Does Affirmative Action Work - Term Paper Example

Management 11th November Affirmative Action Thesis: Affirmative Action has helped many women and minorities in entering the job market. Although there has been a lot of hue and cry regarding the benefits of the affirmative action and the suitability of candidates selected thorough affirmative action; research has shown that affirmative action is beneficial and the candidates of affirmative action perform as well as those who are selected through the normal process. I. An overview of affirmative action and the different viewpoints presented by different groups. II. Reasons for affirmative action by corporate III. The History of Affirmative action and how it was started. IV. The benefits accrued due to affirmative action over the last 30 years since its inception and the performance of employees hired through affirmative action. V. Costs related with affirmative actions and the feasibility of the same during economic downturn. VI. Conclusion of the major points presented in the paper. Affirmative Action has been the source of heated debate recently. People have argues a lot about the method of bringing equal opportunity in America. Some people have stated that no discrimination exists in America hence there is no need for affirmative action. Others acknowledge the presence of discrimination in various forms but argue that steps should be taken to wipe out this discrimination rather than giving favorable treatment to those who are discriminated against. Still others view affirmative action positively; however in these people are not in agreement over the means to implement it. Some people want only the pool of candidates for a job to be increased whereas other want preferential treatment to be given to minorities and women ; even arguing that reservations like the type seen in countries like India and South Africa should be enforced in America. But people have hardly argued over the most basic question –“what are the benefits of affirmative action of there are any?” Affirmative action had been started in America with the intention of negating the effects of discrimination which are regularly faced by women and minorities in the labor market. Although the discrimination has significantly reduced but research shows that certain classes of people continue to face many problems in the job market. Statistical analysis has shown that there is still a sizable sex and race wage gap. The number of men who reach the top echelons of corporate America is far greater than Women or American Africans who are able to reach the top. In addition to this there have been many court cases recently pointing to sex and race discrimination e.g. – the recently concluded $54million settlement of sex discrimination law suit against Morgan Stanley. (Winkler)Audit studies have concluded that equally qualified workers who apply for the same job, a white man is more likely to get an interview call when compared to women or minorities. Affirmative action started in America when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed an executive order in 1965 which required federal contractors or subcontractors to take affirmative action in order to ensure that employees are treated equally without any discrimination with regard to their race, color, religion, sex or national origin. (Golbal Rights)Employers who were “underutilizing” women and minorities were asked to submit annual goals for the hiring of women and minorities. Many employers have adopted the policy of affirmative action after losing a legal battle; others have picked it up voluntarily. If we analyze the studies conducted over the last 30 years it has been proved that affirmative action programs have led to greater employment opportunities for minorities and women. Study conducted by Jonathan Leonard in 1989 has shown that employment rates for women increased drastically with firms who had federal contracts (as they were required to submit hiring goals for women every year) than at equivalent firms without such contracts. (R.Roosevelt Thomas) A similar study conducted in 2000 by William J.Carrington , Kristin McCue and Brooks Pierce found that share of women and black employees has significantly increased at big organizations(mostly fortune 500 companies) who are most likely to apply the terms of the executive order passed. Holzer and Neumark have gone one step forward in their study and have tried to analyze the fate of women and minority employees who had been hired by firms in order to fulfill their obligations under the affirmative action order. They found that women and minority employees performed as well as their white male counterparts if all of them had the same educational qualifications. They also concluded in their study that firms which had objective methods of analyzing employee’s performance saw more number of women high performers than those who simply depended on the rating given by superiors. Thus this study proves that if objective HR practices are followed and personal biases of the reporting managers are removed; women and minority employees perform as well as male counterparts. Their study also suggests that following affirmative action consistently makes a firm more impartial and the bias is more or less removed after the initial reluctance. One of the major points of argument lately has been the glass ceiling which women employees have to face in Corporate America. People have claimed that there is a barrier which prevents women from reaching the upper echelons. Unfortunately not many studies are available which can shed light on this phenomenon. We do not know whether women who benefit from affirmative action are able to reach the top echelons in corporate world as not much research has been done on this topic. Affirmative action’s benefits are not only limited to the individuals who are immediately hired but it also has a huge social benefit. Once significant number of women and minorities enter the corporate world; it also opens the doors of opportunities for other women (Reskin).It helps creates mentors and expands networking opportunities for women and minorities’ .It is a well known fact that networking does help a person when he tries to get a job in the corporate world. It also increases the confidence of other women and makes them think that even they can make it big in life through proper hard work. It also makes the women more financially independent and thus helps in changing the present social equations of the society. Some individuals have however claimed that the costs of affirmative action are too big on firms. They claim that in order to meet their early target of hiring women ; firms have to spend more on advertisement and consultancy firms as it is hard to have a large pool of women and minority candidates. Some have raised the concern that the targets are in fact de facto quotas and a reservation system has been put in place in corporate America. However this concern can be easily refuted by observing the study conducted by Jonathan Leonard. This study shows that firms have consistently hired lesser number of women than what has been their target for the year. There have been no negative repercussions the government has not taken away contracts from those firms who have not fulfilled their yearly obligations. This proves that no reservation system has been put into place but they have been given goals. In the recent scenario when the economy is in a downturn and jobs are scare ; a concern has been raised that affirmative action in fact creates reverse discrimination – white man are excluded in order to give employment to women and minorities so that firms are able to meet their goals. However study by Holzer and Neumark’s study has proved that it is highly unlikely that more productive white men are overlooked by firms to fulfill their goals under affirmative action. In fact in these times of distress , firms look for employees who have a track record of very high productive regardless of whether their affirmative action goals are met or not. White males still earn a lot more than women and minorities even if all other parameters are the same which proves that reverse discrimination does not takes place. Affirmative action has provided great opportunities to women and minorities to enter the corporate world and prove their mettle. However the recent debate on affirmative action has labeled these people as “affirmative action hires” even if they have proper educational qualifications. This is a discrimination in itself which creates a type of self fulfilling prophecy that employees hired through affirmative action are unlikely to perform to the best of their potential. However without affirmative action it will be very difficult for these sections of people to get a foothold in the job market. If they have few opportunities in the job market; they are less likely to invest in education and will remain backward castes for a long period of time. Everything cannot be left by the government to market forces as the market has a habit of awarding the deserving and punishing the backward sections. For an equitable society to exist this cannot be allowed and hence affirmative action is required in order to ensure that level playing field is available to all sections of society. Bibliography Golbal Rights. Affirmative Action : A Global Perspective. Review Report. New York: Global Rights, 2005. R.Roosevelt Thomas, Jr. "From Affirmative action to Affirming Diversity." Harvard Business Review (March 1990): 107 - 117. Reskin, Barbara F. The Realities of Affirmative Action in Employment. New York: American Sociological Association, 1998. Winkler, Francine D.Blau and Anne E. Does Affirmative Action Work ? Regional Review. Cornell: Cornell University, 2005. Read More