Discrimination should be avoided at all costs if for no other reason than it is against the law. It is expressly forbidden because of the problems it has caused for certain groups. However, forbidding it was not enough and laws were passed to counteract its effects. But the legislative approach was unable to achieve acceptance and inclusion; it could not create and/or maintain an environment that appreciated each person and treated him or her with dignity and respect. The eradication of discrimination requires more than legal compliance. It goes beyond mere placement of individuals. An inclusive environment brings out the best in everyone and enhances life’s experiences. Obeying the law and the greater good are excellent reasons for eliminating discrimination. Both affirmative action and diversity management are needed because affirmative action laid the foundation upon which diversity management can build. When comparing affirmative action and diversity management, affirmative action focuses on social differences as obstacles, while diversity management uses them as assets (Ewoh). Also, affirmative action only changes the demographics; while diversity management changes the behavior (Hur, Strickland 384). Diversity management alters employee attitudes and behaviors through training and awareness which affirmative action does not allow (Ewoh). Moreover, the emphasis, assumptions, change required, and most importantly, the results of affirmative action are a catalyst for diversity management and both together are more effective at abolishing discrimination. Emphasis Affirmative action is very specific in terms of who it helps. It prevents discriminatory practices that adversely affect certain groups. Racial and gender equity are it... ... middle of paper ... ...norities and women to help them succeed. Diversity management requires that both the individual and the system adapt to each other. It consists of a culture change that will remove barriers to success due to differences. It will do so by identifying and targeting the source of discrimination. This culture change is achieved through diversity awareness and skills training. Life experiences accompany people and frame every other aspect of their lives (Ragins, Gonzalez, Ehrhardt, & Singh). It can be difficult to disregard them. Diversity management teaches individuals how to constructively use them. It also engages everyone. People feel included and at the same time use their differing viewpoints to correct any system components that may exacerbate discrimination. This participation can spotlight the fact that treating people equally does not necessarily mean the same.
majority, does not advance the cause of minorities in a meaningful way, and needs to be
Affirmative action is a term used for policies that are designed to help the effects of past discrimination against minority groups in the United States of America. Here are three reasons why affirmative action needs to be abolished.
The concept of affirmative action often refers only to the workplace; however in reality it is much broader than only the workplace. Other examples are for instance, land distribution, the reformation of the education system, the awarding of government tenders and also subsidies to organisations and previously disadvantaged people.
Diversity management initiatives are long term and strategic in focus. They strive not only to recruit, but to actively develop, promote and capitalize on the different skills and perspectives of minority employees (Marquis, 2007.) Every day, peopl...
Affirmative action means taking positive steps to recruit, hire, train, and promote individuals from groups that have traditionally been discriminated against on the basis of race, sex, disability, or other characteristics. In this sense, affirmative action goes beyond equal employment opportunity, which requires employers to eliminate discriminatory conditions, whether inadvertent or intentional, and to treat all employees equally in the workplace ( What ... action? ).
Affirmative Action in the United States is a government program that tries to help overcome the effects of past societal discrimination by allocating jobs and resources to members of specific minority groups (The Columbia 1). The policy was set up to assist every single minority group, which includes women, minority races, handicapped people, and war veterans, especially those of the Vietnam War. Affirmative Action was set up to help these minority groups by giving them strategic advantages when those individuals apply for jobs and higher levels of education. In the Washington Post, it said that, "In its modern form, Affirmative Action can call for an admissions officer faced with two similarly qualified applicants to choose the minority over the white, or for a manager to recruit and hire a qualified woman for a job instead of a man" (Froom...
Affirmative Action Affirmative action can be defined as action taken to compensate for past unfairness in the education of minorities. The current system of affirmative action allows universities to admit applicants from certain ethnic and minority groups with lower credentials. The main purpose of affirmative action is to produce a diverse campus population that is comparable to today's society. The use of race as a facto by which someone is admitted to college in the long run will compromise the quality of the university. Implicating affirmative action to solve the problem of diversity on today's campuses has lead to the creation of problems.
When people talk about the civil rights movement, the first thing that comes to mind is the famous speech “I have a dream” by Martin Luther King. His dream in short was to have equality among human beings. For the past thirty years, this country has been revolutionizing humanitarianism because there is greater concern for human welfare than one hundred years ago. The revolution began during the 1960’s, and during that era this country was drastically involved in changing the civil rights of minority groups. From this concern, a program called affirmative action evolved. Like other civil right movements, the affirmative action movement was implemented to promote equality.
According to Kinicki, diversity represents the multitude of individual’s differences and similarities that exist among people. When developing a cultural diversity training program, one has to manage diversity with a new approach of inclusion and recognition. Managing diversity enables people to perform up to their maximum potential (Kinicki p. 111). As we analyze diversity, we will evaluate some common barriers and challenges in managing diversity. In developing a diversity program, we will analyze methods and procedures that will be apart of the program. Kinicki (p.*) says an important first step in overcoming these obstacles is for leaders to convey to their employees why the organization values diversity.
Diversity management efforts are based on a voluntary commitment to accept each individual’s uniqueness and to respect and learn from individual differences. In fact, diversity management efforts require a great deal of commitment particularly since it includes more than just image based differences (Cole, Salimath). Because it includes all differences and actively works to change prejudicial attitudes and beliefs, diversity management is the perfect complement to affirmative action. Together they can create an inclusive society that is race- and gender-conscious. Being race- and gender-conscious will highlight each individual difference which will facilitate acceptance without judgment and insensitivity.
Today’s modern workforce is made up of a diverse group of individuals. People of different nationality, race, creed, color, age, sex, and sexual orientation work side by side every day. This diversity has many advantages, but it also ads a level of complexity to management. The potential for discrimination is real, and needs to be managed so as not to incur lawsuits, loss of productivity, and unhealthy working conditions. Happy employees are productive employees, so it is in any organizations best interests to ensure that discrimination does not happen, but unfortunately, it does.
The approaches used in diversity training owe much on the history of this practice. Diversity training came to be as a result of a universal call to affirmed action that revolutionized the demographic composition in organizations (Paluck 580). Originally, companies instituted diversity measures to counter legal implication threats. The practice evolved from being a single day event to a continuum occurrence that characterized hiring, retention and rewarding of employees. This was actually the birth of the diversity management practice, which modern organizations are trying to catch up with. It is important to discuss the approaches here because they help critically analyze on whether diversity training help in bettering performance in an organization or not.
Barak, M. E. (2005). Managing diversity: toward a globally inclusive workplace. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.
Today’s management in the workforce is composed of all types of people verses thirty years ago when white males held a majority of upper-management positions in companies. These positions are now held by a mixture of ethnic back grounds and women who hold just as many if not more management positions then men. Just by looking at the changes in management demographics shows how important it is for people to understand cultural competency in the workplace. Dr. Roosevelt Thomas Jr. (1999) stated, “Diversity is the collective mixture of whomever we have in our workforce characterized by their differences and similarities” (p.11). Managers and supervisors must understand the characteristics of a diversity mature individual; they also need to be able to articulate the differences between affirmative action, managing diversity, understanding and valuing diversity to build skills that transforms awareness into productive and supportive workplace behaviors.
Therefore, it is imperative for employers to put in place a deliberate training program that explains in detail the benefits and positive outcomes of a diverse climate in the workplace. Employers must communicate the effects of diversity in the workplace to ensure that the employees understand and embrace the climate. The most common practice to unleash diversity is through continuous training and mentoring. A continuous learning environment promotes understanding, improvement, and develops interpersonal skills. Employees must understand that diversity is an organizational attribute and not just a policy. When that understanding is achieved, the organization’s workforce is united and has a better chance of success in their mission. Therefore, organizations must adopt a diversity management practice that retains talent, improves satisfaction, and augment the organization’s