In fact, this reason justifies the previous reason, indicating the practice’s unethicality. While it is not immediately obvious that nepotism punishes those who have worked hard, it merely takes a quick consideration of who is skipped over or not rewarded in place of the relative at the receiving end of nepotism. Needless to say, every time an unqualified relative of a boss is hired to a position, a better qualified individual is turned down; every time an undeserving relative of a boss is promoted or rewarded, a more deserving, harder working employee is slighted. Therefore, nepotism ultimately results in overlooking talented and hardworking individuals. In this way, it can be seen as a form of segregation (Hofmeyr, Andre & Burns 344). Those who are not relatives of the boss are denied the moral right to earn rewards through their hard work. Failure to hire or reward people who deserve to be hired or rewarded is equivalent to not paying someone for their labor. In other words, this is identical, in some ways, to one of the greatest evil practice by mankind: slavery. Of course, it is a hyperbole to truly equate slavery to nepotism. However, understanding the similarity between the two, the fact that both slavery and nepotism entail denying (whether intentionally or unintentionally) the results of one 's …show more content…
The strongest point that supports this counter-argument is found in the case of small businesses. The principle defense for nepotism as a practice which is not necessarily unethical is the notion that it surely should not be considered immoral for an owner of a small business of only one or two employees. For example, to hire a relative rather than hiring other potential employees who are in the labor market. While this argument against nepotism being necessarily defined as an immoral practice is reasonable, a deeper consideration of the argument reveals that it is not at all rational. It implies that nepotism is acceptable when an executive in power feels like hiring a relative so long as the business is sufficiently small. It is a logic fallacy to state that the size of the business should alter the ethicality of the practice. Moreover, the argument obviously fails to address the ethical issues with nepotism mentioned earlier and merely tries to skirt around the issue by focusing on a specific case of nepotism.
In conclusion, nepotism should be defined as an immoral practice in democratic society because it entails rewarding those who have not earned it, indirectly punishes those who have worked hard, and decreases the efficiency of organizations. Only a