Manuel Eduardo Troconis Basabe
Nepotism is bad for Business
CIP Donghua University
Section #2
I.D 133120240
Academic Language Preparatory Course

Nepotism is bad for Business (Body Paragraphs)
Nepotism is the tendency to favor family members and relatives in charge of a position, mostly used in politics and business. One of the most famous events of Nepotism was done back in the 19th century when Jose I Bonaparte, Napoleon’s older brother, was assigned by the same Napoleon as the King of Spain. However in countries where meritocracy is practiced, nepotism is generally considered a negative issue leading to corruption. Therefore Nepotism should be considered a negative issue/event in the business field; ethically, legally and discriminatively for those non-family member employees. Although Nepotism can assure a relative’s spot in the company or business, Nepotism suggests a form of inequality, presents legal issues and initiates family deterioration within the workplace.

When nepotism occurs in the workplace, it affects the non-family member employees by suggesting a sense of inequality and minority towards employees. Jesse Jackson once said “We've removed the ceiling above our dreams. There are no more impossible dreams” he was referring to the “Glass Ceiling” for minorities, glass ceiling being an invisible barrier that makes it hard for minorities to overcome in this case to achieve higher goals and get promoted. Moreover in most cases nepotism creates immunity for family members; this obviously presents an unprotected working-environment for those non-family employees giving them more pressure and stress at work. Pressure may lead to an improvement of the output quality but efficiency will decrease. Finally due to nepotism, family workers have more privileges at the work place than non-family members workers, this situation motivates family members workers but It does not motivates non-family member workers; for example; family members get more break time or get paid more than others. Thus, the ending of nepotism within a company guarantees efficiency, better opportunities and a better work-environment from and to those non-family member employees. Although Nepotism suggests a sense of inequality, Nepotism is more complex than that when it comes to legal concerns.

Another issue with nepotism would be legal concerns originated by issues such as fraud, confidentiality and sexual harassment. Nepotism clutters what would be the “Checks and Balance” system that works in businesses. People say that this increases fraud by employees providing any form of discount of any product to other relatives, which leads to a termination of contract. Likewise it is presumed that there is more trust between family members leading them to share what would be confidential information between each other and leave out other non-family employees. As a result employees start to suspect, distrust and have some form of resentment towards these family members. Finally sexual harassment can also be found in a nepotistic company. In a nepotistic company is more likely to discover that many of the employees are related to each other through marriage, and time to time they might show some affection leading to PDA or public display of affection with each other for example, kiss, hugs, etc. if employees feel uncomfortable they can lawsuit for sexual harassment. Therefore, fraud, confidentiality and sexual harassment being legal concerns play a big role when nepotism occurs; meaning that companies should avoid nepotism for legal purposes. Nepotism does not only affect people legally, it also affects family morals and values deteriorating the family and the business.

Nepotism initiates “family deterioration” that start from arguing about the new product that is going to be sold to suing each other. Nepotism can even be an issue for family members, how? Empowerment, life as the “CEO’s son” can and it will be difficult, expectations are higher, and that creates pressure. At times pressure is too high which leads to Son resigning. Moreover there is always lust of power and people are ambitious, people sometimes will do crazy things to get what they want; that’s why hiring family can be the worst thing someone can do; this leads to lack of trust. Nepotism leads to lack of trust between family members because everyone wants the same, therefore “keep your family close and keep your enemies even closer”. Finally, in a normal family, members rarely argue, in a family business, members argue most of the time due to the fact that every one thinks differently, in a business where nepotism is practiced, family members will argue about most anything; creating a hostile environment as well as showing a bad image to rest of the staff. Therefore, lack of trust, empowerment and family discussions in the work place are ways in which families deteriorate by business making family’s morals and values decay and less relevant in the business field, therefore “Never mix business with family”.

In conclusion, Nepotism can guarantee a family member’s seat on the board of the company, but Nepotism will always suggest a form of inequality, present legal concerns and start family discussions within the workplace. Inequality that goes from discrimination to family advantages which demoralizes staff decreasing production. Legal concerns that start from employee fraud to sexual discrimination, which aggravates legal issues. Family discussions that deteriorate morals and values and create hostile-environments in the workplace. Jose Bonaparte lasted five years as the King of Spain; later on, the Spanish army overthrew him making him go back to France. Moral of the story: Nepotism starts off as a good thing, a good advantage but ends up as a serious issue with negative downturns.