COKIE MAE R.
ANUNCIADOZZZzzSeptember 4, 2025
3 BSMA – B BaM 05 – Human Resource
Management
Case Dilemma: Undue Influence in Hiring
At Intermountain Trust Bancorp, a branch manager was tasked with
filling a personal banker position when an internal applicant—who also
happened to be his close friend—entered the candidate pool. The friend
began pressuring the manager to weigh their personal relationship as a
factor in the decision, rather than relying solely on qualifications and merit.
This situation placed the manager in a difficult ethical conflict, caught
between upholding fair and objective hiring practices or risking favoritism
and potential harm to organizational integrity.
The Dilemma: Should a hiring manager base their decision solely on
objective qualifications, or allow personal relationships and external
pressures to influence the selection process?
1. Enforce Clear Hiring Criteria and Transparency: Establishing clear,
competency-based selection criteria ensures that decisions are grounded in
job-related skills and qualifications rather than favoritism. Documenting the
process and outcomes provides accountability and shields the organization
from claims of unfair hiring practices.
2. Implement Structured, Panel-Based Interviews: Structured
interviews with standardized questions help reduce interviewer bias by
ensuring every candidate is evaluated on the same criteria. A panel of
diverse interviewers further balances perspectives and prevents a single
decision-maker from being swayed by personal connections.
3. Recusal or Conflict-of-Interest Policies: When personal ties exist,
managers should formally disclose the relationship and step aside from the
hiring decision to maintain impartiality. Recusal policies ensure that final
decisions are handled by neutral parties, protecting both the organization’s
integrity and the manager’s credibility.
4. Training on Ethical Hiring Practices: Ethical hiring and bias-awareness
training prepares managers to recognize and resist pressures such as
favoritism or undue influence. By reinforcing consistent, fair practices,
organizations build a culture of integrity that supports long-term trust and
equitable employee selection.
References:
Brennan, J. M. (2021). Hiring Ethics: A Case of Undue Influence in Employee
Selection. Journal of Business Ethics Education, 18(1), 65–70.
Campion, M. A., Palmer, D. K., & Campion, J. E. (1997). A review of structure
in the selection interview. Personnel Psychology, 50(3), 655–702.
Gatewood, R., Field, H., & Barrick, M. (2015). Human Resource Selection (8 th
ed.). Cengage Learning.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2021). Fundamentals
of Human Resource Management. McGraw Hill.
Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). (2022). Managing
Conflicts of Interest in the Workplace.