The career corruption by mediation and cronyism Essay

The career corruption by mediation and cronyism - Essay Example Fairness obliges one to be totally objective and unbiased, exercising guidelines and policies fairly, and evaluating or appraising everybody by the same criteria. Almost nothing weakens employee motivation and confidence more rapidly than cronyism. The field of ethics mainly encourages people to be just or fair. As proposed by Aristotle: â€Å"Equals should be treated equally and unequals unequally† (Gertrude, 1987, 256). But the widespread practice of cronyism hinders equality and fairness because it awards too much advantage to a person who does not truly deserve this benefit. Cronyism, whether practiced in the public or private sector, effectively weaken organizations. When a person is hired or promoted because of connections instead of experience, skill, or expertise, the contribution that person provides to the organization could be substandard. Moreover, according to Reilly and colleagues (2012), because cronyism is usually hidden, this practice damages the transparency that is ought to be practiced in the process of hiring and contracting. The Qur’an is clear in its position regarding cronyism, or concerning the enduring conflict between justice or fairness and self-interest (Baig, 2013, para 5): â€Å"Be just, even if it is against your narrowly defined self-interest or of those very close to you. Ignorant people think they are protecting their self-interest by being unjust to others. Their decision to be just or unjust may be based on a cold calculation of self-interest. But real faith in Allah elevates one beyond that narrow-mindedness.† This statement shows that the justice or fairness upheld by the Islamic law allows no cronyism or favoritism in general. Whether cronyism is practiced in the form of giving advantages or favors for certain individuals or conferring preferential treatment, cronyism definitely implies that some individuals are in some way more equal than others. Preventing even the indication of cronyism is particul arly vital in hiring someone or in awarding a promotion. While the person carrying out the selection process may have a personal favorite, s/he will be cautious to base the hiring process on objective standards as professional history, expertise, and experience, building what is at times called â€Å"a level playing field† (Storti, 2004, 56). In several organizations, especially those in the public sector, the names of job candidates are erased from the application during the preliminary assessment phase to facilitate a supposedly ‘blind’ assessment of each candidate’s qualifications (Cascarino, 2012). The ethics of fairness goes beyond employees to accept how people generally are to be handled or approached, such as contractors or clients. The central premise here is that organizations must treat everybody they interact with equally, implementing policies and guidelines objectively, irrespective of an individual’s ‘connections’, social standing, personal affiliation with the employer, or any other conditions that may be considered biased, discriminatory, or subjective. According to Langan-Fox and colleagues (2007), people, who attempt to take advantage of their social status, expecting preferential treatment because of their ‘rank’, are lowly regarded, and employees who yield to such demands will usually not be recognized. Definition of Cronyism in Career Corruption One of the most typical descriptions of corruption is the exploitation of public position for personal interests. In almost all societies,