisciplinary Model. Family Business Review. New York: 11(4), 297-303. DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-6248.1998.00297.x