The use of wasta in hiring employees is a practice that has existed for many years. Here, one can utilize a network of influential relatives and friends to obtain an advantage in securing job vacancies. While many social costs can be directly associated with the use of wasta in hiring, proponents of the system suggests a number of benefits that can emerge from the use of wasta networks (often of family relations among other people that can be trusted).
The use of wasta in hiring employees is often considered as a fruitful method in securing trustworthy employees. Candidates that often secure job opportunities through the use of wasta are usually well known individuals within a network of company managers, influential shareholders, among other individuals concerned with running the day to day activities of companies. In order to secure job opportunities for given candidates through the use of wasta, most of the individuals that we have mentioned above (managers, shareholders, among others) are often related with concerned candidates.
Considering the sensitivity of certain type of jobs (such as those that involve financial transactions), it is always useful for companies to employ people that they can highly trust. Since one way of countering the challenge of employing trustworthy employees lies in the use of wasta when hiring new employees, the method has proved useful in some hiring situations. Owners of some business companies will often find it hard to give sensitive jobs to people that they cannot totally trust (William 1973). As such, most of them will rely on the use of wasta in filling such positions. People that have secured job opportunities through wasta will therefore be expected to return trust and hard work in their work.
Since the day to day running of many private business enterprises is often influenced by the owners of such enterprises, it is quite difficult for a non connected and ordinary employee to make positive impacts in such enterprises. Usually, employees hired through wasta will often find it easy to form positive relationships with their employers; hence, they can work with a high degree of freedom, confidence, and creativity; thus, making positive impacts at their workplace. Such workers can even view their jobs as a responsibility that extends beyond their workplace to influence their relationships with members of their wasta network. Such a direction is thus fruitful in driving employees to increase productivity.
Besides, many private business owners will often view the employees that they hired through their established trust network as apprentice candidates in need of experience and skills5. Such skills are often required before employees can take up strategic roles in companies. As such, employees (who have been hired through a network of trust) can access enormous support and resources from their employers in the direction of enhancing their skills. Such an arrangement is usually helpful in placing workers that have been hired through wasta in a career environment where they can work productively as they grow.
The use of wasta is therefore helpful in hiring workers that can attain high degrees of trust, confidence, and support from their employees. Such a direction is often applicable in private business enterprises, or in situations of sensitive jobs (like in financial transactions) requiring individuals that can highly be trusted by a company management. In areas where family business enterprises are predominant (like the Emirates region), the use of wasta in hiring employees is a predominant practice too.
Although the use of wasta in hiring employees is useful in taking care of trust challenges, it is not helpful in guaranteeing a high quality employee. Since the elements of education, competence, and experience within employee candidates may be overlooked at the expense of well connected candidates, a company’s management may well end up with non competent employees. When a company employs non competent employees, the effects of such a direction will trickle down to the society. Since the matrix of employees within companies is responsible for availing a range of products and services to the society, the quality of employees is thus proportional to the quality of products and services that are availed to the society. Therefore, since the use of wasta in hiring employees can compromise the quality of products presented to the society, a social burden is thus created.
Most of the benefits that we enjoy in our society today have arisen from the efforts of a creative, talented, and a hardworking breed of individuals within our population. Great innovative discoveries which have been credited in improving our lives have often developed from the type of people that have been described above. Thus, another main problem in hiring through wasta lies in its contribution towards discouraging talent and innovation in our society (Sachs 2011). Many people will work hard and utilize their talents in the hope of gaining society rewards through securing challenging job opportunities; thus, the acquisition of fruitful resources to further their talents. However, when job opportunities are given to individuals on the basis of their influential capacity within a network of powerful persons, the capacity of talented, but non connected societal members to utilize their talents is dwarfed. Such a direction will thus compromise the capacity of our society to produce innovative products, which can be helpful in tackling some of the societal problems that we face. Because of our incapacity in utilizing our talents to improve our wellbeing, a societal cost is thus created
Moreover, by failing to equally give employment opportunities to everyone, wasta is a promoter of a non equal society. Since, it gives opportunities to people within an already rich network of well connected persons; a substantial societal segment (which includes hardworking but poor individuals) is thus left out in sharing available job opportunities. Such an arrangement will thus limit the capacity of our society to distribute wealth among all societal members. What can be expected from such a system is the perpetuation of poverty within a society: a societal cost (Sachs 2011). Moreover, a frustrated group of individuals that have failed to secure employment (due to an unjust hiring environment reliant on one’s capacity to influence a network of employers) will arise. Due to frustration, such a group may turn to illegal activities like crime. An increase of crime rates within the society is thus another social cost that can originate from the use of wasta in hiring employees. Many societal ills like insecurity, family breakdowns, drug abuse, and exploitation, among others have an origin in unemployment and poverty.
Bibliography
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Sachs, Jaffrey. The end of Poverty. New York: McMillan Publishers, 2011.
Sahar, Ben. How to Live Positively. New York: McMillan Publishers, 2011.
West, Henry. An Introduction to Mill’s utilitarian ethics. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Zauderer, Naaman. Descartes’ deontological Turn: reason, will, and virtue in the later writings. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.