Giving and receiving favors

August 11, 2008

Giving and receiving favors is part of life and friendship. Favoritism in the workplace is quite common. We often use connections, friends and family as sources of support in job hunting.

However, favors or favoritism is, by definition, unfair and fairness is a key value in ethics.
Judy Nadler, of the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics says that favoritism interferes with fairness because it gives undue advantage to someone who does not necessarily merit the treatment. She also makes the point that favoritism violates transparency because most of the time it is done in secret. Favoritism can also cause resentment and reduces moral in a company.

Favoritism can also lead to a conflict of interest situation. Countrywide Financial distributed significant favors to politicians in Washington such as Senators Christopher Dodd and Kent Conrad, reducing the costs of their mortgage applications. Countrywide was also, at the same time, lobbying Congress for favorable laws to mortgage industry. The favors to Senators Dodd and Conrad are now being investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee.

How do we know if the favor we are about to receive or give is acceptable or not?

Here are four basic questions we should ask ourselves before moving forward.

1. Is it legal?
2. What is the intention or motivation behind the favor?
3. Are there strings attached creating a quid pro quo situation?
4. Will the receiver of the favor be asked in the future to do something in return that would violate his or her values?

We should always be aware that giving and receiving favors involves serous risks and consider the possible consequences before make our decision.

Charles Dudley Warner, the 19th Century essayist and novelist understood this issue well when he wrote:

"The excellence of a gift lies in its appropriateness rather than in its value."

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