What is Affirmative Action - Example

Contents Historical Background: 2 Purpose of Affirmative Action 3 Conclusion 7 Works Cited 9 Introduction: What is Affirmative Action?  Affirmative action is the act of doing preferential actions to increase the representation of a particular sect of people, be it in terms of gender, race, ethnicity etc. (Sheridan). This will help underrepresented chunk of people in the fields of employment, business and education to come up and counter the effect of discrimination which has been prevalent for ages. Affirmative action has long been used to overcome the evils of discrimination which have been prevalent for centuries. It is an act to increase the representation of minority by giving them preference on the basis of gender, color, origin, sexual orientation etc. Moreover, this act is also done to increase the participation of the under representative part of the society to showcase what they are capable of. Historical Background: General Background History The term ‘affirmative action’ was first used in 1935 in a National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. §§151–169). The usage for it was not for race but to provide remedy for employers to avoid discrimination of union members. However, in books the origin of this term was mentioned to root from the United States. During the presidency of John F. Kennedy, it first appeared in Executive Order 10925 and it was signed by the President on March 6th 1961 (Jain and Ratnam). It was used to refer to methods used to achieve non-discrimination policy implementation. In 1965, Executive Order 11246 was issued by the President Lyndon Johnson which stated that federal contractors should use affirmative action to avoid discrimination while employing a person. Hiring should be made irrespective of race, religion and national origin. The 1964 Civil Rights Act implemented this clause that no race discrimination by statute should be carried at the workplace. Title II of 1964 act stopped places which were public, such as restaurants or hotels from discriminating on the basis of race. Gradually in 1968, gender was also added to the list. Purpose of Affirmative Action Since the Civil Rights Movement, much has been changed in a positive manner and a great contribution to it was the introduction of Affirmative action. This attempt was to achieve a better and more equal society. It was started as a ‘Corrective measure for societal and governmental discriminations against groups that have been at a disadvantage and subject to prejudices’. However, much has changed since its inception. Supporters of Affirmative Action  There are many people, organizations and societies supporting the inherent goodness of affirmative action. Some of them are given below: According to a report published in 2007 by Pew Research Center, support for affirmative action in the American public has increased to 70% in 2007 compared to 58% in 1995. The US Military is another endorser of affirmative action. In 2003, many high ranking officers of Army, Navy, Air force and Marine Corps planned a rally in support of affirmative action for a Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger. The fortune 500 companies have been a popular endorser of affirmative action. More than 60 leading companies in fortune 500 which encompasses 3M, GE, HP, Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola came out for the support of affirmative action in 2003. Universities have been a popular supporter of affirmative action. Harvard University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, Yale University and Dartmouth College provided their support for race-conscious admission programs. They wanted to promote diversity in all forms and, therefore, in 2003 they showed their popular support for it. Popular athletes are endorsers of affirmative action. Many of the Michigan’s leading sports athlete including Tom Izzo (Michigan State University), Joanne P. McCallie (Michigan State University), Tommy Amaker (University of Michigan) and Ernie Zeigler (Central Michigan University) spoke about the importance of affirmative action to promote equality in the society. In 2008, National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) came out as endorsers of affirmative action. Pros and Cons of affirmative action  Affirmative action is a controversial issue which is debated at most of the fronts at leading platforms. It is series of mandatory steps to increase diversity in an organization and reduce discrimination on the bases of gender or skin color within organizational departments (Strachan, Burgess and Sullivan). Some of the pros of affirmative action are given below: Despite the concept being very popular and a lot of success has been attributed to it, however, still many schools, colleges, universities and corporate organizations discriminate. If affirmative action is phased out then this discrimination would move to a greater extent (Kramar). Diversity is always desirable for a growth oriented organization. New ideas, culture and languages promote creativity and innovation. Affirmative action has made great in roads in promotion of diversity and it should continue to do. Any student who is from an ethnic minority background needs assistance in getting to his feet. He needs help to enjoy the privileges which are taken for granted by the vast white majority and affirmative action is the right move in bridging this gap. Many researches feel that affirmative action is a corrective measure for the centuries of racial discrimination practiced by the majority. Racial oppression and slavery needs compensation and affirmative action’s has played a role to achieve it. In order to let minorities a chance to prove that they are equally capable of doing what the vast majority can, affirmative action has to be prevalent. For this, it is essential that affirmative action is taken or else organizations would never know how capable are the blacks and they would continue to prefer white over them (Sheridan). Aforementioned points describe the positive of the affirmative action however, this topic is debatable and questions have arisen about it. Following are the cons of affirmative action: Critics say that once the policy of affirmative action is put into practice then it is difficult to remove it even though the issue of discrimination has been eradicated. People would always question if it is removed and negative publicity would be generated. Affirmative action is more like reverse discrimination because you are giving the minority an unfair advantage over others just like others were given on them (McMillan-Capehart, Grubb and Herdman). Criteria for a university admission in a school which practices affirmative action is generally lower for the beneficiary students. This lowered expectation from the minority students would make them lazy. The students would not push themselves above par to get in. This is a drawback which is usually noticed in an affirmative action driven criteria. Affirmative action in the workplace can lead to foolish decision making because an ideal white candidate can be rejected in order to preserve affirmative policies for black less suitable candidate. This is usually done to fill in quotas and companies would bear the burden of it. Affirmative action instills questions like the color of your skin, or your race. These questions should ideally not be present in an application form but policies which support affirmative action would never let it remove these questions. Another problem with affirmative action exists as it usually creates a stigma for that person. Once you start protecting a class in legal jargon, you place a stigma. For example, if a black person has once been a recipient of an affirmative action then people would always think that a person is present in a court because he is black. It would not matter what case is he there for. How to Put an Affirmative Action Plan Together?  This action plan requires five steps. These steps assume that an organization has white and black employees and an action plan needs to be made to fit in affirmative action. Each of the five steps are explained in detail below 1. Track: Firstly select the candidates for interviews and pass rates for various selection tests. Give performance appraisal ratings as they affect pay increases and identify people to layoff or promote, demote etc. Appraisal forms are an excellent indicator in order to classify people into categories. 2. Measure: This step is to measure for evidence of disparate impact. 4/5th rule is used for promotions. The rule says that promotion or passing rate for an applicant/employee, if he/she is from a minority group, should be 80% of the same rate as another group (white or male group). For example: if availability analysis indicate that I have 50% black people in my hiring pool, then the selection rate of black should be no Less than 40%(50*80%) . In order to apply this rule, there are two methods. a. Internal Selection (e.g., Promotion): The bar should be 4/5th the rate of non-protected group’s selection rate. b. External Selection: This selection would take 4/5th the percentage of availability. 3. Plan: Identify what are your feeder pools. These include selection of the job, promotion, or both for executive level. Once that feeder pool is decided then you need to formulate plans for individuals who are under-represented to become appropriately ‘represented’. These plans can include mentoring to break the glass ceiling or an emphasis on diversity. These are included in employee development initiatives. Another plan could be the modification of selection tests. 4. Implement: This requires implementation of what has been done till now. Identify the under representative pool for succession planning of major executives. Scanning for this should be done on a top-down basis. Then work with the managers to give them assignments or rotations to those people who qualify for it. 5. Demonstrate: In this phase, you need to do continual re-analysis of the data. Keep a close eye on the track progress of people. Make the adjustments accordingly and move up and down if anomalies are identified. Take the consent of the top management so that you have a policy behind to back your decisions. All the board members should sign this policy or else it will backfire if someone important is harmed by it. Conclusion Much of the opposition has been because of the phenomenon of ‘reverse discrimination’. However, the inherent nature of the action has been good and therefore, it has gained acceptability at all fronts. Major institutions, governments and countries have been in favor of this policy and it has been put in practice for the last couple of decades. Measures have been taken for the betterment of the society. Lastly, the five step procedure will surely help in implementing the best practices with maximum effect. Affirmative action can be catalyst to overcome the discriminations and injustices which have happened in the past centuries and therefore, present the world with a non-discriminatory society. Works Cited Jain, Harish C. and C.S. Venkata Ratnam. "Affirmative Action in Employment for the Scheduled Castes and the Schedule Tribes in India." International Journal of Manpower (1994): 6-25. Print. Kramar, Robin. "Patterns in the Policies: Affirmative Action in Australia." Women In Management Review (1998). Print. McMillan-Capehart, Amy, W. Lee Grubb, and Andrew Herdman. "Affirmative Action Decisions: When Ignorance Is Bliss." Equal Opportunities International (2009): 415-431. Print. Sheridan, Alison J. "Affirmative Action in Australia - Employment Statistics Cant Tell the Whole Story." Women in Management Review, Vol. 10 (1995): 26-34. Print. Sheridan, Alison. "Patterns in the Policies: Affirmative Action in Australia." Women In Management Review (1998). Print. Strachan, Glenda, John Burgess, and Anne Sullivan. "Affirmative Action or Managing Diversity: What Is the Future of Equal Opportunity Policies in Organization." Women in Management Review (2004): 196-204. Print. Read More