Favouritism leads to complex issues

In organisations, there are situations where one employee is given preference over another, usually by a person at a higher level, not based on work performance but on other considerations. Such favouritism leads to complex organisational issues with a huge opportunity cost.

As humans we tend to get closer to people we like, for various benefits.

Factors such as same village or town, school, religion and personal interests such as sports or music bring people together.

In certain circumstances the favouritism can be in relation to sexism and racism too. Employees coming together on such grounds end up in sub cultures with different attitudes and beliefs.

You have your own real life examples either as a victim, beneficiary or seen things happen around you as a neutral person.

Survival strategy

Sadly, in most Sri Lankan organisations, be it private or public, favouritism does exist in varying degrees. Favouritism in public organisations is mostly based on political affiliations. Some managers whose behaviour is not aligned with company policy and accepted practices or performance not being up to the mark favour direct reports to harness support for survival.

A leader whose discipline is below expectation cannot create a culture of high discipline in an organisation or within that business unit for optimum productivity.

Look at a simple example. A leader who is late to work cannot pull up a team member for being late to work. Is it hard to understand the resultant loss of value to the organisation?

Commonly practised favouritism in Sri Lankan organisations include, bigger salary increases and perks, promotions, beneficial transfers, easier work and selective lenient policy compliance. These cost the organisations money, affect business performance and create an undesired culture impeding long-term progress.

There's no question that favouritism is a bad management practice. It breeds resentment, mistrust, destroys employee morale and creates disincentives for good performance.

Once employees see that more benefits flow from being on the manager's good side, rather than from good job performance, it creates a notion that there's little point in working hard.

And favouritism leads to poor productivity, as employees who aren't getting the plum assignments spend more and more time gossiping and griping about how unfair the system is rather than doing work.

Discrimination

Is favouritism illegal? Not always. It depends on why employees are being favoured or disfavoured. No law prevents companies from having lousy managers or running a workplace like a school yard.

However, if favouritism is rooted in discrimination, harassment or retaliation, it crosses the line from poor management to illegal behaviour.

Favouritism is usually a sure sign that policies and procedures are not what they should be. Favouritism not based on performance can lead to serious negative business implications. It's up to the leaders to identify, understand and put in place policies, processes and systems to curb this issue but more importantly, lead by example to create the right culture.