Nepotism is primarily associated with the Bollywood industry with star kids including Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt, Raveena Tandon, Shahid Kapoor, Bobby Deol, and filmmakers such as Meghna Gulzar receiving mixed reactions from the audience and critics alike.
It is without an iota of doubt one of the never-ending debate in the Hindi cinema, which is fondly referred to as Bollywood, but the burning question popping inside everyone’s head Sushant Singh Rajput’s suicide is whether or not nepotism is true culprit and responsible for young actor’s untimely death.
Following Rajput’s suicide, several actors including Vivek Oberoi and Raveena Tandon have opened up about Bollywood aspects such as the ‘mean girl gang of the industry’ that are usually kept under wraps. A lot of people associated with Bollywood feel Rajput could have sought help and dealt with the challenges he was facing rather than taking the drastic step of ending his life.
Rajput, who unlike a lot of Bollywood stars didn’t come from a film family had to struggle his to the top. At an award show, Rajput opened up about nepotism in Bollywood saying, Nepotism is there, it’s everywhere, not just in Bollywood. You can’t do anything about it. Nepotism can co-exist and nothing would happen but at the same time, if you deliberately don’t allow the right talent to come up, then there is a problem. Then the whole structure of the industry would collapse one day. But till then, it’s fine.”
This has got everyone discussing the bad effect of nepotism in the work environment, but a report from SAGE Journals suggests nepotism leads to bias in decision-making and long-term losses to the company’s performances. Aside from that, recent studies show that nepotism demotivates people, making them feel alienated. It also affects innovation and competition, the reports say.
Nepotism in the workplace leads to the following:
- Absence of Fairness
- Lower Employee Morale
- Lower Employee Productivity
- Lack Of Diversity
Now that we have established nepotism is bad, it surprisingly has a few benefits as well. The simplest example is hiring or promoting friends and family, but it depends on the situation. It is worth noting that nepotism has a different effect on massive companies with thousands of employees and small family businesses.
Research conducted by Management Issues identified seven different types of companies including modern, closed niche, fraternal, atomistic, traditional family, sweatshop, and paternalistic. The research shows that in fraternal firms with established niches hired workers through word-of-mouth, meaning the business friends of those who are already associated with them.
Moreover, the research found the “family resources often helped to sustain the business and workers were often treated as the equals of managers.” In other words, nepotism can be a good thing in a fraternal business setting as it encourages like-minded people to achieve the same goal while creating more harmony.
There are two sides to the legal aspect of nepotism. Businesses that adopt anti-nepotism codes often find their own policies hindering them. Forbes’ Klaus Kneale gives an example of a company that could face sexual discrimination charges because of a no-nepotism policy.
“Such policies often weigh most heavily on women in the workplace, who get edged out or held back when they marry co-workers and are suddenly in breach of policy,” Kneale explains. Author Adam Bellow points out that we are living in an increasingly-nepotistic society, where children aspire to follow in their parents’ footsteps to become politicians, doctors, lawyers, or even actors.
This is the way careers have functioned for a long time. Children learn the trades of their parents and offered skilled labor to their societies. Nepotism can either be extremely harmful or extremely beneficial, depending on the circumstances. It is imperative for a discerning mind to always make the choice.
Was Rajput’s decision to succumb to the pressure justified? Did he lose potential projects to more favorite star kids? We will need to wait until more details have been divulged. Nevertheless, there’s always a better option than committing suicide. Let us know your thoughts in the comments sections below.
