Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
ST. PAUL SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES
Brgy. Campetic, Palo, Leyte

EMPLOYEES’ PERCEPTON OF ORGANIZATIONAL CRONYISM IN THE

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS IN TACLOBAN CITY

A research Proposal Submitted

In Partial Fulfillment of the
Subject – Research and Development I
A.Y 2019 - 2020

Presented by:
Anido, Francelle Remila
Echual, Sean Adam
Fusio, Oliver
Labrague, Jovielyn Mae
Marquez, Khryzha Mae Joy
Payos, Kevin Barret
Rosanes, Jovita Gwyneth

Presented to:
Mr. Carl Aljon M. Lacaba
Research and Development I Adviser

January 2020
 CHAPTER I

THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

In playgrounds, children give their friends special privileges, be it the first pick of

teams, preferential treatment in a game of tag, or even giving a piece of their favorite

chocolate. Treating your friends better than others who are not your friends like this is

already anticipated from kids. Unfortunately, some adults do not grow out of this attitude

and, if they become politicians, this can become a major concern. This, in the adult,

political world, is known as cronyism.

Cronyism is extensively an issue in the political sphere, especially in federal and

local government. Many politicians, once elected, use their political appointments to

reward those who helped them get elected. However, it grows to cronyism when the

appointed official's credentials and abilities are not sufficient to meet the position's

requirements.

Introduction

Cronyism, favoritism, and nepotism are no longer new business phenomena. As said

by Demaj (2012), the current business world is gradually shrinking into a “global village”

wherein connections are used in promotions and employment processes. In literature,

showing favoritism to people who are considered as relatives is considered nepotism while

exhibiting special treatment for an acquaintance, colleague, or friend is recognized as

favoritism. These are common phenomena that show unethical and unjust treatments in the

workplace, but this study will be tackling and focusing on cronyism.

 Cronyism is described by Cambridge Dictionary (2020) as the situation in which

someone important provides jobs to friends rather than to independent people who have

the necessary skills and experience. Merriam- Webster Dictionary (2020) also defined it as

the appointment of "political hangers" on to the office without regard to their qualifications.

Cronyism describes a variety of favoritism practices related to giving preferential treatment

to someone because of his/her political views or affiliations in an organization without

proper consideration of their qualifications. This includes hiring one’s acquaintance to

work, advancing an associate in the company you work in, and appointing “cronies” to

positions of authority, such as in the government. This practice generally implies

employment or appointing or various favors not based on merit criteria but either

preferential treatment or political affiliations of the subjects or both (Demaj, 2012).

Although there are some instances where cronyism is seen as positive or beneficial, this

practice will result in the damage of organizational trust, teamwork, commitment, and

corruption, and prevents the advent of meritocratic allocation practices (Williams and

Yang, 2017).

In organizational cronyism, employees within an organization are favored based on

personal relationships. Because organizations are usually run by people who have their

interests, it is not surprising that organizations lack a sense of objectivity. According to

Turhan (2014), cronyism is organizational in a way that it is in these organizations and its

structure wherein power and authority are factors why organizational cronyism is present.

Relationships in cronyism can be labeled as dynamic because one cannot exactly pinpoint

the reason as to why the relationship is that way because it may be because of friendship,

familial relations, loyalty, personal taste, etc. (Turhan, 2014). Whatever the reason may be,
if a person is on the receiving end, people may find this either problematic or a one-way

ticket to an easier life. Wherein, on one hand, people who are being favored may enjoy the

treatment of being a “teacher’s pet”, or they may feel frustrated with the poor reaction

coming from their co-workers. This is not surprising since some employees may feel

uncomfortable and angered with the special relationship between the higher-ups and

favored employees. With this, employees may feel a lack of fairness and equality within

the workplace. As stated by Turhan (2014), at the end of the day, the manager’s actions

determine the sense of justice that employees perceive. Unfair treatment may result in

either two things, both to favored employees and those that are not. Favored employees

may either become motivated to work harder for the company, or they may take advantage

of this sort of relationship that may cause the downfall of the organization. Unfavored

employees, on the other hand, may either strive even harder to attain approval from the

manager, or they may reflect their sense of unfairness to their work.

Background of the study

The case that Demaj (2012) studied on entitled "Nepotism, Favoritism and

Cronyism and their impact on Organizational Trust and Commitment: The Service Sector

Case in Albania" talks about the unethical practices going on inside an organizational

structure, mainly, the unfair hiring process and the preferential treatment to certain

employees which are likely to be their relatives and acquaintances. This is driven by

favoritism, the general concept of the three (cronyism, favoritism, nepotism) used by some

scholars. The overriding problem of the study is that nepotism, favoritism, and cronyism

lead to the influx of job stress, incompetence, and corruption in the whole organization.

This results in the growth of dissatisfaction of staff about their organization, primarily in
Albania. The researcher found out that only 3.8% of 160 respondents had a complete Ph.D.

program, 36.5% completed a Master’s program, 55.3% were bachelor graduates, and 4.4%

had a High School diploma. Demaj (2012) then concluded that educational level, how

employees got their job, and their age gives no impact on perceived nepotism, favoritism

and cronyism. Negative effects are overall variances including trust and commitment

variance.

Furthermore, the research conducted by Turan (2015) about organizational cronyism

entitled “Does the Perception of Organizational Cronyism Leads to Career Satisfaction or

Frustration with Work? The Mitigating Role of Organizational Commitment”, found out

that in their research, organizational cronyism has negative effects in association with the

career satisfaction of employees, especially in government institutions. For this to be

prevented, the government officials must be investigated to lessen the cronyism in the

country. By this, the employees’ career satisfaction will increase and their frustration with

work will decrease.

Also, another research by Zudenkova (2011): “Cronyism in Business, Public Sectors,

and Politics” shows how leaders that practice cronyism prefer a long-standing friend over

an efficient expert. Cronyism happens everywhere, especially in politics and the bureau.

This type of cronyism, favoritism often happen during elections, when a politician

recommends a relative or a close friend for the people to vote for. Public sector cronyism

is relatively higher than business cronyism. Zudenkova (2011) stated that complete

meritocracy will never be achieved as long as an organization leader receives benefits from

appointed cronies. The researcher did not only address the unfair hiring procedure that can
negatively affect the organization as a whole but also how political cronyism is more severe

than what everybody thinks.

Problem Statement

The public sector consists of governments and publicly controlled entities (Dube &

Danescu, 2011). Public sectors are sectors that exist to serve and to improve a place or a

country. It is in the government’s best interest to properly cater to the needs of their people

and this includes providing fairness in all aspects. Hypocritically, organizational politics is

normally perceived as selfishness (Raja, et al., 2013). Organizational cronyism is present

in public or government sectors for this reason. Cronyism damages the marketplace is

unjust and deeply-corrupting (Gregg, 2016). With this said, cronyism counters the best

interest of the state in providing fairness and justice in all aspects. Although public sectors

provide better job security (Raja, et al., 2013), workload depends on whether one is favored

by the superior.

At present, the researchers observe these phenomena in public institutions,

specifically in local government units. If not addressed properly, it might result in either

positive or negative perceptions of the general public towards the organization’s

functionality with cronyism. It is in this light that this research was conducted to describe

the public’s perception of organizational cronyism in local government units.

Purpose Statement

Cronyism, which is present in the vast majority of sectors especially in public

institutions, has become quite common behavior, and in many cases, is seen as a part of
the routine practices across the globe. Keles, et al. (2011), claim that the granting of

privileges to certain individuals is an extremely disturbing situation to the organization’s

employees and the lack of trust arising under such conditions negatively affects

organizational commitment, organizational trust and loyalty, job satisfaction and

individual performance, and can hinder the internal system of management. It is of great

importance to know the effects of organizational cronyism in public institutions to

understand the way how employees behave towards the organizational culture and the

institution’s vision as a whole. There has been no previous research conducted so far in the

Philippines, particularly in Tacloban City, when in fact cronyism is much known and much

practiced nowadays. There is a need to eradicate this social phenomenon to promote

equality and fairness to continue in a meritocratic society. It is like a counter-intuitive when

the government is supposed to support justice and fairness, and the employees working

under these public institutions experience unfair practices.

Our overall purpose is to assess the cronyism in public institutions, which will result

to the verification of the employee’s perception about the said phenomenon, and provide

knowledge to the organization in order to make an impact on them.

Research Questions

1. Why is organizational cronyism happening in the educational public organization?

2. How do employees react to this phenomenon?

3. Why do organizations prefer cronyism in the hiring and advancement process than merit-

based employment practices?

4. How does the presence of organizational cronyism affect employees’ performance?

 5. To what extent do employees perceive cronyism in the workplace?

Conceptual Framework

Intention to quit the

job

Organizational
Commitment
Type of
Degree of Cronyism
Organization

Organizational
Trust

Employees’
Motivation

Figure 1. A paradigm showing the relationships between the variables

In this section, we will discuss how cronyism affects organizational trust,

commitment, employee's motivation and employees' intention to quit their job.

First let us divide the employees into two groups, those that are directly involved in the

cronyism and those that are not and how they can affect each section enumerated above.

From the perspective of those directly involved, being trusted subordinates, they

tend to develop a feeling of gratitude towards their superiors. They are likely to be satisfied

with their work due to the existence of affective bonds in their working relationship. They

will be given more challenging assignments and with good exposure hence promotion will

be faster.
 For those employees on the opposite side, who do not possess the necessary

connections will feel dissatisfied even if they are the "cream of the crop", their chances of

climbing the organization's ladder is slim. This has an adverse effect on their sense of self-

worth as they become stuck in an organization that requires personal connections to earn

promotion. Being aware of these facts, this group would put less trust unto the

organization's sense of judgement and in turn less likely to put trust in the organization as

a whole.

Commitment depends on the extent to which an organization is perceived to be

looking after the interests of its employees.

More often than not, employees commit to their organizations primarily due to ties with

their superiors. Those employees who are directly involved with cronyism develop a sense

of obligation towards their superiors which may supersede attachment towards the

organization. The emphasis on loyalty towards the superior may translate into negative

organizational performance when the superiors’ personal goal conflicts with that of the

organization.

Job security and career development are two important factors considered by

employees in an organization, which in a way, are lacking to employees not directly

involve with cronyism. Their efforts are, most of the time, unrecognized. They are often

overlooked in terms of opportunities for personal achievement.

In both scenarios, the organization is less likely to have employees that would commit to

organizational goals. For those directly involved with cronyism, as long as the superiors’

goals are aligned with that of the organization, employees would follow. But that is
something that we cannot be assured of considering they are the ones practicing such an

act of cronyism.

While satisfaction on their job differs for each individual depending on their value

system and work ethics. Those employees directly involve with cronyism having a more

intimate relationship with their superiors develop a sense of belongingness. Also, they

experience less role-related stress, role insufficiency, and conflict than those that are less

favored by their superiors, they are more motivated in carrying out their roles knowing that

they are supported by the higher-ups.

Significance of the study

The generalization of the study “Employees’ Perception of Organizational

Cronyism in Public Institutions” would be a great contribution to the vast knowledge in

relation to cronyism in public institutions. Vital results of this study could be highly

significant and beneficial specifically to the following:

Public Institutions. This study will be able to help public institutions and their

managers to completely understand the employees’ perceptions regarding organizational

cronyism and how it affects their performance and job satisfaction. The implications of this

study will be highlighting the need of the managers and the institution to be more

responsible or accountable for the work environment in the workplace. Furthermore, the

results of this study will encourage these managers and leaders to be cognizant of how

these non-merit-based employment practices affect the employees, their job satisfaction,

and the workplace as a whole. Also, one of the far-reaching implications of this study is it

will encourage employers to draw more on stringent advancement and hiring practices,
which are supported by merit-based criteria such as education, skills, experience, training,

etc. This understanding is important for public managers to fully combat the detrimental

effects of organizational cronyism.

Employees. The said study will benefit the employees in terms of giving awareness

about cronyism in the workplace and the different perceptions of other employees with it.

Perceptions of cronyism are important in shaping attitudes toward workplace behavior. If

employees know that people are having the same opinion as theirs about cronyism then,

they will be able to stand for equality and what is right.

Researchers. This study will be able to contribute to the body of knowledge, as

well as future researchers. This study will help the researchers to be aware and

knowledgeable of organizational cronyism and the public’s perception of it. It will help

them to be gain a better understanding of the current phenomena. Moreover, this study can

be used as a reference for future studies.

Scope

In order to develop a theoretical or hypothetical idea, the researcher will be

conducting the study using an exploratory research design because there are few or no

earlier studies to refer to. The main focus is on gaining insights about the employee’s

perspective on organizational cronyism and gain familiarity for later investigation or

undertaken when problems are in a preliminary stage of an investigation. The data

collection will be conducted to the employees who are working in different public

institutions around Tacloban City and they will be part of the population. Some of the
aspects looked into were the type of organization, degree of cronyism, job satisfaction,

organizational trust, and commitment.

Delimitations

In this study, a personal interview will be set out to employees in public institutions

of Tacloban City, as to why organizational cronyism occurs. The interviewer will ask the

research questions mentioned above to the respondents. We chose this topic because of

interests and curiosity amongst the team. The respondents chosen to be interviewed will be

different employees of public institutions of Tacloban City as we will be asking about their

different perceptions of organizational cronyism. This study’s general objective is to

determine the employees’ perception of the ongoing organizational cronyism in the

different public institutions that affect the organization in negative and positive ways. As

organizational cronyism continues to occur, the team will collect different views and

opinions from the public people about the said event for it benefits the study. Furthermore,

the study will benefit current and future researchers.

Limitations

This study has its own limitations. First, the study is conducted only in Tacloban

City. Thus, it may not be advisable to use this as a reference in other places. Though limited

in Tacloban City, some future researchers may also use this study as a source to get

background information with regards to organizational cronyism. Furthermore, this study

focuses on cronyism in public institutions because it is abundant and is practiced more in

public than in private institutions. This study tackles cronyism on political institutions,
government concerning the appointment of officials. Another limitation that is present in

this study is that our samples are only those who experienced cronyism. Our sampling was

not towards random people because we need to consider their experience on whether or

not they have been under or at least noticed a hint of cronyism in their organization. Lastly,

this study focuses on the perception of the employees on what they think of organizational

cronyism, how it affects the performance of the workers and how it brings impact to the

whole organization itself.

Definition of Important Concepts

The researchers will be using these terms throughout the study:

Perception - How employees see or feel about the issue of organizational cronyism

in local government units. This serves as our basis for this study since the study calls for

the opinions of workers who may or may not be experiencing this phenomenon.

Organizational Cronyism - The favoritism of some employees by their bosses for

personal reasons which sometimes result in undeserved promotions and unfair treatment.

In this study, it serves as the issue and the reason why the study was conducted in the first

place.

Local Government Units (LGUs) – Institutions that are managed by local

governments. These are units that aim to deliver the needs to the public in all aspects. In

our study, we would like to collect the opinions of the working class and identify if local

government units are serving the public as well as they should by simply practicing fairness

in the workplace.
Summary of the Chapter

In Chapter I, a narrative of the research problem for this study was addressed. The

first chapter of this research opens with the background of the study and further describes

organizational cronyism in public institutions specifically in Local Government Units

(LGUs). Moreover, this chapter provides a synopsis of the full research by highlighting

some of the previous studies about cronyism in organizations across the world and how

employees perceive it. Further, this chapter offered the purpose, significance of the study

and how it will contribute to broader literature, as well as the conceptual framework.

Finally, a list of research questions that will guide the research, methodology, and

definition of terms operationalized for the study were identified.