The Ethics of Nepotism in Public Administration Research Paper

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Nepotism and the Public Administrator: The Price is Low Morale

Executive Summary

How does nepotism impact the public administration sector? This paper shows that the price of nepotism in public administration is often low morale. When government positions are given to family members and friends of politicians or those already in positions of power, the negative effect of nepotism is felt by other workers and staff members. Instead of people earning these posts based on a system of meritocracy, nepotism gives the impression that favoritism is what matters—and that being well-connected or part of the ruling “dynasty” is what will win one a high post in public service. The ethical issue is that a lack of fairness and rewarding of service positions based on merit rather than on familial connection fosters a negative spirit among stakeholders that can lead to destructive impulses being given more sway than they would otherwise be given. The recommendation for this issue is for public administrators to avoid engaging in nepotism so as to not give the appearance of favoritism; instead, appointments should be based on merit. This study adds to the topic of nepotism in public administration by focusing on the current events of the Trump Administration and the appointment of the president’s son-in-law as a senior White House advisor.

Introduction

Nepotism is not new to government. John F. Kennedy gave the plum position of U.S. Attorney General to his brother Robert despite the latter’s youth and inexperience. The reason was obvious to all: they were brothers and Kennedy wanted someone he could trust working alongside him. In many cases, nepotism in the public sector is related to issues of trust: the individual responsible for appointing positions wants them to go to people he or she trusts, which often turns out to be those closest to his or her inner circle—friends and family members (Abrams, Cross, Lesser & Levin, 2003). However, doing so can create resentment and distrust among other workers. Indeed, in Kennedy’s own administration and among the public there was a great deal of distrust between his inner circle and the outer circle. The impact of this practice creates problems, as the current situation with the Trump Administration has shown as he has placed his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner in places of high level security clearance, which has troubled other members of the administration (Hopkins, 2018).

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This research is thus anchored in both current events and peer-reviewed articles.

Narrative

The issue of nepotism in the public administration sector and how it leads to low morale among workers was researched by following the current events saga of the Trump Administration as well as by using Google Scholar to research the topic among a variety of peer-reviewed scholarly journal databases using the keywords “nepotism,” “public administration,” “president,” and “trump.” The issues that appeared as a result of these searches showed that nepotism was linked with the issue of trust for those involved in the nepotism and with the issue of low morale for those outside the circle of nepotism. In most cases, nepotism is viewed as an abuse of power, a corrupt practice, and an issue in which favoritism is showed not necessarily to the individual most suited for the job but rather to the individual closest to the person in power (Greenhalgh, 2010). In the Trump Administration, nepotism has reared its head with the appointing of Jared Kushner as a senior advisor to his father-in-law in the White House. While Trump may have had a good reason for doing so (considering Kushner’s well-known connection to foreign leaders like Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu), the appointment did not sit well with other members of the Administration and within the year, many members had either left their posts are been fired. Morale within the White House was routinely depicted as low, tense and stressful (Samuels, 2018).

Ethical Context

As a result of instances of nepotism like that shown by Kennedy in the 1960s, federal law was amended in 1978 to address exactly the issue of nepotism: according to that law, “a public official may not appoint, employ, promote, advance, or advocate for appointment, employment, promotion, or advancement, in or to a civilian position in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control any individual who is a relative of the public official” (Federal Anti-Nepotism Statute, 1978). Yet, today, nepotism continues in the public sector as….....

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