Thom is VP of Human Resources at Windows R Us. One of his responsibilities is to hire and fire employees, as necessary, and to make decisions on promotions within the company. The chief of procurement position, a plum assignment, opened up and Thom began the necessary process to fill it. Ralph and Darius, each with more than five years of service with Windows R Us, were the "favorite" internal candidates. In addition, several external candidates seemed well-qualified for the position. In a surprise move, Thom appointed Stella, his secretary and rumored-to-be his girlfriend, to the position. Which of the following may be true in this scenario?

a. Thom is being biased
b. Thom ignored all the merit criterions
c. Other candidates got disappointed from the step taken by Thom
d. All of the above

According to the situation presented, Thom decides to hire his secretary, who is rumored to be his girlfriend. To begin with, this is partial or biased because he ignores his duties as vice president of human resources to consider all applications and choose the one that best suits the profile necessary, and instead he arbitrary assigns the position to its secretary exclusively because of its proximity. Besides this, this action caused disappointment in the other candidates because Thom did not select Ralph and Darius who had the experience and knowledge for the position. Moreover, Thom's selection ignores the criteria of merit, because it does not consider the experience, education, skills and professional profile for the position, only to benefit a close person as his secretary/girlfriend. So, the correct answer is D. All of the above.