Introduction
Organizational diversity is a vital attribute causing rapidly growing controversial debates in today’s public and private business sectors. Many of the adversarial perspectives regarding organizational diversity have manifested in various organizations due to the implementation of laws, sanctions, programs and other initiatives designed and mandated to create a more equalized employment workforce.
Some of the many anti-discriminative programs and governmental agencies have attempted to regulate policies related to discriminatory practices in a business organizational structure by incorporating stricter consequences for prejudicial acts and monitoring equivalent opportunities in efforts to reduce organizational biases and acts of discrimination for any protected class or underrepresented population in the structure of these organizations. As one example, The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) which was created under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and charged with the function to enforce federal laws prohibiting workplace discrimination. In addition, in1961, another action created through The Civil Rights Act of 1964 worth noting is Affirmative Action. More specifically, President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order to mandate government
…show more content…
To further illustrate, personal discomfort largely impacted individual services in a diverse environment causing detriment to the host organization. This scenario has also challenged art museum curating, where people of color have been isolated in particular institutions, different from their Caucasian counterparts in the U.S. (Simpson, 2015). This paper focuses on some rationale with regards to both minority and Caucasian individuals and the varied interests on art museum
In attempts to comply with federal laws and in relation to fairness, organizations and business in the United States started increasing women’s representation and employment of people of color. These efforts resulted in a trend where women representation across all types of jobs increased while the workplace was characterized with people from different cultural backgrounds. Organizations and businesses sported multicultural and multilingual hues that resulted in a paradigm shift in the concept of workplace diversity (Srikrishna,
Cañas, K. A., & Sondak, H. (2014). Opportunities and challenges of workplace diversity: Theory, cases, and exercises (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
Considering the subject of affirmative action the following questions frequently are raised: Is there a clear understanding of affirmative action roles/goals? What are the pros/cons of these programs? What are the "loop holes" in the system? Does seniority play a role in affirmative action? Addressing these key questions may help us all in our daily routine, as administrators and/or potential administrator in the public/private sector. Affirmative action programs throughout the United States have long been a controversial issue particularly concerning employment practices (public/private) and university student and/or staff recruitment. Most public agencies have some type of instituted affirmative action program. According to Cheryl Perry-League, Director of Equal Opportunity of the Port of Oakland, every business operating on Port of Oakland owned land must have a standing affirmative action program on record and businesses bidding to do work for the Port of Oakland must have an acceptably diverse workforce. BACKGROUND To understand the role and/or goals of affirmative actions programs we should define what the broad definition of what affirmative action is and what caused its development. The phase "affirmative action" was used in a racial discrimination context. Executive Order No. 10,925 issued by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. The order indicated that federal contractors should take affirmative action to ensure job applicants and employees are treated "without regard to their race, creed, or national origin." A person could define this statement as an order to imply equal access and nothing else. Subsequently, Executive Order 11246 issued by President Johnson in September 1965, "mandated affirmative action goals for all federally funded programs and moved monitoring and enforcement of affirmative action programs out of the White House and into the Labor Department." Affirmative action "refers to various efforts to deliberately take race, sex, and national origins into account to remedy past and current effects of discrimination. Its primary goal is to ensure that women and minorities are widely represented in all occupations and at all organizational levels" (Tompkins, 1995, p.161). Another definition of affirmative action according to Barbara Bergmann is "planning and acting to end the absence of certain kinds of people-those who belong to groups that have been subordinated or left out-from certain jobs and schools" (1997 p.7). Tracing the history of affirmative action, laws against racial discrimination have proved inadequate for workplace integration because they often provide remedies only after the fact.
Cañas, K. A. & Sondak, H. (2011). Opportunities and challenged for workplace diversity: Theory, cases, and exercises. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall.
The issue of affirmative action has been a controversial one since its inception. The law was developed during the 1960’s as a result of the civil rights movement and the need to address injustices committed against minorities throughout the United States history. There were multiple attempts to correct the inequities between the majority and the various minorities including the 13, 14 and 15th Amendments. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 allowed for the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to create rules to end discrimination. Affirmative action came into being with the executive order 11246 issued by President Johnson. The Civil Rights Act and President Johnson’s executive order have been updated throughout the years to address gender, disabilities, age and other characteristics that could be considered discriminatory.
The black rights and women’s rights movements of the 1960’s fought against injustice and discrimination that had been suffered by minorities for years (Hudson). In response, President Kennedy issued Executive Order 10925 in 1961, creating a Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity and mandating that projects financed by federal funding would “take affirmative action” to ensure that hiring and employment practices were free of racial bias (Hudson). Two more executive orders in 1965 and 1968 prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, and gender, giving the federal government the power to enforce this prohibition (Hudson). However, in current times, affirmative action programs have suffered setbacks. Affirmative action in education has been abolished in Texas by court order, and in California and Washington it has been terminated by public referendum (Bybee).
This document will explore what a company can do to foster diversity in the workplace. The business case highlights the development and implementation of organizational initiatives that could:
Diversity is a highly important issue in today’s business, especially in a globalized company. Workplace diversity helps to get better solutions to business problems (Schawbel, 2012). When you have a group of individ...
Companies such as Buzztronics are leading the way in the global economy because of their dedication to diversity in the workplace. In order to build a diverse and successful workforce, a business needs to recruit, train, and retain capable and talented minorities.
Riccucci, N. M. (2002). Managing diversity in public sector workforces. (p. 28). Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.
The emergence of diversity in organizations can be traced to the 1960s when legislation was enacted to prohibit discrimination against ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, and religion. Even though workplace diversity origins began in the aftermath of World War I, it was not until 1961, when President John F Kennedy established the President’s Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), which was to end discrimination in employment by the government and its contractors (Cañas & Sondak, 2011). Workplace diversity continued to be advanced through the years by Presidents Johnson and Nixon administrations.
As the importance of diversity in organizations has come to the forefront, beckoned by research touting performance improvements and other benefits, unforeseen negative effects have emerged with it (Joplin & Daus, 2003). The potential ramifications of these negative consequences can diminish, or negate, the potential benefits of diversification. Joplin and Daus (2003) state that these negative consequences have not been studied as robustly as the positive effects. The authors also note that the increasing diversity of the workforce demands that leaders develop stronger skills in order to prevent these issues. Key among these skills is the ability to utilize diverse leadership styles and traits. This paper will discuss several areas where leaders must develop new skill-sets in order to develop lasting diversification and the role self-efficacy can play in organizational diversity.
Living in a country where it was founded by immigrants, diversity is everywhere you go especially in the workplace. There are many types of diversity; ethnicity, gender, religion and age just to name a few. Working in a diverse organization it can give you a taste of the real world, and what you will deal with wherever you go. There is so much diversity in the world today so it is a benefit to experience it in the workplace as well. You are given the chance to learn so many things from different cultures, why wouldn't you want to work in a diverse organization?
Managing diversity is defined as “the practice of addressing and supporting multiple lifestyles and personal characteristics within a defined group. Management activities includes educating the group and providing support for the acceptance of and respect for various racial, cultural, societal, geographic, economic and political backgrounds” by the businessdictionary.com (2016). On the other hand, equal opportunity is defined as “Principle of non-discrimination which emphasizes that opportunities in education, employment, advancement, benefits and resource distribution, and other areas should be freely available to all citizens irrespective of their age, race, sex, religion, political association, ethnic origin, or any other individual or group
Diversity is all around us and how organizations deal with the notion of diversity can be complex and quite diverse. We know that being diverse in the workplace is important to the organization's success, should be recognized, accepted, and embraced. It’s how the organizations live up to what they believe in and must go above and beyond legal compliance and requirements to promoting diversity and inclusion. Otherwise, employees may view the organization's vision and policies as lip service and only be tolerant of diversity because the organization said so.