The effect of nepotism on human resources management in Lebanese organizations

Abstract

Nepotism is a practice that embraces many ideas. Over the time, it has been defined differently by several researchers such as Bellow (2003), Stout (2006), Mulder (2012) and Conway (2004). Nepotism in business and management is seen as a touchy issue. It has consequences not only on the organizational progress and its development, but also on its executives and managers who would like to have people through their social connections in management positions, and on employees. It has been criticized as being an immoral behavior that can play a role in deteriorating a companys capabilities. People who stand opposite to such practice, claim that the advance of good management styles and HRM function in companies can decline such practice and even diminish it. Nepotism which can be viewed in many segments of todays business associations, has become more or less quite a common phenomenon. Giving advantages and privileges to specific people is a disturbing problem to the employees. Nevertheless, the distrust that occurs as a result of such situation, can negatively affect organizational work process, individual job satisfaction and performance. However, nepotism still exists and will remain for a while in most organizations since such practices are difficult to change. My dissertation will be divided into five chapters. Its focus will be mainly on the literature from different researchers who identified different aspects under the concept of nepotism such as: nepotism overview, different types/ forms of nepotism and its challenges. The findings/ analysis will focus on the Lebanese organizations view toward nepotism, its advantage/disadvantage, the effect on HRM and the anti-nepotism policy they implement for such action. The main point of this paper is to examine nepotism and the effect it causes on human resources management in Lebanese organizations. Therefore, I conducted interviews with human resources managers in six Lebanese organizations mainly in the North region. The majority of my interviewees stated that nepotism is a negative act that can impact HRM in organizations if/when practiced. The challenge I faced while gathering the needed data is the lack of recent studies conducted in Lebanon about this subject; as well as the strategies used by organizations specifically human resources to eliminate nepotism.