Quote Originally Posted by alexsms View Post
I don't know if this has been discussed or not. But I'd like to discuss nepotism and cronyism. It seems to me it's become so common in Russia. Sometimes it looks so disgusting when some relatives-in-charge take other unqualified and unprofessional relatives to work. I heard that in US, for example, the general attitude toward nepotism at work is very negative. What do you think?
It's a heated issue with the industry I'm in - hospitality, the hotel business.. ([Companies like]) mine historically dislike([s]) nepotism, founded in the mid-50's spirit of 'american hard work' or what have you (not making a political statement there at all, just a callback to that time/mindset).. The function of the company was to network with other hotels, share a common name that denotes quality to the consumer, and increase revenue by networking... obviously networking can lead to cronyism but in spirit they weren't the same thing.. but, over 50 years a lot of the investors that put their money into hotels were from india, where nepotism is heavily practiced and even revered in some senses... there was always a conflict between a us side that disliked nepotism and an indian side that preferred it.. and that's kind of where it stands today. still a lot of nepotism in the hotel industry, but on the whole I think american workers look down on this... we like to think people get their jobs based on their skills and qualifications..

.. although to some degree a lot of what gets really done in america gets done by cronyism - logrolling tactics.. we examine peoples' skills in job interviews, but I've personally seen in all the places I've worked in the past (not only hospitality) jobs get placed based on "someone knowing someone" .. (then I've read that DNA quality - genetic balance communicated by equidistance of facial and body features - actually makes the final decision on job interviews, far more than does qualifications and skills.. though i suppose that's beside the point.. )

Sorry for the ramble - a succinct answer is I think the majority of us don't like it, don't like seeing it (as opposed to a system where the most dedicated and qualified individual has the best shot), but that it happens quite a bit.. however it still happens much LESS here, I'd imagine, than in places in Europe where it's not looked down upon as much.. When I talked to Danish expatriates about moving to Denmark (which I considered for a while), they told me I would simply have to get in good with someone to get any kind of a job, because jobs are not handed away to people who aren't already known - family, friends of family - according to what they said, a lot of expats get their jobs through people they are dating or related to .. Sounds like cronysim/nepotism to me (but I can't be sure I was given a fair description of affairs and not just the sour grapes of a few unhappy expats.. these folks did not opine uncontested)

I hope Hanna weighs in on this or anyone with UK experience.. I'm curious about how they (uk) view it, because a) they have a lot of indo-euro culture that we have less of here, and b) because being on an island with no development-ready land, i wonder if nepotism has been relied upon a lot more heavily.. a good sociological question to waste my day wondering about, haha =)