3

The Nepotistic Organization: What Is This Place and How Do the People Make It?

Paul M. Muchinsky

University of North Carolina at Greensboro

It would be reasonable to conclude nepotism is a dirty word. The paucity of references to it in bodies of literature suggests authors do not like to write about it, or editors do not like to publish anything about it. I found more books with “devil worship” than “nepotism” in the title. The definition of nepotism is “patronage bestowed or favoritism shown on the basis of family relationship, as in business or politics” (www.dictionaryreference.com, 2010). The word first appeared in the 1600s, and its etymological origin is the Italian work for nephew, nepo. Its origin is related to the papacy. Newly elected ...

Get Nepotism in Organizations now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.