Introduction
The issue that will be considered is nepotism in the workplace. This is an unfair work practice in which the relatives and friends of the boss or manager are considered for employment or promotion opportunities even in instances when they may not have qualified for the promotions or employment. Nepotism is usually more common in smaller firms, nonprofit organizations and family-run organizations.
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"Nepotism and Family in the Workplace".
The reason why this has been selected because it has a direct effect on motivation of employees. The reason for this is that it creates subjective parameters through which the performance of employees is measured. In other instances, the organization does not even measure the performance of employees. Promotion is based on how well one knows the boss or manager. It is important that this issue is fully understood in order to develop effective strategies of handling the issue.
Initially, I did not know that the issue of nepotism was this prevalent. I knew that nepotism refers only to employment of relatives. However, I have now come to know that this also involves employment of friends especially if the friends do not qualify for the position.
Resources that can be used to investigate the issue
There are different social science resources that can be used to investigate the issue of nepotism in the workplace. The first resource is the questionnaires. Questionnaire can be administered on different persons within an organization including employees and managers to determine the employment and promotion practices that are carried out in the organization. Through this, one can establish whether the procedures are objective or not. Questionnaires are useful because they can collect such kind of data fast, they can be easily administered to many people and data analysis from the questionnaire is fast and easy.
The other resource that can be used for the investigation is organizational data. This is where one checks the employment profile of the employees against the roles that they have within the organization. This starts from evaluating the manner in which the different employees were employed. Were there any job vacancies during the time of their employment? Were interviews conducted? How did the employees perform in the interviews? What informed the final decision to employ them in the organization? The answer to these questions can also help establish the procedures that are employed within an organization.
The third resource is focus groups. This is where a sample of employees from the organization will be picked for the purposes of focus group discussion on the employment practices within the organization. The questions considered during the focus groups will be related to the employment practices and how the employees feel that the practices are objective. The discussions may not generate a lot of information since employees may be fearful of the consequences but the use of this approach can help generate a lot of insights that can be validated through questionnaires and document reviews.
Principles
The social science principle related to the issue is trust and relationships. In most instances, managers especially of small businesses tend to trust their friends and family more than any other people. They are therefore likely to employ their friends and family members especially for the influential positions in the organization. However, these managers are not aware that employing other people can improve the management principles within the organization as the one members can come with different perspectives.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the issue that is considered in this paper is nepotism in the workplace. This is an issue that affects motivation and performance of workers. The research question considered is: how can an organization improve its workplace culture to eliminate nepotism?
