Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T02:22:17.871Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Revising Antinepotism Policies: Should the Private Sector Be More Like the Federal Government?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2015

Jeffrey M. Cucina  and
Lisa Votraw
Jeffrey M. Cucina*
Affiliation:
Office of Human Resources, Personnel Research and Assessment Division, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Washington, DC
Lisa Votraw*
Affiliation:
Office of Human Resources, Personnel Research and Assessment Division, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Washington, DC
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jeffrey M. Cucina, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 7th Floor, 1400 L Street NW, Washington, DC 20229-1145, or to Lisa Votraw, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 7th Floor, 1400 L Street NW, Washington, DC 20229-1145. E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected] or [email protected]
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Jeffrey M. Cucina, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 7th Floor, 1400 L Street NW, Washington, DC 20229-1145, or to Lisa Votraw, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, 7th Floor, 1400 L Street NW, Washington, DC 20229-1145. E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected] or [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

It is often said that the federal government needs to be more like the private sector (Brooks, 2013; Campbell, 2011; Harvey, 2012; Miller, 2013; Neal, 2013; Schnurer, 2013). However, after reading Jones and Stout's (2015) summary of private-sector antinepotism policies, we wonder whether the opposite is true when it comes to nepotism and cronyism: Should the private sector be more like the federal government? According to Jones and Stout, many organizations have antinepotism policies that prohibit the employment of the friends and family of current employees. We believe that these policies might go too far, and we propose that the policies used by the federal government could serve as a model for private-sector organizations. We also think that the federal government can shed some light on why organizations want to prohibit nepotism and cronyism.

Type
Commentaries
Information
Industrial and Organizational Psychology , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 2015 , pp. 45 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brooks, C. (2013, October 2). What government agencies can learn from the private sector. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/xerox/2013/10/02/government-agencies-eye-contact-centers-for-consolidation-3-takeaways-from-the-private-sector/Google Scholar
Campbell, K. (2011, September 14). 5 Reasons the government should be run like a business: The federal government is in financial disarray. US News & World Report. Retrieved from http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-smarter-mutual-fund-investor/2011/09/14/5-reasons-the-government-should-be-run-like-a-businessGoogle Scholar
Dickson, M. W., Nieminen, L. R. G, & Biermeier-Hanson, B. (2012). Nepotism and organizational homogeneity: How the attraction–selection–attrition (ASA) process is accelerated by nonmerit-based decision making. In Jones, R. G. (Ed.), Nepotism in organizations (pp. 93–128). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Exceptions to Antinepotism Rules, 5 C.F.R. § 310.102 (1978).Google Scholar
Ferentinos, C. H., & Osowski, J. K. (2013). Preserving the integrity of the federal merit systems: Understanding and addressing perceptions of favoritism. Washington, DC: U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.Google Scholar
Harvey, J. T. (2012, October 5). Why government should not be run like a business. Forbes. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntharvey/2012/10/05/government-vs-business/Google Scholar
Jones, R. G., & Stout, T. (2015). Policing nepotism and cronyism without losing the value of social connection. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 8, 2–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merit Systems Principles, 5 U.S.C. § 2301 (1978).Google Scholar
Miller, J. A. (2013). Survivalist cost cutting: What government can learn from the private sector. Austin, TX: Consortium for Advanced Management–International.Google Scholar
Neal, J. (2013, November 22). Should we run the government like a business? Federal News Radio. Retrieved from http://www.federalnewsradio.com/148/3511203/Should-we-run-the-government-like-a-businessGoogle Scholar
Prohibited Personnel Practices, 5 U.S.C. § 2302 (1978).Google Scholar
Rentz v. U.S. Postal Service, 19 M.S.P.R. 35 (1984).Google Scholar
Schmidt, F. L. (2002). The role of general cognitive ability and job performance: Why there cannot be a debate. Human Performance, 15, 187–210. doi:10.1080/08959285.2002.9668091CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1981). Employment testing: Old theories and new research findings. American Psychologist, 36, 1128–1137. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.36.10.1128CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262–274. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.124.2.262CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, F. L., Hunter, J. E., McKenzie, R., & Muldrow, T. (1979). The impact of valid selection procedures on work-force productivity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 64, 609–626. doi:10.1037/0021-9010.64.6.609CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, F. L., Hunter, J. E., Outerbridge, A. N., & Trattner, M. H. (1986). The economic impact of job selection methods on size, productivity, and payroll costs of the federal work force: An empirically based demonstration. Personnel Psychology, 39, 1–29. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6570.1986.tb00572.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schnurer, E. (2013, May 16). Government should be run like a business—But not in the way you think. The Atlantic. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/05/government-should-run-like-a-business-but-not-in-the-way-you-think/275693/Google Scholar
U.S. Department of Justice. (2012). Report regarding investigation of improper hiring practices in the Justice Management Division. Washington, DC: General Oversight and Review Division, Office of the Inspector, U.S. Department of Justice.Google Scholar
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. (2014). Patent and Trademark Office: Review of conduct by a high-ranking official in the hiring of a trademark organization employee (Investigative Report No. 13-0726). Washington, DC: Office of Investigations, Office of Inspector General, U.S. Department of Commerce.Google Scholar
Welch v. Department of Agriculture, 37 M.S.P.R. 18 (1988).Google Scholar