MGT-562 Business Ethics

Response paper – 1
Topic – Recruitment / appointment of relatives or
associates in organisation

Kaishavi Rachchh
AU1914052
Submission date – 10 / 9 / 2019
Submitted to – Prof. Nimit Thaker
 Introduction

Fairness, justice and biases is very important thing for any organisation to run their business
smoothly and effectively. To maintain professionalism, it is important. But some business is
not maintaining this fairness in business by recruiting the relatives, family member and
friends into the organisation. This is called Nepotism. Nepotism is the practice of giving the
jobs to the relatives, family or friends with the help of the power. It is clearly partiality for
other co-workers. It may affect the environment and the employee of the organisation. It is
the unfair treatment to give inappropriate advantage to someone who may not deserve that. It
can be good in the family business case because hiring of the family member and spouse who
are actually talented can encourage the business and take it to the new heights.

Nepotism can be of two types: relative nepotism and friend nepotism. It also called
favouritism in other words. The person with the power offers the better opportunities to the
people who are favourite to them. It includes the different types of the ethical issues in the
organisation like conflict of interest, favouritism, misuse of the opportunities given, backing
support to the favourite one and preferential treatment.

For example, the article ‘nepotism rocks’ give us the more understanding of the term
nepotism. The article talks about some Bollywood stars. The article says that Karan Johar got
his first film because of his father Yash Johar who is the great filmmaker. Other than that
there is one more example, Varun Dhawan is getting many roles in the big films without
proving his talent because of his father, David Dhawan who is director and also the same
thing happened for the Saif Ali Khan, he played lead role in four films before he got success
by his own and also got the National Award in 2005 just because his mother Sharmila Tagore
was the Sensor Board Chief. Likewise, Abhishek Bachchan, after doing bad performances
and the flop movies yet he gets the roles in the film because of the Amitabh Bachchan’s
fame. So, the idea behind the article is when any new actor actress come in the industry, they
are facing many troubles to get role in movie as they are not having the top-level contacts
after all having the talent of it. While the star kids can get this very easily. Although they also
need to work had continuously to improve their performance.[CITATION kau17 \l 16393 ]

The same thing is there in other article ‘Dynastic politics’ in which Rahul Gandhi said that
the Akhilesh Yadav and Mr. Stalin are dynast who took the hereditary benefit from the
family. And added that during the hiring of the people they don’t see the ability, capability, or
qualification of person what they see is the background of person where he/she come from
and the contacts of the person to the higher authority. And that happens not only in politics
but in all over India.[ CITATION PTI17 \l 16393 ]

Also we can connect this with the system that continues in India from the ancient time where
there was the “Varna System”, which divide people into the different category on the basis of
their religion that son of king becomes king, the son of the doctor needs to be doctor and the
son of the cobbler needs to be the cobbler. That is not actually an ethical way of dividing
people into the work and profession.
 Arguments
The dilemma here is that the recruitment of the relatives and the friends is ethical or not. It
should be continued or stopped. There can be both possibilities. Sometimes the nepotism will
helpful the organisation because of the more comfortability. When sometimes it can cause the
harm for the organisation as it gives negative impact for other co-workers and they will feel
demotivated so they can’t work properly.

Favour:

Recruitment of the friends, family member and relatives will help in creating the friendly,
comfortable and pleasant atmosphere in the organisation for work.

In this case you know the person and their capabilities already. So, it become easy for
company to assign them a work in which they are good and capable. It increases the
efficiency of the work. The other thing is you should be sure about that the person is qualified
enough for the particular post.

You need not have to spend much time in the training process which you are doing for the
new employees as they are already aware about the company and the work.

To appoint your son or daughter or spouse in the business will give you a special benefit.
Your company will get another skilled and trustworthy employee. Also, the family can earn
the double income. They can take the business to the new heights.

The family and friends may willingly agree to work extra and more than the regular office
hours. The loyalty and trust level are so high in the case of the relatives.

The organisation should treat fairly between the relatives and the other co-workers.
Observation should be done the performance and the qualification basis. Otherwise the co-
workers will feel the injustice.

Egoism theory of ethics favours the nepotism. This theory talks about that if something
brings happiness to you, you should go with that. It is ethically correct. Here, if organisation
hires the relatives and friends it brings happiness to the person in power and also to the
person who get the job because it creates the friendly environment for both the parties.
Against:

If you are not doing it in right way it may affect your business. Like if you hire the relative or
the friends which are not qualified for the particular job then you will be in a big trouble.

Also, the family quarrel can happen if there are relatives and friends in the organisation. And
that spreads negativity in workplace.

When you hire the relatives or family or friends in the organisation the other employees may
feel uncomfortable and especially when you give them special benefits and opportunity the
other workers feel injustice and they can’t do their work effectively.

This isn’t following the utilitarian theory. Utilitarian theory talks about the activity is good if
it is done for the larger amount of good to the larger amount of people. Here if the
organisation recruits the relatives or the friends in the business, they may be happy with the
job they get but the other employees may not feel good about it. It can also affect the work
and the environment of the business. So, it is the against of the utilitarian theory.

It can mix the personal and the professional life of the person if we hire the family member or
the friends in the business. That is not good for the business environment and the other
employees.

It leads to the increase in corruption and it reduces the quality of the professional work.

We can understand that Nepotism can harm the business by this example, in a medical shop if
the owner hires his/her family member or the friends who do not have knowledge in pharma
it can harm the person’s health and the good will of the shop. Likewise, in drug
manufacturing if we hire the relative or friends who are not qualified enough for the
particular drug making post. It can bring a lot of risk for the people’s health and the company.

We can take example of the dialogue quote by Hrithik Roshan in movie ‘Super 30’ that ‘Aaj
raja ka beta raja nahi banega, raja wohi banega jo haqdar hoga.’ Because in our society who
has the power or the contacts can get the opportunities and chances easily though they are not
qualified for that. So this statement by Hrithik breaks the stereotyping of the society that this
time the son of the king will not become king, but the one who is deserving or justifiable will
get the chance.
 Conclusion
Nepotism is immoral and unethical. Nepotism is so common in the local businesses and the
local government firms. It creates negative impact on the organisation. Hiring of the people
without judging their ability, giving them extra benefits, it is purely discrimination. It can
also create the corruption because of the power they have.

Nepotism should be prohibited for the political and the government services by the
government. It can harm the reputation of the company and spoil the relationship between
employees.

However, it can be considered as unethical but every time it doesn’t create the negative
impact if the particular will not take it as granted. And the person in authority will also treat
each employee equally than it is good for the organisation. Because having the relatives and
friends in the organisation can create the higher level of satisfaction, motivation,
commitment, loyalty, trust and comfort. It helps employees to work more effectively and
efficiently.
 References

kaushal, s. (2017). Nepotism rocks? Bollywood hits rock bottom with latest jibe at Kangana Ranaut.
hindustantimes. Retrieved from https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/nepotism-
rocks-bollywood-hits-rock-bottom-with-latest-jibe-at-kangana-ranaut/story-
G6L7jb6PzGU9N2qiFzEffL.html

PTI. (2017). Dynastic politics’ a problem in India, says Rahul Gandhi. the Hindu. Retrieved from
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/dynastic-politics-a-problem-in-india-says-rahul-
gandhi/article19670648.ece

Siababa, M. R. (2017). NEPOTISM IN THE WORKPLACE: IS A MORALE ISSUE.

http://dameanusabun.blogspot.com/2017/08/nepotism-in-workplace-is-morale-issue.html

singh, a. (2018). nepotism in india. https://www.indianfolk.com/nepotism-in-india/