favoritism, nepotism, cronyism, or clientelism
We have all seen it. I have certainly experienced this around the world: hiring family members, members from the same village, the same town, forming little kingdoms of friends within an organisation. It becomes a coterie of secrets, cross favors and power.
Merit-based recruitment
“Merit-based recruitment involves hiring professionals based on their qualifications (talent, skills, experience, competence) and ability to successfully complete the job rather than based on patronage or nepotism. It is believed that hiring professionals based on merit provides the necessary foundations to develop a culture of integrity, which ultimately helps to prevent corruption”. Canada: Methods of Preventing Corruption.pdf
I am sure you have encountered this in the event business. How can you know it is happening? How can we prevent it? Your thoughts are welcome.
I’ve been talking to quite a few events professionals and they remarked that hiring or engaging a group of friends is a great positive for events. They know how to work together and the informal communication that is so important to events is already there. But is that favoritism? Is it corruption? It shows the limitations of some of the standard corruption descriptions when applied to events.