Nepotism. Prevalence in the. Workplace. Survey Report. March 2017

Transcription

1 Industrial Psychology Consulta Nepotism Prevalence in the Workplace Survey Report Head Office: 1 Grosvenor Road, Highlands, Harare / March 2017

2 Table of Contents Introduction... 2 Methodology... 2 Result... 2 Study Shortcomings... 3 Main Findings... 3 Which areas in your business is nepotism most prevalent?... 5 What should be done to reduce incidences of nepotism in your organisation?... 6 Nepotism Prevalence Rates by Sector... 7

3 Introduction This report presents the results of a study to find out the prevalence of nepotism within Zimbabwean workplaces. A total of employees responded to the survey. The Wikipedia definition of nepotism is Nepotism is based on favouritism granted to relatives in various fields, including business, politics, entertainment, sports, religion and other activities. Methodology A questionnaire was ed to employees on the IPC database across all sectors of the economy who are registered in our database. The questionnaire was dispatched through the Survey Monkey online platform. Result Descriptive Statistics The average age of the participating employees is 38 years with the maximum being 63 years old % of those surveyed were male and 37.2% were female. Manufacturing and Banking contributed 11.3% each to the participants. Professional Services (10.2%), state enterprises (9.1%), NGOs (8.8%), financial services (7.5%), telecoms (5.4%), agriculture (5.2%) and retail (4.7%). The rest of the sectors had less than 5%. 38.8% of the participants did not indicate the sector they are working in. The average work experience for the participants is 8.8 years. 60.8% of the participants are managerial employees and 39.2% were non- managerial. Over 47% of the participants had a post graduate degree, 33.5% first degree and 13.4% had diploma. The rest of the participants had other qualifications below a Diploma.

4 Study Shortcomings The study used a convenient sample of people already in the IPC database. The database consists of over employees of which responded. The study used the function embedded in the Survey Monkey platform to reach out to participants. This excludes employee, especially low level employees who have no access to . Despite this shortcoming we are 95% confident that the sample and results captures the Zimbabwean working population s sentiments on nepotism. Main Findings When asked to indicate the prevalence of nepotism in their current organisation, of 718 employees who answered this question 31.3% said there is high prevalence of nepotism in their organisation, 30.1% indicated moderate prevalence, 24.9% indicated low prevalence and 13.6% indicated no prevalence of nepotism. When asked the question Have you over benefited from nepotism in your life? out of the 702 employees who answered this question only 12.4% said yes, 87.6 % indicated that they have never befitted from nepotism in their work life so far.

5 Have you ever benefited from nepotism in your work life? 12.4% Yes No 87.6% When asked the question Does your organisation have an anti- nepotism policy? out of the 716 employees who answered this question 56% said their employer does not have such a policy, 18.6% said they do have and 25.4% said they are not sure if the policy exit. Does your organisation have an anti-nepotism policy? 25.4% 18.6% Yes No I don't know 56.0%

6 Which areas in your business is nepotism most prevalent? Which areas in your business is nepotism most prevalent? Departments Finance Workers Operations Production Administration 1.1% 1.1% 1.3% 1.3% 1.6% 1.9% Management Human Resources Promotions 2.9% 4.8% 6.3% Recruitment 25.0% A word cloud of the answers to this question is show below.

7 What should be done to reduce incidences of nepotism in your organisation? What should be done to reduce incidences of nepotism in your organisation? Independent Procedures Management Professionalism Qualifications Employment Transparency 2.29% 2.29% 2.45% 4.26% 4.75% 5.73% 6.22% Recruitment 18.66% Policy 27.66%

8 Nepotism Prevalence Rates by Sector High Moderate Low No Prevalence Prevalence prevalence Prevalence Non-Governmental Organisation 12.50% 8.80% 12.30% 13.30% Media and Publishing 12.10% 7.90% 8.90% 1.00% Motoring 9.40% 6.50% 9.50% 3.10% Other (please specify) 8.90% 11.60% 14.50% 3.10% Medical Services 7.60% 5.10% 5.00% 1.00% Banking 5.80% 5.60% 4.50% 10.20% Energy and Oil 5.40% 9.70% 7.80% 4.10% Quasi-Government 5.40% 4.20% 4.50% 5.10% Transport & Logistics 4.90% 2.30% 2.80% 5.10% Education 4.50% 9.30% 10.60% 1.00% Agriculture 4.50% 4.60% 2.20% 5.10% Retail 4.00% 6.00% 5.60% 1.00% Security 2.70% 4.20% 1.10% 0.00% Manufacturing 2.70% 2.30% 3.40% 12.20% Telecommunications 2.20% 4.20% 5.00% 2.00% Tourism & Hospitality 2.20% 2.30% 0.60% 2.00% Construction 2.20% 2.30% 0.00% 1.00% Financial Services 1.80% 0.90% 0.00% 7.10% Real Estate 0.40% 0.90% 1.10% 0.00% Fast & Moving Consumer Goods 0.40% 0.90% 0.00% 1.00% Mining 0.40% 0.00% 0.60% 0% Professional Services 0.00% 0.50% 0.00% 21.40% Total % % % %

9 Observations and Recommendations The results above show that there is high prevalence of nepotism in Zimbabwean organisations. The high prevalence of nepotism impact how people are selected and promoted into jobs with relatives and close associates of those charged with these processes getting chances well ahead of other deserving candidates. Nepotism deprives the organisation of an opportunity to get the right talent thereby affecting the performance of organisation. Nepotism gives non-performers jobs and this costs your organisation huge sums of money resulting from poor performance of such individuals. A number of local organisations have collapsed as a result of malpractices such as nepotism and lack of governance structures. With this high prevalence of nepotism no wonder why most of the local companies are struggling. This survey is a confirmation what probably many have already observed in local organisations where a clicks and groups of friends, family members and close associates find jobs not because they are better (both qualification and experience) but they get the jobs by virtue of association with those with power in organisations. Organisations can address the prevalence of nepotism by crafting transparent policies that prevents nepotism in the main areas cited above; recruitment, promotions and penalties for any manager practicing nepotism. procurement. There should be heavy It s shocking that only 18.6 % of the participating employees indicated that their employers have an anti- nepotism policy. Another way to deal with the nepotism problem is to have an ethics policy that deals with all areas where potential risk of unethical behaviour exists. Memory Nguwi is an Occupational Psychologist, Data Scientist, Speaker, & Managing Consultant - Industrial Psychology Consultants (Pvt) Ltd a management and human resources consulting firm. Phone /481950/ / or cell number or mnguwi@ipcconsultants.com or visit our website at