What exactly is favoritism? In its purest form, it is a preference of one person to the exclusion of all the others. In short, it’s a teacher’s pet. Only the leader need not be a grade school teacher, it can be a boss or even a parent.
As foster parents, my wife and I have witnessed this latter relationship all too many times. Perhaps this is most apparent between two siblings of similar age. Favoritism toward a particular child does nothing but create a false sense of reality toward the favored. Meanwhile, the slighted offspring spur a state of resentment and disenfranchisement for much of their lives. This leads to feelings of futility and a lack of will many times.
Most of us would agree; an adult who would express more love to one child over another is simply a bad parent. It’s not about love at all, as true love is without conditions or strings attached. So why might a parent create such a dichotomy in the first place? In many situations I have observed, it appears to be due to the favored sibling making life seemingly easier for the parent.
In a lesser situation, most of us have experienced this shunning effect from a teacher in our primary education. It could have been a personality conflict or honest miscommunication. In either regard, it left us asking: “Why me, what did I ever do to you?” More than likely, we will never have an answer to that question, yet we feel the sting of inequity.
Essentially it goes to self-interest on part of the adult. As stated, it makes for bad parenting, but partiality also goes for making bad management. A team may not be a supervisor’s children, though they do seek consideration, appreciation, and support just like children. However, all employees deserve consideration, appreciation, and support.
In a large group, those of us who have experienced it first-hand will observe favoritism is generally more than one single person who has the approval of the leadership. In an organization, it’s a partiality toward those who are simply liked by the boss, while everyone else must suffer a bias to work harder, longer and without appreciation. In short, you are either in the club or you are out of the club. Merit, that is to say, appropriate recognition for a job well done, doesn’t exist if you have been deemed unworthy for whatever political reason.
Just like the slighted child, they will suffer feelings of resentment and a lack of will. This leads to low morale which leads to a loss of production. A leader sets the overall tone of morale within a team. If that morale is low due to a lack of fairness, the boss has only himself to blame.
If we are all on board with the belief favoritism is bad, then actual partiality should be avoided. So what can a manager do to prevent the appearance of favoritism? For starters, give people a clean slate. Allow them the opportunity to put their best foot forward. In short, stop punishing someone for the transgressions of last year. If you have a shit list, either clean it up or throw it away.