Working on a cronyism: the pros and cons of nepotism in business. Godfather godfather… A systematic look at nepotism How to determine if there is nepotism in the administration

More than once she was in a situation where she turned out to be "special, close to the sovereign-emperor." That is, either a relative or a good friend of high authorities. An unpleasant, I tell you, feeling ...

From an early age, I was sent to a pioneer camp, the director of which was my aunt. At first, at the age of 10, I was happy: at least some kindred spirit was nearby! And feed, and help, if anything. Then I noticed that they were looking at me...
The older I got, the worse I got. Everyone was afraid of me, both pioneer leaders and peers. Of course, not those with whom we became friends from childhood and traveled together from year to year, but newcomers. Against my will, I had to carry the annual load: I was obsequiously elected chairman of the council of the squad. I would like to sleep - and I have to get up before everyone else, for a planning meeting in the director's office! Girlfriends with boys are walking, and Katya is preparing another competition ... Brrr!
But there were also pluses. The counselors were afraid that I would tell my aunt about their nightly adventures, so they had to take me with them to barbecues (there was a forwarder in the company who, of course, stole meat ...). They drink vodka themselves, but for me, a 15-year-old, they specially bought weak wine ... So that, it means, I was “tied” with them ...

Having received a diploma as a teacher of Russian and literature, she was confused: in those days, teachers were not paid for six months. The father had a quick talk with his good friend- the head of the women's teenage colony, and they quickly assigned me "over the fence", to an evening school.
My fellow teachers just hated me! Firstly, the youngest teacher was 35 years old (I'm 22). Secondly, they paid there on time, and with all sorts of allowances, so everyone dreamed of either attaching to vacancy your girlfriend (relative), or grab yourself a second bet. Thirdly, never in the history of the existence of this school has a snot taught with absolutely no work experience. Thus, the local pedagogues figured out at the moment that I didn’t fall from the sky, but that I was the protégé of someone very high. Who exactly - also soon found out ...
At first, I was very annoyed with all sorts of open lessons, the director and the head teacher periodically dropped in during the lesson. When they realized that I was doing a great job and had no problems with ladies in pea coats, they fell silent. But that seemed to piss them off even more...

A few years ago, I showed up in one of the newspapers, in which my very good friend “edited”. “Where is Kolyunya?” - blurted out, like a fool, from the threshold. Well, I didn’t know that he would offer me a permanent job. And never knew his patronymic.
So, from the first working day, employees twice my age began to call your humble servant exclusively by their first name and patronymic ... I asked a hundred times to tie them up with this patronymic - no way! That's what I got because of "Koluni". She was ready to tear out all the hair under her arms by her stupid tongue, but nothing could be fixed ...

2. Try not to find out about your friendships / family relationships at the new job.

3. If you still found out, you will have to prove for more than one month that you are not just a professional, but a super pro.

4. Never give food for gossip like "they are lovers"

5. Be prepared for the fact that you will have to follow the orders of a friend / relative with whom you have drunk more than one “glass of tea”.

6. Have the courage to leave if new job won't like it.

Well, that's probably all. If anyone can help me with my advice, I will be very happy!

West is West. East is East. And they can’t get along together ... An important difference between the Russian corporate culture from what is accepted in Europe and the USA, is the tradition of employment of "their" people - relatives and friends.

Almost every translated guide for managers says: you can’t employ friends and relatives in your company. However, in reality, they were hired, they are being hired, and, apparently, they will be hired. HR managers (human resources specialists) are usually pissed off by this. "The main work of personnel services in the selection of personnel is the assessment professional competence, psychological characteristics and the possibility of "designing" a team of like-minded people, - says Natalya Kalinina from the Arktel company. - Relatives are most often introduced without giving the opportunity personnel services evaluate them on all criteria. Hence the problem of team building.

Indeed, the employment of relatives and friends is fraught with problems in the team. But at the same time, in real life there are also positive examples of the introduction of "their" people to key positions. According to Vladislav Bykhanov, a representative of Penny Lane Consulting, clan and nepotism traditions are especially characteristic of Asian and Russian companies. "In Western and pro-Western companies, such principles are not welcome at all," emphasizes a specialist from Penny Lane Consulting. "All appointments are made on a competitive basis. In some companies, there is even an unwritten rule: if two employees marry, one of them must certainly leave the company" . Perhaps the trick is to avoid conflict between the pro-Asian traditions of Russian leaders and the corporate values which, as a rule, turn out to be pro-Western.

When giving recommendations to ordinary employees on safety precautions for communicating with "their" people, experts take this "trick" into account. “If a person finds himself in a company with stable family ties, then first of all he should sort out these connections so as not to inadvertently quarrel with someone close to the management,” says Vladislav Bykhanov. According to him, if an employee wants to advance in this company, he needs to understand the interaction scheme, that is, to establish a good relationship with the person who can put in a good word for him before the management. If such a model of behavior is unacceptable for the candidate, then it is better not to go to work at all. similar company. Because whatever a good specialist no matter how you were, you will still remain a "stranger" for the leadership.

What to do if the head of your company brought his relative? “You should look at the situation as a whole and not make decisions without understanding it,” advises Natalya Kalinina. “Maybe you are lucky - a completely sane person has come. Try to ignore whose relative he is. First of all, he is the same person as you".

Our readers often complain that work experience and knowledge do not matter, and everything is decided by connections, acquaintances and sheer nepotism. Therefore, in this article we will try to figure out how to defeat nepotism and your dreams.

There are two types of companies in terms of nepotism: the owners of some care about profits and high rates efficiency, while the owners of others can afford not to think about the fact that management accounting at the end of the year converges to +.

With the first companies, everything is clear. There are many nuances there, but building a career there is relatively easy, because you understand the language of benefits. And if what you are doing or offering to do is beneficial, you are more likely to be heard.

Which companies thrive in nepotism?

Now let's talk about the second type of companies that, for some, sometimes external reasons, do not have the goal of making money and being efficient. They are united by several features: patriarchal structure and subordination, focus on the process, not the result, 80% of the activity is low-skilled work that can be trusted to anyone in rare cases - exotic specialization, because of which there are not many places to go work, and there is a reason for the tyranny of management

Crony companies are companies where the distribution of benefits and the fact of hiring does not depend on the results of labor, but on personal attitudes towards employees who are relatives or friends of management.

Which companies are not at risk of nepotism?

Huge companies such as supermarket chains and huge factories. Too much need for employees, there is enough space for everyone. But within the department there may be those favorites.

Specialized companies up to 10 employees. Here the selection is very individual, and look primarily at professionalism. But you won't make a great career.

Requirements for technology and the relative infantilism of developers reduce nepotism to nothing.

Rational justification of nepotism: why?

Nepotism is not a natural disaster, but a rational phenomenon that occurs because it is so beneficial to business owners. Having figured out what function the abundance of relatives and acquaintances in business has, you can use this property of the company to your advantage.

The first and most important reason why relatives are dragged into business is that they do not trust anyone but their own. Now, when a brother’s brother is strangled for a penny, this approach is slowly losing relevance, but earlier among everyone in a small town it was much more profitable to hire your aunt or mother-in-law, because she will not steal secretly from the head or, since she essentially steals from your family's pockets.

The second reason is to take care of relatives who are not very qualified to do their job. In this case, the size of the salary and the requirements for the quality of work are not related, and the salary will be the size of the ballast of unnecessary expenses that the company can pull.

The third reason - for a job that does not require high qualifications, it doesn't matter who to take. So why not take yours?

The fourth reason is that relatives often do related things. Two physicist brothers can open some engineering business together and take their children to work with them.

The fifth reason is in companies with a long vertical of power and no independent evaluation(university, for example) there is no way and no one to control nepotism.

When a lot of power is concentrated in the hands of one person, and objective indicators of success are difficult to determine, the distribution of benefits changes in favor of favorites. If there are many levels between you and senior management, and this leadership is appointed by government bodies, the potential for nepotism is huge.

How to deal with nepotism and is it necessary?

If your specialty is too popular or low-skilled, you have big risks. Therefore, specialize so that the most nepotistic office cannot resist your knowledge and skills. Offices that choose nepotism - they choose their own only ceteris paribus. Obvious Benefit acts on them.

Don't overuse superspecialization. If you are a diver and only 30 companies in the Russian Federation can hire you, management will know that you have nowhere to go and will twist your arms.

If you live in a small town with a wide nepotism network, be friends with everyone, don't get into a confrontation. In the choice between "being right" and "being successful" - choose success, not being right in any one situation. If communication with certain, albeit not the most pleasant people for you, does not contradict your life principles- Invest in good relationships with others. Sooner or later you yourself will become someone's godfather.

Reappraisal of nepotism: another self-justification

Nepotism is a problem, but it is often exaggerated. If you do not take responsibility for everything that happens to you, nepotism can become one of the excuses for your own failures. There is a crisis in the yard, and no one will hire a low-skilled relative or acquaintance instead of a professional (thus also increasing their economic risks). If you are a professional and a pleasant person, your chances of getting a job increase. And if you are another “cleaning manager” or bosses and colleagues are goats at all workplaces, maybe you should retrain or reconsider your attitude to life?

Most likely, a company that needs to be liked not by customers, but by the boss, and to bring not money, but good relations with everyone, will not survive in a crisis. Keep this in mind and don't despair if nepotism gets in the way.

Nepotism and networking

When complaining about nepotism, start with yourself. How often, at the request of acquaintances, do you violate official duties? Does it happen that you are unfair in the distribution of benefits, if it is available to you? When it comes to nepotism, it's like crossing a road - drivers think that pedestrians are walking too often, and pedestrians that drivers are driving too fast.

Does it not turn out that when you solve an issue faster than others, these are your connections, and when someone solves issues in the same way under your nose, this is nepotism. Build your own network of acquaintances, and achieve your goal at any cost!

Corruption threatens the very existence of the state, acts as the main obstacle to raising the standard of living of the population, developing the economy, and establishing civil society. The growth of corruption in Russia is one of the main anti-factors in attracting foreign investment and modern technologies to Russian industry. The list of negative consequences of corruption is long. In this regard, an effective fight against corruption inevitably entails fundamental changes not only in the state, but also in society as a whole. One of the reasons why corruption is rooted in Russia is its systemic nature.

The authors of the monograph devoted to the problem of corruption in modern Russia considered, in particular, the typology of this phenomenon: from “grassroots” corruption to “high-level” corruption, corruption in power and in civil society, economic and ideological corruption. In this material, we will talk about "soft corruption" - nepotism, crownism, protectionism, favoritism, nepotism, clannishness, parochialism.

An excerpt from the monograph: Sulakshin S.S., Maksimov S.V., Akhmetzyanova I.R. etc. "State policy of combating corruption and the shadow economy in Russia". Monograph in 2 volumes.

Corruption "soft" and "hard"


One of the most frequently used scientific and practical comments on the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation65 indicates that selfish interest as a motive for a crime in the composition provided for in Art. 285 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, can be expressed in the desire of the subject to obtain, through the abuse of official powers, any property benefit from the illegal gratuitous withdrawal of state funds into his own property or the property of other persons: to obtain, for example, out of turn an apartment for himself or his relatives. Another personal interest, as a motive for abuse of official powers, can be expressed in the desire of the subject to derive a non-property benefit from his actions: to please the authorities, careerism, nepotism, etc. Thus, it is possible to draw, if necessary, a distinction between "hard" ( classical) and "soft" corruption.

In addition to bribery, there are many other specific forms (manifestations) of corruption: favoritism, nepotism (nepotism), kronism (protectionism), lobbyism and “blat” (connections). It is apparently impossible to compile an exhaustive list of types of corrupt activities. In Russia, "feeding" once existed legally, it is difficult to distinguish it from bribery and covetousness, and - what can we say - about such a common in Russia, almost ritual form of bribery as "greyhound puppies". Feeding may have been the first manifestation of what, from an economic point of view, is assessed as double taxation66.

Nepotism, nepotism, kronism, protectionism, favoritism, nepotism, clanism, parochialism in general


In Art. 13 of the Model Code of Conduct for civil servants, annexed to Recommendations of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe of 11 May 2000 No. R (2000) 10 on codes of conduct for civil servants, states: “a conflict of interest arises in a situation where a civil servant has a personal interest that affects or may affect objective and impartial performance by him of his official duties", and that "the personal interest of a public official includes any benefit to him (her) personally or to his (her) family, relatives, friends and associates, as well as to persons and organizations with which he (she) has or had business or political relations. This concept also includes any financial or civil obligation that a public servant has.

This definition seems to cover most of the examples of "soft" corruption given.

About conflict of interest


In Art. 36.24 federal law"On non-state pension funds" dated May 7, 1998 No. 75-FZ and in Art. 35 of the Federal Law "On investing funds to finance the funded part of the labor pension in Russian Federation» dated July 24, 2002, No. 111-FZ defines a conflict of interest, which, for the purposes of this Federal Law, means that officials and their close relatives have rights that provide the opportunity for these persons to receive material and personal benefits personally or through a legal or actual representative as a result of the use of their official powers in relation to the investment of pension savings, or information on the investment of pension savings, which became known to them or is at their disposal in connection with the implementation officials professional activities related to the formation and investment of pension savings.

In the Federal Law "On Non-Commercial Organizations" dated January 12, 1996 No. 7-FZ in Art. 27 interest in the commission of certain actions by a non-profit organization, including transactions, entails a conflict of interests of the interested persons and the non-profit organization, and persons interested in the commission of certain actions by the non-profit organization, including transactions, with other organizations or citizens (hereinafter referred to as interested parties), the head (deputy head) of a non-profit organization, as well as a person who is a member of the management bodies of a non-profit organization or bodies supervising its activities, if these persons are with these organizations or citizens in labor relations, are participants, creditors of these organizations or are in close family relations with these citizens or are creditors of these citizens. At the same time, these organizations or citizens are suppliers of goods (services) for a non-profit organization, large consumers of goods (services) produced non-profit organization, own property that is fully or partially formed by a non-profit organization, or can benefit from the use, disposal of property of a non-profit organization.

Here, in particular, informal friendly relations are excluded everywhere ( kronism), as well as ethnic ( tribalism).

Further, in accordance with paragraph 3 of Art. 27 of the above Federal Law, if a person has an interest in a transaction to which a non-profit organization is or intends to be a party, as well as in the event of another conflict of interests between the said person and the non-profit organization in relation to an existing or proposed transaction: he is obliged to report his interest to the authority management of a non-profit organization or a body supervising its activities until a decision is made to conclude a transaction; the transaction must be approved by the governing body of the non-profit organization or the body supervising its activities.

A transaction in which there is an interest and which has been concluded in violation of the requirements of this article may be declared invalid by a court.

An interested person shall be liable to a non-profit organization in the amount of losses caused by him to this non-profit organization.

Measures to prevent the emergence of a conflict of interest in relation to officials federal bodies executive power involved in the process of regulation, control and supervision in the field of compulsory pension insurance, officials pension fund of the Russian Federation, as well as members of the Public Council, are established by the Government of the Russian Federation, and measures to prevent the occurrence of a conflict of interest in relation to officials of the subjects and other participants in relations for investing pension savings are established in the codes of professional ethics of the relevant organizations.

Such negative phenomena as abuses of official position for personal gain, favoritism (nepotism and nepotism) and the corruption that develops on their basis are closely related to the conflict of interests.

Favoritism: nepotism, nepotism


Under favoritism we understand the assignment of services or the provision of resources to relatives, acquaintances, in accordance with belonging to a particular party, clan, religion, sect and other preferred groupings, which negatively affects the quality of public activity and contributes to the inefficient and unfair distribution of public resources among those who have special claims to public office.

Nepotism is a system of power built on kinship, and kronism is a system of power based on bosom friends.

Nepotism has a completely Russian synonym - nepotism (a form of favoritism, when the leader prefers to nominate his relatives and friends for positions).

FROM nepotism fought under the Soviet regime. So, in the Approximate charter of the agricultural artel, adopted by the II All-Union Congress of Collective Farmers-Shock Workers and approved by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks on February 17, 1935, it was indicated that the work is distributed by the foreman among the members of the artel, not allowing any nepotism, nepotism when distributing work.

But even in our time, nepotism is not always and not always considered a disadvantage in itself. For example, the leader of the Party of Regions of Ukraine V. Yanukovych does not consider the appointment of relatives to leadership positions as a negative phenomenon. He stated this at a press conference, answering a question from journalists about whether his party would fight "nepotism" in power, an example of which was the appointment of the nephew of the President of Ukraine V. Yushchenko as deputy governor of the Kharkiv region. In this regard, V. Yanukovych noted: “If the godfathers are non-professionals, if their work has a negative impact on the state of the region, then we have fought and will continue to fight against such appointments. But if relatives are professionals and know their business, then what's so terrible about it? God forbid that there are more relatives working for the benefit of Ukraine.” By the way, according to the list of the Party of Regions, the eldest son of V. Yanukovych (also Viktor) passed to the Parliament of Ukraine.

For Russia, this problem has become more urgent in connection with the appointment of persons who are relatives of the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Minister of Industry and Energy of the Russian Federation to the positions of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation and the Minister of Health and Social Development of the Russian Federation. Obviously, for persons holding public office, this problem should be resolved in the near future at the level of the Federal Law - for example, as it is resolved in relation to civil servants.

On tolerance for conflicts of interest


The negative consequences of tolerance for conflicts of interest, their prevalence are the creation of unilateral advantages, the violation of a level playing field of competition or access to public resources and services.

Tolerance for conflicts of interest contributes to the formation of clans (monopoly or dominant groups) under the state “roof”, providing favorable conditions for themselves to the detriment of the interests of the state, competitors and third parties. The ability to make the decisions provided for by the position (to take actions) in one's own interests is a mechanism for unjust enrichment - much more profitable and safer than receiving a bribe for general patronage or connivance.

Given the existing tolerance for conflicts of interest, the effectiveness of public administration (including spending) of public resources is inherently low.

Any amount of budgetary resources in this case will be embezzled or misused in the interests of the managers of these resources. At the same time, the prestige of the state will inevitably be damaged, public service and specific government agency.

Most of the distrust of the authorities state power a significant part of Russians is generated precisely by the tolerance for conflicts of interest that prevails in society. The population cannot trust public authorities, whose officials, without hiding the existing conflict of interest, defiantly ensure the priority of protecting their interests in relation to state interests. Moreover, the use of official position for personal purposes is usually difficult to prove in the course of an investigation, as a rule, it is obvious to others. This may not even be condemned (“we all live like this”), but trust in government bodies does not add.

In Russia, a significant number of officials (including federal ministers, their deputies, deputies of the State Duma and members of the Federation Council, other persons filling government positions of ministers and up to chief specialists) of various ministries and departments are included (often for a fee) on the boards of directors joint-stock companies and companies, in connection with which there is an actual “merging” of the state and business, which in most cases, in our opinion, is legalized corruption. This practice actually legalizes the constant conflict of personal and state interests, which serves as an objective basis for the illegal lobbying activities of persons holding public office. Power is merging with property, creating new deeply hidden corrupt technologies.

In our opinion, it is necessary to reconsider the question of the representation of civil servants in joint-stock companies with a share of state capital. Under current legislation, civil servants are prohibited from engaging in other paid activities, including entrepreneurial activities, participating in the management of joint-stock companies, etc. In some countries, such as the United States, even scientific and teaching paid activities of civil servants are prohibited or restricted. In Russia, on the contrary, this is a common practice. A rare high-ranking official today is not a "major scientist" in the relevant area of ​​public administration.

Clanism and financial crises


It is known that the clan is the most durable and dominant form of solidarity, consanguineous and patronage-client integration-identification of individuals, which has grown out of the traditional primitive society for thousands of years. At the same time, this is the most dangerous and disastrous form of grouping and recruiting elites for undeveloped democratic societies, since here the beginning of the bond between people is not personal properties and virtues, but random biological and natural relationships of kinship, nepotism, fellowship, etc. As a result, the nation weakens , is divided into many competing clans, tribes, zhuzes, their segregation, inequality and injustice arise, leading the ethnic group to self-destruction.

Some experts believe that Asian countries (Korea, and especially Indonesia and Thailand) are characterized by significant levels of corruption, including nepotism, shelter from taxation of profits and assets, which can be called "thieves' capitalism."

At the epicenter of the financial crisis of 1997, oddly enough at first glance, were the most dynamic countries - South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, which have managed to historically short time to go through a considerable (albeit unequal) part of the path separating them from the leaders of the world economy. The fact is that when forming in these states the basic economic structures, acting as the locomotives of growth, there were many "distortions" associated with the traditions of nepotism and favoritism, manifested in clan, kinship and other informal ties that do not "fit in" with the laws of the modern market economy. "Greenhouse" conditions facilitated and accelerated the formation of these structures and their subsequent expansion. But at the same time, the issues of separating power from property remained unresolved. The necessary business transparency was also not achieved.

The traditions of nepotism, fellowship, and economically unjustified favoritism still flourishing in Russia, which breed personnel confusion, incompetence and corruption, as analysis shows, can completely nullify all the efforts of the state to modernize the economy and return Russia to the status of an economic superpower.

From parochialism to separatism - one step


It should be noted that the term "parochialism" can be used as a characteristic of not only economic, but also political corruption that produces separatism (Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Transnistria, Chechnya). The transition from clan, tribalism and localism to particularism (regionalism) and separatism occurs quite naturally as it matures necessary conditions and (consciously or unconsciously) weakening legitimate forms of public communication. This can be combated by the legislative introduction practiced in other countries of the concept of normative (mandatory) ethnic (national) proportional representation in government bodies (both local and state). For example, in the Soviet Union, the "proportional" composition of workers, women and national minorities in party and state structures was provided by calculation.

As you know, common crime flourishes when it finds support in political crime, in the corruption of the bureaucracy. Contrary to declarations about the fight against privileges, unprecedented scales have assumed - the distribution of benefits that make it possible to almost uncontrollably plunder the state treasury, nepotism, nepotism, "telephone law", the use of power to discredit political opponents and business competitors. All these are rather traditional features of the decomposition of state power. In Russia, it has assumed frightening proportions, and the process of privatization of state and municipal property has become a breeding ground for it, often in an illegitimate or legally controversial way, nevertheless recognized by a certain part of society in whose favor the corresponding privatization was carried out.

Friendship or kronism?


Friendship and nepotism (nepotism) are singled out as a separate type of corruption. They lead to facts such as large concessions in deals, appointments of relatives to key positions, preferential purchases of personal property, access to hard currency, and other such facts. Control over these areas of business creates the preconditions for their use for corruption purposes. The distribution of such benefits is carried out among a small group of the elite and their families, who are expected to return in the form of bribes and other "thanks". Corruption in the family circle is not as widespread as trade bribes and patronage systems. As already noted, from the point of view of law, corruption can be briefly defined as the illegal use of public office for personal gain. The term "illegal" means that there are laws (regulations) regulating the behavior of persons holding public positions of state and municipal employees. The actual observance or non-observance of these laws and the punishment for their violation is another matter.

While hosting relatives and friends is not considered abnormal in our society, nepotism is not at all so harmless. Nepotism is officially banned in many countries. For example, the United States has an Office of Government Ethics. Its experts develop sets of rules for all civil servants, and also monitor their compliance. In the USA, kronism is also monitored, when stable friendly relations exist between top officials. So, for example, if an inspector is sent to a firm with an inspection, and the director of this firm is his classmate, he must report this.

And yet, an opponent of the current Washington administration, Hillary Clinton, now a Democratic senator from the state of New York, said in January 2006: “Now we have a culture of corruption, kronism, incompetence. I predict that this administration will go down in history as one of the worst that has ever ruled our country." In other countries, nepotism is also being fought. In March 2005, Israeli Finance Minister B. Netanyahu signed new rules for hiring in a state-owned company. Now the enterprise does not have the right to hire an employee if his relative works there, holding a managerial position or receiving a large salary.

Back in 2001, the Cypriot Parliament adopted a law according to which nepotism became a criminal offense. Those convicted of this must pay a fine of $ 4,000 or spend a year behind bars.

In China, nepotism is dealt with in its own way: the Commission for Discipline Inspection banned the children of high-ranking Chinese officials from doing business. Family members of executives have no right to enter into real estate transactions, work in the field of advertising, own law firms, as well as open discos, nightclubs, karaoke bars. And those who are already employed in these areas should quit or be punished.

In Poland, all civil servants are required to tell their superiors if their family members are in business. For an attempt to hide such information, officials must pay a fine or lose their chair. Moreover, in case of dismissal, they will not be able to accept gifts from people whom they helped while working in public authorities.

Some results


Summing up, it should be noted:

Classical (“hard”) corruption (bribery, commercial bribery) is completely institutionalized as social relations become more complex and is supplemented by new pseudo-institutional corruption mechanisms that, in each specific historical period of time, adapt to the new conditions of public and personal communications, easily replacing missing or lagging ones in development of legitimate social mechanisms;

The distinction between “hard” (classical) and “soft” corruption may allow developing additional mechanisms for protecting against relatively new types of corruption and controlling old ones;

The transition from parochialism to particularism (regionalism) and separatism can be explained by the development and transformation of economic corruption into ideological (political) corruption, which certainly makes it possible to notice danger signals for the state integrity itself in time.

Image copyright getty Image caption Family members of Rupert Murdoch (far left): everyone is in business, everyone is attached

Nepotism - the preference given to relatives and friends over everyone else in hiring and promotion - is a public or private reality of business culture in many countries of the world. The correspondent is trying to figure out if this is good or bad.

Take Ana Patricia Botin, who inherited from her father the position of head of the Spanish banking group Santander. Or tycoon Rupert Murdoch, who appointed his sons executive directors media companies News Corp and 21st Century Fox. Or every fifth member of the British Parliament who pays a relative to perform the duties of a private secretary.

Although nepotism to varying degrees can be found everywhere in different countries relation to this phenomenon is different.

Thus, US law prohibits civil servants from hiring relatives.

The private sector is not directly affected by the ban, but US employers - as well as British ones - risk costly litigation if they hire mainly relatives and friends.

The Chinese State Anti-Corruption Agency is pursuing a crackdown on nepotism, fighting what it says are powerful "families" that control the country's key industries.

Until I came to America, I didn’t even know the word - nepotism Valerie Berset-Pryce, born Swiss

But in Italy or Spain, promotion through personal connections, and not career success, is a common thing. In these countries, this practice is for the most part considered acceptable.

Swiss-born Valerie Berset-Price founded Professional Passport, a consulting firm that helps companies overcome cross-cultural communication challenges within their workforce.

When Valerie went to the US to get a business education, she was surprised to hear from the teachers there that nepotism is undoubtedly a vicious practice, and in some cases even a criminal offense.

"Until I came to America, I didn't even know the word - nepotism," she says.

When Valerie first started her firm, she found that her American friends in high positions in leading companies were reluctant to recommend her services to their business associates.

“It wasn't that they didn't want me to succeed, they didn't like me, or they didn't believe in my business,” Berset-Price says. attracting customers, because we were on friendly footing with them."

Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption Your acquaintances and family ties will be your trump card when looking for a job. But not in all countries

Differences in attitudes towards nepotism are predetermined by cultural differences. Residents of countries where maintaining close ties with relatives is an integral part of national culture(often encouraged by the church) tend to view the protection of relatives as a natural and socially approved way of looking after the well-being of the family.

"In Spain, open competition for jobs is almost non-existent," says Joe Haslam, an entrepreneur and senior staff member at a business school in Madrid. Haslam lives and works in Milan, Italy.

He continues: "On top of everything else, no one [in Spain and Italy] can claim the position he occupies 100% as belonging to him - it turns out that you are warming a chair for a relative who will take this position after you. If any of the members there is no work for the family, it is considered a common problem for the whole family. Undoubtedly, with this approach, positions are often given to not the best candidates - simply because they are directly or indirectly related to someone from the leadership."

This practice certainly has its advantages. As Haslam explains, family ties promote employee loyalty so that an employer doesn't have to worry about a competitor poaching a talented employee.

More than half teaching staff The University of Palermo is related to at least one of the employees of this university

In addition, it is easier and cheaper to hire staff on the basis of private recommendations than in the case of open job advertisements.

Yet day-to-day manifestations of nepotism can harm the economy as a whole.

For starters, they scare away foreign investors: according to a 2014 EU anti-corruption report, 67% of investors working with Greek companies see nepotism as "a very serious or fairly serious problem."

 

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