The Boss’s Pet : The Good & The Ugly Of Favoritism At Work
What is Favoritism at Work?
In any context, the practice of giving inequitable preferential treatment to one person or group at the expense of another is called “Favoritism” . Leaders are the matter of concern in most organizations.
Favoritism is when a person is treated differently, not because of his or her competence or performance in his or her job, but because of a number of personal interests (Aydoğan, 2009).Favoritism is very usual in organizations and it exists everywhere (Ozler and Buyukarslan, 2011).
When the definitions related to the concept of favoritism are examined, it is observed that by pointing to injustice, injustice, and lawlessness, there is a question of favouring, supporting, and rewarding individuals or a group for reasons such as kinship, co- friend, friendship relations and political reasons (Aydın, 2015)
What are the causes for Favoritism at Work?
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According to Nadler & Schulman (2006) “favoritism” is the choice of a person not because he/she does a job best, but because he/she is in an approved group, or because of some of his / her membership or likes .
Pendergast and Topel (1996) suggest that subjectivity opens the door to favoritism; evaluators act on personal preferences toward subordinates to favor some employees over others.
Personal preferences by the individual, in most occasions by the leader, is the major reason for favoritism. The preferences could be patronal, crony, sexual, political or nepotistic. Regardless of the different forms in favoritism, it is clear that the primary causes are human nature, family ties, friendships and common interests.
What is the impact to the Organization?
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Favoritism is actually a threat that prevents employees from taking a positive attitude towards the organization in which they work (Dağli and Akyol, 2019). Employees’ morale may weaken and they will be resented due to the practice of favoritism by the leader.
When resentment reaches a certain point an employee may desert the organization due to the dissatisfaction of him or her on the overlooked growth by the leader on an underserving employee. Recognition of such an employee and promoting him or her to even a managerial position would stunt the growth of the company in return.
How to alleviate Favoritism?
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As leaders, it is important to identify the employee perception and cater the needs accordingly. Transparency and communication is very critical to sustain a good employer employee relationship. On rewarding and even on punishment, the reasons should be very well communicated to the entire staff. It is also important to motivate the underachieved staff on the potential to grow.
Finding common grounds with employees and get to know them better is also a good way of alleviating favoritism at work place. Developing a deep varied bench while deploying an unbiased employee performance management system can ensure that strategic decisions are made with no practice of favoritism.
Conclusion
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It is important to conceive as human beings, people at workplace have diverse preferences and range of values that are unique to one another. Respecting each an everyone is critical to sustain a good employee friendly workplace. Decisions should be made upon each situation unbiased with no partiality nor prejudice. Everyone deserves a chance and as a good leader it is of great value to identify the individual traits and treat everyone at work place equally.
References
Aydın, Y. 2015., Relationship of organizational silence to favoritism in school management and teachers' perception of self-efficacy (Unpublished Master's Thesis). Gazi University Institute of Educational Sciences, Ankara.
Aydoğan, İ. 2009., Favoritism in the Turkish educational system: Nepotism, cronyism and patronage. Educational Policy Analysis and Strategic Research, 4(1), 19-35
Dağli, A. and Akyol, Z., 2019. The Relationship between Favouritism Behaviours of Secondary School Administrators and Organizational Commitment of the Teachers. Journal of Education and Training Studies, 7(7), p.35.
Nadler, J. & Shulman, M., 2006. Favoritism, Cryonitism and Nepotism. https://www.scu.edu/government-ethics/resources/what-is-government-ethics/favoritism-cronyism-and-nepotism/
Ozler, N. D. E., Buyukarslan, B. A., 2011. The overall outlook of favoritism in organizations: a literature review // International journal of busi- ness and management studies. Vol 3, No 1. ISSN 1309-8047 (Online).
Prendergast, C. and Topel, R., 1996. Favoritism in Organizations. Journal of Political Economy, 104(5), pp.958-978.
Favoritism is a dangerous quality for a HR manger, which spoils to overall workforce. The managers have to be neutral with their employees. Favoritism leads to demotivate and reduce the productivity of the employees.
ReplyDeleteIt’s the responsibility of the managers to create a environment where his employees to feel he is fair with everyone.
It is possible to find boss’s pets in many organizations. Some times it happens without the awareness of the bosses when certain employees perform well.
I totally agree with you Asma! Thanks for your feedback!
DeleteI totally agree with you Asma! Thanks for your feedback!
DeleteI too fully agreed with Asma's comment it's a dangerous cancer which can lead in to many issues.
ReplyDeleteWhen a manager or employer has a "favorite," it can create a lot of tension in the office. The concept is highly subjective, and even a little out of fanciful. Even if it is based on objective performance criterion, declaring a favorite rather than a top performer is demoralizing and cheapens employees' performances and accomplishments
ReplyDeleteFavouritism is one of the disgusting trait of an employer in employees perspectives. It raises the curiosity of others mind towards subjective employee. Also it leads to demotivation, reducing performance, decline loyality etc.
ReplyDeleteMost organizations favoritism is common and easy can be found. This is because of the leadership and proper standard of the policy. Whenever one is under one rule there will be space for favoritism. when there is favoritism there is no teamwork. No good relationship between employees. Everywhere misunderstanding and fight. To build good culture should implement the office working policy
ReplyDeleteFavoritism, cronyism, and nepotism or in any form of it give undue advantage to someone who does not deserve it and breach the justice of fairness and violate employee morals (Nadler & Schulman, 2006). Thank you for your clear explanation.
ReplyDelete